Tonight I have a chair but nothing to serve as a desk – so have the laptop on a windowsill. Another good hotel at the cheaper end of the market – pleasantly situated at the north end of Minehead away from the touristy bit.
The news is that I am (a) in Minehead, (b) not dead, and (c) walked all the way. I would not have made it without having done the 5 miles in advance yesterday, or without sending my pack on by taxi, so the worrying was worth it, but in the end it was 90% a lovey day’s walking. The trick was going via Porlock Weir and not Porlock itself – thus sneeking round the back of Porlock Hill while it wasn’t looking.
That effort in the remaining 10% was a big one, climbing from the beach to the top of Bossington Hill – the first of the range of hills west of Minehead - in the mid-afternoon heat this 40 minute climb was VERY hot. But once up there was a breeze and the walk along the top of the range was comfortable, until the descent into Minehead meant no Breeze for a while.
In the end this was my longest day so far – nearly 19 miles - but only the 3rd most strenuous in terms of climbing (or ‘elevation’ as Strava calls it). One big hill is less of a problem than Cornwalls endless stream of short steep climbs.
I am very please to have got here without having to cheat. And I am now in Somerset!
Porlock itself, though avoided today, holds a curious memory. In (I think) 1976, Caroline and I went with a group from Cambridge to Lee Abbey – also in the party incidentally, was the late, loved and lamented Jim Cotter, then Chaplain at my college, Caius. The coach driver decided to go via Porlock, and only realized this was a bad idea when the coach began rolling back down the hill. All 50 passengers had to debunk to a tea shop while the driver executed a 24 point turn in order to go another way. This is not the only example of coach drivers I have known having no idea about the route they are taking!
Mission Control Guildford (aka Hannah – thank you!) posts my blogs each day and adds my photos, all of which she can access via Google Photos. Yesterday I sent my sister a photo of me drinking water from a tube to prove to her (she is a nurse) that I was properly hydrated. This silly photo of course made it to the blog*, prompting some questions. If you were confused by the photo, it is simply me using a tube which connects to a supply of water in my pack. In this weather I fill it (1.5 litres) at the start of the day and hope to refill, as I did today, along the way. The bag of water in the pack, is discouragingly called a ‘bladder’!
*Note from Mission Control Guildford: I assumed Dad was just getting into the spirit of taking silly selfies and wanted this in the blog! ;-)
Tomorrow is another long day, but I have discovered that flat walking is not really tiring at all, and Minehead to the edge of the Quantocks is flat. So it will be another easy-ish morning with an afternoon climb in the sun. The treat in the evening will be my friend and former colleague Rachel Robbins joining me for supper. Rachel was deputy head at Bruton School for Girls, where I taught from 2002 to 2008. Unbelievably, BGS has just had to close due to lack of pupil numbers – a great pity as it was a lovely, high achieving school.
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Daily Data
Days left until John O’Groats | 60 |
Route miles walked | 235.81 |
Estimated miles until John O’Groats | 819 |
Evening and rest day walking | 4.5 |
Counties walked through | 3 |
Ferry miles | 0.4 |
Number of walking companions so far | 3 |
Number of stiles crossed | 39 |
Current sponsorship total | £12,183.82 |
Cast of characters (Bold = walking companions) | Jeremy Pemberton, Laurence Cunnington, Brad Poulson, Adele Poulson, Graeme Parkhill, Andy Hellwig, Patrick Lynn, Esther Lynn, Emma Rayner, Quentin Rayner, Sara Low, Robbie Low, Christopher Darwin, Heather Darwin, Christine Hytch, Chris Hytch and Annown, Hilary Edwards, Richard Edwards |
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