Despite it raining for the first 4 hours of today's walk I had a good day. The early part of the walk was along the West Deane Way along the river Tone into Taunton. Because of the rain the insects were flying low, so their predators the swallows. swifts, house martins and sand martins were flying very close to me, giving me wonderful close ups of them. At times I could even hear their wings passing through the air - a first for me. After passing through Taunton I joined the East Deane Way- which was along the towpath of the Bridgewater and Taunton Canal.
Later on I walked for over 4 miles along a perfectly straight North Drove across the Somerset Levels. This was an incredible experience (once I had confirmed that I was on the right track- Alan's compass that I was gifted yesterday came in handy here). The highlight was when about 20 swans flew just feet above my head, again the noise of their wings was worth the walk to get there.
I have reached the village of Aller which is about 9 miles south of Street. Although I walked 21.5 miles today I have fallen a few miles behind schedule because I had to re plan the route to Street.
I had the first real negative experience of the walk today when the farmers wife at Aller Court Farm objected to me walking across their garden. She did not seem to think that my reason for doing so was that they had barred the public footpath with a 3 string electric fence was sufficient justification. Other than this I have received nothing but help and kindness from everyone that I have met.
Tomorrow I hope to make progress to about 6 or 7 miles south of Midsomer Norton,via Street and Glastonbury.
Today's KBW's are to Pat and Bryan who as well as acting as support driving team carried out the role of wife sitters. They very nearly lost the award when I realised that their idea of wife sitting involved visiting most of the shops in Taunton and Street and making a dent in Jean's credit card! The promise of a glass or two of red wine tonight has however persuaded me not to penalise them.
I am still unable to upload photos to the blog. This is frustrating me but hopefully will be rectified shortly. When it is I will hopefully be able to upload all of the photos taken over the last few days.
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." - John Muir
Cheers
Keith
Friday, 14 May 2010
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