17-25 June: Counting down our final weeks in West Bagborough

Author: Mrs A

Location: Watchet, West Bagborough, Dulverton, Somerset & Putsborough, Devon, UK

June continued its mixed weather with two days of solid rain. forecast. We took advantage of the final dry day for a little while and drove down to Watchet to walk some of the coast walk, intending to go to a town intriguingly called Blue Anchor.

It was an overcast day so there were few people about, and we saw nobody on the walk, which followed the cliff top with lovely views.

Looking along the coast towards Minehead
The former site of Daws Castle
Cinnabar moths covering the thistles in the meadow
Warren Bay – another fossil filled beach

We walked as far as we could along the coast before reaching a coastguard barrier – not far beyond this the cliff had collapsed into the sea, apparently happening in early March. The diversion inland didn’t really appeal with the impending storms, so we made it a short walk and returned to Watchet – just 6.5km. Blue Anchor remains a mystery for now!

With extra time up our sleeves, we decide to drive over to Dunster again, to have a better look at the town. Mr A was also hoping the Rohan outdoor gear shop was open, now that clothes stores had been given permission to serve customers again, but unfortunately this store remained closed.

The old yarn market
The closest we could get to Dunster Castle with the building and grounds closed to visitors
Built predominantly in the 15th century, the Priory Church of St George also has 12th and 13th century work within it

Tuesday’s downpour arrived as scheduled. Fortunately I was busy helping with a medical research project which took up a lot of my time, and Mr A delved deeper into investigating his family tree, unearthing new names and histories on his mother’s side.

During a break in the wet weather we had an impromptu visit from two of the friends we have made here, Karen and Jane Ayre who run the caravan park down the road. During lockdown they have been training a young pony, Vinnie, which will eventually be sold to a family for a young child to learn to ride. He’s quite small and very gentle, and even Mr A (who has a fear of horses) was brave enough to give him a stroke.

Vinne hasn’t yet learned that eating with a bit in one’s mouth just is not done!
Karen and Jane on their pony training walk

After a couple of days of enforced rest we were itching to get out and about again. So on Friday decided to jump in Truffy and head back over to Exmoor and the small town of Dulverton.

Mr A navigated the narrow lanes brilliantly, barely flinching as we squeezed between old stone houses and parked cars as we found our way to a parking spot beside the eighteenth century Marsh Bridge on the outskirts of town.

We set off on a circuit walk (Strava link), following the River Barle into town.

A nice big parking spot for Truffy alongside the river
Following the River Barle – it’s quite swollen and fast moving after all the rain
The greens are extra vivid after a good watering
Mrs A
Looking down at Dulverton from the footpath
Crossing over the 18th century bridge into town
Little cobbled streets need a little weeding
Another view of the oldest medieval bridge on Exmoor
We take a different path on our return route, and spot a sign directing us to a hill fort
We wound our way up the hill through the woods
Not much left to see here now, but this was the fort, otherwise known as Oldberry Castle back in the Iron Age (around 3,000 years ago)

The showers dissipated totally by the weekend, allowing us to get out for a muddy walk locally on Saturday. Again, the colours seemed all the more vibrant for being freshly watered.

Amazing skies at the back of West Bagborough

We were just walking up through the village on our way home, when we noticed a couple of our neighbours having socially-isolated drinks on their front lawn. We were invited over to join them, and soon our plans for making curry and relaxing with Netflix were out the window.

Neighbours Ian and Caroline keep ducks, and I get some cuddle time with a little duckling

My cousin Ian and his family, Caroline, Emilia and Leo, drove down from Almondsbury for the afternoon on Sunday. We were so excited to see them – not only the first family we’ve seen since mid March, but the first time I have seen them in six years! I am sure we all looked older, but especially this children – I have not met Leo before, and Emilia was a baby in a high chair last time!

Thankfully the rain held off so we enjoyed Father’s Day cake and tea in the courtyard before a short stroll around the village and surrounds.

Emilia and Leo are well versed in posing for photos it seems
Great chance to catch up and share stories
Emilia decides the water is a little too fresh…they both change into wetsuits and have fun in the pool
All too soon it is time to say goodbye with plans afoot for another catch up soon…

It was a fun afternoon, but as we waved them farewell, we took note to ensure we don’t have sore heads next time we encounter excited children!

