NORTH WALK:- Mein Head takes a bashing - only another 580 miles to go!

Tuesday August 26th: Well - here we are - a motley crew it has to be said - at the Official start of the SW Coast Path in Minehead - where I was starting my "North" walk of the entire path. The start of the path is commemorated by a metal sculpture representing a pair of hands holding a map. A map was definitely needed as painted on the path by the sculpture were two arrows going in completely different directions! - but it turned out that they have changed the official route since putting the sculpture up.

I was joined by (L-R) my brother Roger, an old friend (in both senses of the word) Bill Duncan, sister-in law, Teresa and my eldest brother Keith - plus their faithful hound Ed for whom it was just another "walkie" It was Tuesday 26th August - and we were all still recovering from a weekend of excess, celebrating my 50th birthday! Friends and family joined me at "The Great House" in Timberscombe, nr Dunster for a House party and BBQ. A good time was had by all, one of the highlights being me cracking my head on a beam, when I got a little over enthusiastic during a Karaoke/Air Guitar competition with my friend Michael Ricketts. We won, as it happens - all down to my guitar technique of course! But Timberscombe was also the perfect location to carry on with my walk, only being 5 miles from Minehead and with plenty of willing Taxi Drivers to pick us up at the end of the days' walking. The first stretch from Minehead was a modest 9.5 miles to Porlock Weir.

Notable absentees were Bill's partner Patricia Radway - who spent the day preparing for a forthcoming Job interview AND more importantly - preparing to cook us all a Pasta supper on our return. I think the sight of my knobbly knees and varicosed legs at breakfast confirmed that she had made the right decision - the pasta was good by the way! Also unable to join us was Roger's partner, Kim Laughton who was distinctly unwell with some sort of virus/stomach complaint all weekend, which was a great shame. Roger and Kim had come over specially from Holland for the party and enjoy the week in Exmoor - but the bug laid her pretty low.

So the five of us set off and after a couple of steep climbs through woods out of Minehead we were on the cliff path heading for the village of Bossington. It was not long before we came across an alternative path - there seems to be quite a few of these - permissible options to the Official SW Coast path - often more scenic and closer to the actual coast. This one was described as "Rugged" and in theory was an additional extra hour of walking - but unfortunately was also supposedly prohibited to Dogs - being an area of wild conservation. Ed was pretty wild about it himself to be honest - he loves a rugged path. So we decided to split up and Roger, Bill and myself - (3 more rugged guys you would be hard to find!) took the alternative, whilst Ed, Keith and Teresa stuck to the official path.
NOTE PIC : Roger - Rugged Aussie Hat - "Sheila" Backpack
It was a beautiful walk through heather laden valleys - strenuous in parts - but worth the detour - and we met up with the others at Hurlstone Combe for a lunch stop

After that - it was on to Bossington Village and then a steep incline down towards Porlock Marsh - a saltwater marsh which had formed after a terrific storm many years ago which breached the Pebble ridge on Porlock beach and flooded a large area inland - which still floods periodically after spring tides when the path becomes impassable.

From here it was level walking all the way to Porlock Weir, where we joined the pebble beach for a short stretch and could soon see arms being waved at us manically from the Car Park. My parents and Kim were waiting for us - we had agreed it would be about 4:30pm by the time we got there - in fact it was 4:29 - that's what I call timing - and we were greeted like long lost adventurers having crossed the Antarctic, when really we had just strolled along the coast a few miles - but we all wagged our tails appreciatively and headed for the Ship Inn for some well earned refreshments.

What should have been a simple round of drinks turned into a drama, as the Barman, who was Polish of course, and had been breathing rather heavily and sweating profusely, proceeded to inform us that he had just been stung by a wasp to which he was allergic, and was in the throes of anaphalytic shock. Expecting him to keel over at any moment - we made sure he finished our order promptly, and then left him to it. Personally, I think he had just been having a dalliance with a member of the kitchen staff - and had rustled up a cunning ruse to elicit sympathy and a fat tip!

TWO DAYS Later we came back to Porlock Weir for the next stretch - a 12.5 mile walk to LYNMOUTH.
This time, it was just myself, Keith,Teresa and Ed who was now a big fan of the SW Coast Path

Much of the days walk was through woodland areas - just inland, with occasional glimpses of the coast through the trees. The path had been altered due to landslips - which seems to be a common problem throughout the route. After a couple of miles we came to the delightful thatched Worthy Toll House - still taking tolls from car owners - and a little bit further on - Culbone Church, which appears in the Doomsday Book and is the smallest church in England, still holding regular services. Not enough room to swing a choirboy - you could just about get 30 people in apparently - or perhaps just 15 American Tourists. The woods surrounding the church once housed a Leper Colony - but they weren't allowed in the Church - there were too many fingers inadvertently left in the collection bowl apparently.

After a brief stop - we headed on towards the Glenthorne Estate where there was a delightful Lodge with very impressive Boar Head Gateposts. Some steep paths up and down followed as we then headed for Foreland Point - where there was an alternative and apparently very strenuous path to a lighthouse, suitable for people with Mountain Goat like qualities. Having just walked 10 miles - we decided to give that the body swerve - and pressed on towards Lynmouth

The last stretch was perhaps the most scenic - or would have been on a nice day, with views stretching out across Lynmouth Bay. We finally bowled into Lynmouth about 5:00pm and were met by Roger and Kim who had spent the afternoon there. We managed to have a nice cup of Tea without encountering any Anaphalytic Poles and headed back to "The Great House" Timberscombe.

Another leg of the walk had been done - next up is to head back to Lulworth Cove and from there walk to Weymouth and around Portland Bill - I'll keep you posted .