Day 19: 11 Apr 2014; Bridgwater to Glastonbury

Walk descriptor	LEJOG2014		Day	19
Date	Fri 11 Apr 2014		Start to end time	09h 03m
Start point	Bridgwater		End point	Glastonbury
Miles today	19.28		Cu miles	356.76
Ft today	833		Cu ft	63,166
Route miles left	1,112.22		Route ft left	134,823
Today’s weather	Sunny all day. No rain. Light north westerly breeze. About 15 C

Today’s location (the red cross in a circle shows where I am at the moment)		GPX based track of today’s walk (click here to access to access downloadable file)

Commentary

“Today didn’t quite work out how I’d expected. I knew that it was going to be different from previous days, in that the destination was likely to be the excitement, rather than the journey. But in the end the journey was quite interesting, too.

I’d spend the night in a very comfortable B&B just outside Bridgwater, which was in a housing development so new that it wasn’t even shown on Google Earth. Today’s journey was planned to be quite short – at well under 20 miles to Glastonbury and, unsurprisingly since most of it was over the Somerset Levels, quite flat. It was a glorious sunny day and I set off with a spring in my step, and almost all traces of the winter’s severe floods had disappeared (which earlier in the year had worried me – and in fact I was told that until 4 weeks ago, the whole area was still under water).

I was finding the walking very easy – most of it was along country lanes with no traffic – and I was actually enjoying the scenery. Everywhere was vivid green, and I wondered if one of the side effects of the flooding was abundant fertility – silt washed in by the flooding rivers perhaps enriching the soil.

Then a near-calamity struck. I discovered that my iPhone – which I am relying on for photography and as a back-up for navigation – had died. No amount of coaxing would bring it back to life so I had to do some emergency planning. Fortunately I was able to get a good network connection on my iPad and a web search revealed that there was a mobile phone repair shop in Street. So I amended my route to go via Street and found the repair shop. The man in the shop took the phone to bits and replaced the battery and some connectors, and explained that it had been boot-looping which was draining the battery. I’m not sure what boot looping is but anyway the phone seems to be fixed now (fingers crossed) so I am eternally grateful to Street Cellular for sorting me out so quickly.

I walked on from Street to Glastonbury and passed by the shoe museum – and as I’m not much more interested in shoes than in synthetic thermosetting plastics – I gave it a miss. (Street is of course home to Clarks Shoes, founded in 1825 by James and Cyrus Clark). A short walk took me to Glastonbury and to the B&B where I’m staying tonight (yes two nights in a row is rather luxurious). I climbed over the appropriately-named Wearyall Hill, which separates Street from Glastonbury, and was rewarded with stunning views of the famous Tor, and back across the flat expanse of the levels which I’d just traversed. Tapas for tea tonight, I think, for a bit of a change!”

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Teasels growing in the marshes near Bridgewater	An early dandelion, already gone to seed

In the Somerset Levels. It really is flat. And my GPS said 18ft above sea level. Explains a lot, really	As I was having my lunch, these cows decided to join me. Their table manners leave something to be desired. They dribble and burp a lot

I was a bit worried that if I had these for lunch I might indeed become large and lardy	A very Glastonbury-esque object on Wearyall Hill, just outside the town [subsequently revealed to be the Glastonbury Thorn – a descendant of the tree brought by Joseph of Arimathea – see comment by Sue and Bren on Message Me page!]

Panorama featuring the Glastonbury Tor at the left