On Monday we took our bikes exploring around some of the local villages and lanes – there are some incredible buildings around here. One of them, multi-million pound Denzel House has just been sold to a London-based electronics importer apparently – as we rode past ogling, we saw several people working on improvements to the grounds.

The overall ride was lovely, and we took in the whitewashed village of Stogumber which sounds to me like something you’d chop up and serve in salad. Apparently the name is derived from Stoke (meaning dairy farm in old English) and the surname Gunner (presumably the owner of the dairy?).

The local pub is doing fish and chips and a two pint take-out
The white cottages look brilliant against the blue skies
Love riding down these green tunnels

It was while we were our riding that we heard the welcome news from Boris announcing that from 4 July campsites could open (as well as pubs, hairdressers, other holiday accomodation and so on – as long as they are ‘Covid-secure’). I say welcome, but it comes with mixed feelings. The opening up means returning to the stress of finding a place to stay, potentially mingling with other people, and leaving our new friends in this haven within the Quantock Hills. I for one have a little bit of nervousness about what the coming weeks will bring.

So this week the chaos began, the mad dash to try and find campsites with space for us in locations we would be interested in visiting. I would liken it to trying to find tickets to see The Rolling Stones, with everyone selling out almost immediately and if you’re lucky you get the last two on offer. Although unlike getting tickets to one band, we have to go through it again and again booking up the coming few weeks.

We gave ourselves a break on Tuesday afternoon to head back to the western Quantocks, and parked Truffy up by Crowcombe Gate, taking our second walk in this area.

The heath and bracken looked healthy and lush after the rain, and most of the soil well drained. We admired the views we have seen from many angles over the past three months, never tiring of that magical feeling this area brings.

Can you spot Truffy? Outstanding in his field…
Such a stunning area – we will miss these walks
The heather is starting to bloom, looking spectacular
Few trees dot the area, and those that do could tell many tales
Loving this region
Still the odd puddle around

Wednesday promised to be a hot day, with temperatures climbing up in to the early 30s. We decided that cycling would be the coolest activity (other than swimming in our pool, and who wants to spend the day doing that?!), so we found a cycleway by the coast so we might enjoy some sea breezes and perhaps a dip in the water.

We drove to Barnstaple in Devon and parked up. Our intention was to ride the Tarka Trail in the other direction, towards Woolacombe. Off we set on off-road cycle lanes, which soon turned into country lanes (Strava link).

Mark cycles alongside the River Taw
A gold finch collects feathers to line a nest

The path’s signage was a bit misleading, and soon we had to ask for directions from a couple of other cyclists. We soon realised that the Tarka Trail was no longer following old rail tracks, but now had become the Sustrans route 27 cycleway, which shared narrow country lanes with cars. We found ourselves pulling off regularly to let vehicles past, but people were friendly and grateful, not aggressive towards us.

As always, we were pleased for our electric motors, with some decent gradient hills along our ride, especially in the heat.

Looking down over to Croyde Beach

Our destination for the day was Putsborough, the quieter and less commercialised end of Woolacombe Beach. The coast walk comes along here, and by the looks of it would be spectacular and ever so quiet.

The car park and sole café was doing good business, but once you were on the beach people were well spread apart with plenty of social distancing (quite unlike the newspaper headlines for that day!).

Our first view of Putsborough and Woolacombe beaches

I left Mr A on a bench with the bikes and went for a stroll across the sands and a paddle in the water. It is a perfect beach for children with warm rock pools and soft sand of the ideal consistency for sandcastles. The water wasn’t that cold considering we are in the UK (though I didn’t go in for a swim – the water is between 15-19°C!).

Pickwell Manor up on the hill behind the beach has commanding views
The green cliffs reach down to the sand

The ride back to Barnstaple was equally lovely, with plenty of water drunk.

Mr A cruises up a hill
Fields of corn on our cycle home
Back on the riverside trail

Fish and chips from our favourite chippy in Taunton (Sea Bass Fish and Chips) were our reward for our efforts, enjoyed in Truffy at the side of the road. Perfect!

And so on Thursday we decided to make a concerted effort to get all of our bookings locked in for the next few weeks. Priority had to be seeing family, as it seems crazy we haven’t even seen Mark’s daughters and the grandchildren since October last year.

After a lot of phone calls, messages and waiting for websites to work, we have confirmed the following locations which will take us up to September. Phew!

Let us know if you want to meet up at any of these locations!

We know this has missed out a few people, but we don’t leave the UK until early November, so hopefully will have an opportunity after the summer craziness!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.