Samaritans Way Day 2.
Distance today: 24.7 miles.
Total distance: 1020.6 miles.
Accommodation: campsite.
Let’s just get the hills out of the way shall we? A steady 3 and half mile climb and that was pretty much all the ascents finished for the day. I’d temporarily given up attempting to follow my pre-planned route and just made use of Google Maps to find me some convenient roads. Preferably quiet and country. I wondered whether the Romans had spent much time in this area because there were a couple of really long straight roads. In contrast, you also had the winding road through the Cheddar Gorge. I emphasize through because there was a real sense of being insignificantly small compared to the surrounding landscape. I’m sure I must have been through there before but I have absolutely no memory of it. A few climbers looked like they were preparing to scale various cliff faces and it was another one of those rueful moments where I would have liked to have been there with more time and a proper camera. Never mind. I consoled myself with a couple of rounds of very nice (thick!) toast at the busy Edelweiss Café in the centre of Cheddar.
On the outskirts of Blackford, I came across a pub called Sexeys Arms and decided for the name alone, it was worth a pint. I obviously still needed consoling. (… Did I ever mention the time I was in bar called the Sexy Tractor in Lijiang, China? … ). The pub was pretty busy and as ever I probably stood out in all my hiking gear. Bizarrely, I heard someone mention John o’ Groats to Land’s End and I said, yes, that’s what I was doing. I could see a few people having a Sunday roast and as tempting as it was, I resisted. If I am going to have a big meal I do tend to like it if I have finished walking. Unless it’s a Wetherspoons breakfast. When I left the pub, quite a few people wished me well on my trip.
My original route would have taken me through Glastonbury but with the location of available campsites, it didn’t make any sense to do so. Leaving Cheddar I had taken a direct-ish route towards Bridgwater whereas Glastonbury would have meant a bit of dog leg to the east. Nevertheless, at one point I was less than 10 miles away and I was fully aware that the festival was on this weekend. I’d even concocted a scene in my head where I passed a campsite housing people working at the festival and when they heard about my amazing selfless challenge, they offered me a free ticket and accommodation. It didn’t happen.
I arrived at The Hideout campsite at around 6pm. Is it possible for somewhere to be too immaculate? It’s nice to have clean facilities but it does spoil the effect a little bit, if you rely on a myriad of warning notices to keep it that way. The site was in a lovely setting but the whole place seemed to be devoid of any character. In spite of there being a number of caravans, the place seemed to be largely devoid of people too. I think I spotted one couple. Jackie, the owner was not on site and had instructed me to post the £18 pitch fee through the letter box. I wonder how many people, like me, ended up putting £20 in because they have no change?
With it being a bit far to walk to find food and drink, I called it a day. At least I did once I’d had my immaculate shower.
