Minehead to Porlock Wier

Date: 14th April 2017
Distance: 9.9 miles

Time: 5:14'20.6
Ascent: 1706 feet

Total SWCP so far: 9.9 miles

Route

Progress

Profile

Martin and Marina's Bit

Our first taste of the SWCP was to be over the Easter Bank Holiday, 2017. We fully intended to make the most of it and to get a section of the path walked each of the three days of the long, Easter weekend. So given we all live about 200 miles away from Minehead and Bank Holidays are notorious for generating horrendous traffic, this meant getting up at.... <gulp>..... 4:30 in the morning and hitting the road at 5:00. 

This turned out to be a good approach and the travel template for future SWCP trips. We stopped only once en route, to sample the delights on offer in the cafe within the Spar mini-market at Williton. I should perhaps explain what I mean by "delights" though, since the word has its own, distinct meaning in this particular cafe. I ordered a toasted tea cake. Yummy. Imagining the perfectly toasted doughy bread, brown and crispy on top, soft inside with those delicious raisons and the usual, generous helping of melted butter soaking into it and running over the sides, my mouth was literally watering. No, I wasn't drooling (noticeably), just salivating the appropriate amount, in anticipation of the treat to come. 

What came was definitely a tea cake and any claims to the contrary would not hold up in court. But the lump of butter on top of it had steadfastly refused to melt, despite the surface of the tea cake being a curious charcoal black colour. I took one small bite and the mystery was solved. This was a kind of tea cake ice lolly abomination! Char-grilled on top but frozen in the middle. I sent it back and it returned after a stint in the microwave. Oh dear. Cafe in the Spar at Willington! It was just a tea cake! How hard can that be to prepare?!

OK. That's better. Been wanting to get that off my chest. And I'm aware that it's distinctly possible that this, the first real entry in the SWCP Chronicles will be more about disappointing tea cake experiences than the wonder of the SWCP itself. That's life I guess :-)

So what about that first day of walking? It was a phenomenal start to our SWCP adventure, and generated an enthusiasm and momentum for the stages to come. It was a day of landscapes replete with gorse bushes in full bloom, their yellow so bright as to challenge my camera's aperture calculation. The walking was vigourous and satisfying and we were continually refreshed by the beautiful environment we were in and the new sights it had to offer at every turn and over the top of every hill. 

SWCP has more than its fair share of awesome cliffs and sea views. It also offers stretches of woodland, lush green pastures and wild and very English beaches. But it's by no means predictable and contains some wonderful surprises, particularly if like me, you haven't bothered to read the guidebook properly (or in fact you haven't read it at all!). On this, our first SWCP day, I was surprised and delighted (in a non-Spar cafe tea cake, more traditional way) by the remarkable Porlock Bay. 

Porlock Bay features an expanse of what was previously farmland, with numerous mature trees growing in it. But some years ago, that farmland was flooded by the sea when it breached the ridge which acts as a sea defence. It's now a strange and eerily beautiful landscape, containing large but very dead trees and tangles of drift wood. It's visually stunning and as a photographer (kind of) I could easily have spent the entire day there. It's so full of photographic possibility.

Day 1 and SWCP section 1 done. Lots more to come.

Derek and Lesley's Bit

It all started with Lesley’s idea about walking the south west coast path while she is still able with the Dystonia managed. She spoke to Derek who said yes why not it will be a challenge. I think Lesley mentioned it to Marina who mentioned it to Martin & we all agreed so Easter weekend we got up before the sun & drove to Somerset where the swcp starts.

We stopped & all met at the spar, Martin & Marina had treated themselves to the delights on offer in the café & upon hearing there stories declined NOT to treat ourselves.

Leaving one car at Porlock Wier we drove to the start of the national trail at Minehead.

The Start! Photo by Derek

We started the walk with 9.9 miles ahead of us & with the weather definitely on our side with glorious views of bright yellow gorse & bluebells (in blue) finally arrived in Porlock Wier had a look around & collected the car from Minehead heading off to our accommodation to recover for day 2.

Total SWCP walked so far: 9.9 miles

Photographs