On our perpetual quest to find the best walking in Somerset, we’ve recently been exploring walking routes further afield from our usual sites.
Living with Exmoor, the Blackdowns and the Quantocks all within easy reach of home, we’ve been somewhat spoiled by having most of the routes routinely cited as the best, on our doorstep. But Somerset is a big county, and it struck us that there must be other excellent walking routes that we haven’t yet discovered.
In a bid to explore further afield, a couple of weeks ago we headed towards Yeovil which lies at the eastern side of the county. We had found what looked like an interest-packed route and wanted to see if the reality matched the blurb. It was a sunny day as we left our village, but it clouded over as we reached our destination. Nevertheless, the weather was perfect for walking, and we set off with high expectations.
The route began extremely well, with interest, views and varied landscapes aplenty and even threw in some completely unexpected delights. We wanted to see as much of this ‘new’ area as we possibly could so we chose to detour off one route and include part of another one that we hoped would enhance the finished product even further.
Although the detour took us to a lovely hamlet, it was not worth the extra effort involved.
We then rejoined our original route and found a mid-section that incorporated a long descent and ascent through a landscape that promised a great deal but delivered very little. On the upside, the end of the route was spectacular, and we finished on a high. But we were not happy with the final walk; it lacked interest in the mid-section, and we felt it could be better.
This week we returned to the same area to see if we could find a better way to complete the circuit which gave us stunning views and/or interest all the way to the end.
Putting in the legwork
Jack and I are no strangers to curating walking routes; we’ve been doing it for about 14 years. We usually find an area where it looks like there is a lot of interest, then gather together all the existing walking routes. Using the OS Map in combination with trial and error on the ground, we then curate a route that combines the best of all of them.
Having done the research on this one, we headed back east and retraced our initial route until we got to the section where we had diverted. The area is currently being redeveloped which means great swathes are blocked off due to construction work, but we managed to find a way through that wouldn’t be affected by the planned changes. We had decided to then try to cut across the top of the steep valley which had failed to deliver reward for the effort of walking up it.
The path we hoped to take was closed and it felt like we were fated not to achieve our aim. But we could see people walking in the distance, roughly in the area we were trying to reach. We decided to approach from a different angle. After a few false trails we finally stumbled on an excellent path which took us on a balcony-style walk with spectacular views right across the valley. We hadn’t just eliminated the dull mid-section, we had actually raised the bar on the entire route, taking it from ‘a good walk’ to some of the best walking in Somerset.
The moral of this short tale is the best walks don’t just happen; they have to be carefully curated which takes time and effort. Luckily, that’s our favourite pastime.
