Dave Byrnes' Adventures

Land's End to John O'Groats - 2010

Overview     Planning     Schedule     Map     Diary     Pictures
Day: 014
Date:

Sunday, 16 May 2010

Start:

Bridgwater

Finish:

Cheddar

Daily Kilometres:

29.9

Total Kilometres:

430.6

Weather:

Overcast and raining in the morning, occasional showers and sunshine in the afternoon.

Accommodation:

Cheddar Youth Hostel (£16)

Nutrition:

Egg & cress sandwich and flavoured milk for breakfast; Sunday roast for lunch; lasagne, salad and treacle sponge for dinner.

Aches:

Some new blisters and feet generally very sore.

Pictures: Here
GPS Track: Here
Journal:

I didn't get up until 7:30am, having stayed up later than expected catching up on email, etc., and sneaked out of the sleeping hotel via a fire exit (as asked to do) at 8:15am.  It was drizzling as I walked along a main road out of Bridgwater.  The guide book suggested a circuitous route to avoid doing too much roadwalking, but after my experience yesterday with seldom used paths, it was debatable to me whether it was worth the effort.  Generally the scenery was much the same - green fields, fences, sheep and lambs, whether seen from the road or an overgrown footpath.  I had resolved to be a bit more discriminating in future.  On the edge of Bridgwater, I found an open service station and bought a sandwich and flavoured milk for breakfast.

Soon afterwards, I took a public footpath across the sodden fields to intersect with the guide book route.  It only took about 10 metres for my shoes and socks to be sodden.  My feet were already hurting.  The farmland round here is mostly long-reclaimed swamp, drained by a very large network of ditches.  The guide-book route was again a complex chaining of separate little-used footpaths (or field paths, since they generally stick to the edges of fields), which crossed the drainage bridges on a range of pedestrian bridges ranging from grand structures to flimsy arrangements using a plank.  I lost the paths several times during the morning, one time wasting more than half an hour trying to find my way off a farm (electric fences and barbed wire everywhere).

I reached the very pretty village of Blackford soon after 1pm and went to the pub and ordered the Sunday roast special.  It was very tasty and large, and the patrons were friendly.  While eating lunch, I pored over my maps to see what the guide-book had in store for me during the afternoon, and determined it was mostly, once again, a determined effort to keep walkers off the road rather than an excursion past scenic highlights.  I decided to follow a different route to Cheddar, where I had booked a bed at the Youth Hostel tonight, using country lanes and back roads.  It was dry underfoot and I passed through more pretty villages and by historic farms and pubs.  If it hadn't been for my very sore feet, it would have been very enjoyable.  I reached the hostel at 4:30pm with the plan to go to the outdoors store in town tomorrow morning to buy some different socks and see if that makes a difference.  It's the last thing I can think of.  I have never had this much trouble with sore feet when hiking before, and it's getting very frustrating.  The store doesn't open til 10am so it will be a late start tomorrow and may put me a little behind schedule.  But, if I can't sort out the feet, I'll need a few days off for recovery anyway.

ADVENTURE LIST

 

Round Ireland
(2016)

Hume & Hovell Walking Track
(2013)

Via Alpina
(2012)

Australian Alps Walking Track
(2011)

Land's End to John O'Groats
(2010)

Round Oz Bike Record Attempt
(2009)

Round Oz Bike Record Attempt
(2008)

Round Oz Bike Record Attempt
(2007)

Australia Tip to Top MTB
(2006)

Adelaide to Darwin MTB
(2005)

Sydney to Melbourne MTB
(2004)

Three Peaks Race
(2004)

Appalachian Trail
(1986)

Alpine Track
(1983)

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