Mendip Way Circular #4

Another Mendip Way walk starting and ending in Wells, picking up where my previous walk ended and ticking off the beginning of East Mendip Way. I say that, but it’s not clear that the distinction between East and West Mendip Way will be around much longer. The Mendip Society are planning to have the whole route called simply “The Mendip Way” as part of their 50th anniversary. Makes sense to me!

This walk starts at the Bishop’s Palace in Wells and heads up the hill through Tor Hill Woods, a national trust owned woodland. The path takes you pretty rapidly to the top of the hill and out into surprisingly wide open spaces.

One thing that caught my eye was a boundary wall made of very large blocks of stone. I presume these came from the nearby (disused) Torhill Quarry. It certainly made for an unusual sight, although my photo above doesn’t really do it justice.

The path next passes through King’s Castle Woods. The woods are named after the iron age hill fort that resides withing them. More than just a fort, there seems to have been a larger settlement here. The remains of ancient field walls are fairly obvious as you pass out of the woods and onto the Lyatt. According to wikipedia, it has never been excavated and relatively little is known about it, although Lidar images show three enclosures along with the field system. There is speculation that it was a precursor to the city of Wells itself.

The path then passes on to the wonderfully named Furzy Sleight. According to The A-Z of Yeovil’s History the word sleight derives from the Old English slÅ“get meaning a sheep pasture . Furzy presumably simply means covered with furze (or gorse), though it wasn’t so covered today.

It wasn’t sheep that concerned me today, but cows. In the distance I could see a large herd, so decided to walk along the edge of the sleight rather than follow the path through the middle of them. Fortunately, this also brought me to the Furzy Sleight Pillbox, which I otherwise might have missed. This, of course, is evidence of more recent history. This pill-box was part of the “stop-line green”, one of 50 defensive lines built to defend against the expected German invasion in World War II. This line was part of the defenses of Bristol, and you can see where it ran on Google Maps.

I negotiated the cows without too much trouble, although there were a number of bulls amongst the herd. Fortunately, they had other things than me on their minds, although it did make my heart beat slightly faster! The Mendip Way then passes along Sleight Lane and across the fields to the point of West Lane where I joined it in Walk 1. I then walked down West Lane and into Croscombe. My original plan was to walk back up the hills on the other side and return to Wells via Dulcote Hill. However, I had a change of heart and decide to head back through the valley via Dinder.

Dinder is an impossibly quaint village. I cannot imagine how anyone can afford to live there. There are many beautiful and interesting buildings, but the one that particularly caught my imagination was the vine covered house above. It looks to me like something from Annihilation – the house and tree are so symbiotically linked. I guess it will look very different in the summer.

The walk back from Dinder to Wells is a pleasant stroll along easy paths through the fields. I made good time and was pleased with how much energy I still had left. I am definitely getting fitter. Along the way was another pill box, presumably part of the same defensive line as the previous one. The views out across the levels would probably be stunning on a less hazy day than today. Before long, I was back where I started and was heading back to the car for the drive home.

Today was another really enjoyable walk – and for a change, not too hilly either. So far, I have walked from Priddy to Shepton Mallet along the Mendip Way, and my planned walks have worked really well. Can’t wait for the next one!

Distance: 8.0 miles

Mendip Way Circular #3

I took advantage of a warm and sunny afternoon to do another of my Mendip Way Circular walks – the third one I have done, but number 9 in the sequence. The walk begins and ends in Wells, climbing up and down the Mendip hills before rejoining the Mendip Way at Wookey Hole.

The first part of the ascent out of Wells is relatively gentle and takes you through the gardens of Milton Lodge. The views over Wells would be spectacular on a bright and clear day. Today, however, there was quite a thick haze. While this means that details are obscured, it adds to the mysterious feel of the landscape.

After that initial climb, and knowing how steep the final ascent would be, it was a little disconcerting that the road descended sharply. It did lead to some very pretty views across the very spring-like green fields to a somewhat greyed-out Glastonbury.

From then on the hill was much steeper. Much like on the last walk, I struggled and got very hot and sweaty. Passing under the tree in the picture above, I met two hikers coming down the hill. They were dressed in full on hiking gear, including hats and coats. We are all so different.

In fact the climb was less steep than in the previous walk and after a couple of recovery pauses I soon reached the top. The view from here is amazing and well worth the climb. As already mentioned, the haze reduced the detail and distance but it was still beautiful.

My walk then descended the slope that I struggled so much to climb in the my last walk. And boy, it really is steep. It was hard on the legs even going down. Just like last time, I was passed (three times!) by a runner – carrying ballast. Amazing. Near the bottom, the view opens up nicely and I could see my next destination – Arthur’s Point. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to climb another hill, but it’s only a small one (the 3450th tallest in England…).

Clearly the name Arthur’s Point is interesting! I am not sure what modern scholarship would say, but there is a facinating letter in the Wells Journal which discusses the name. It is a wonderful vantage point, and I am sure it would indeed have been useful for reconnaisance. Quite how it came to have Arthur’s name attached we will never know of course.

If we accept King Arthur (as all true Somersetshire men would gladly do) then let us associate the Point with his glorious name and deeds; if not we can fall back upon what seems to be the historic truth, that there was a great British leader named Arthur, who would probably guard the western coasts from invading Northmen, and select a site so suitable for his military observations as Arthur’s Point.

Wells Journal – Thursday 15 October 1896

These days the trees rather block the view towards Glastonbury and the ‘western coasts’, but it is a marvellous place to stop for a snack and admire the view back towards the hills. I could trace out almost the whole of my walk so far.

The path from Arthur’s Point back down into Wells is pleasant, but unremarkable. When I used to do this walk many years ago it was possible to see down into the depths of Underwood Quarry, but these days (very sensibly) you can’t get so close to the edge. The path also passes directly through the grounds of the Blue School, which would be interesting on a school day! There is a plaque in Wells to mark the start of the West Mendip Way. I am very grateful to the various Rotary Clubs involved.

My day ended with a stroll around the incredibly impressive Wells Cathedral and the nearby Bishop’s Palace. These are obviously well worth a visit. I am particularly enamoured of the clock. Wells is also a great city for pubs (and I should know, I once did a pub crawl of all 11). On another occasion I would have popped into the White Hart, but today I had forgotten my wallet!

Distance: 6.4 miles