Circular Walk 1 Baltonsborough to Lottisham and Back

 Absolutely loads of walks around the village of Baltonsborough and around.

We are really lucky to have a Footpath Warden, Phil Bradshaw that goes more than just the extra mile, quite literally. Phil has been responsible for replacing most of the old stiles, around the parish, with lovely new modern metal kissing gates. A real labour of love, which has taken a great deal of his time, co-ordinating with ramblers who have done a lot of the labour as volunteers and negotiating with landowners and others for the appropriate permissions. All this as well as finding the funding for the project. 

This is a monthly Village walk led by Phil, that we did in Mid May. Approximately 2.75 miles on flat ground. A few kissing gates and long grass, but an easy ramble.

We met for the walk at the Village Phone Box, an easy mile from our bungalow to the top of Ham Street at the junction with Muchelney Hill. 

 We started our walk, by cutting up the lane by our bungalow towards the top of the school playing field. From here we walked up through the field and then through the woods to Burnetts Lane.

Past the lovely little forest hut built in the garden of the Wayside Cottage by the owner. A luxurious "Man Cave!"

The path up through the woods was dry and passable but just beginning to be overgrown by new Spring growth, mind the nettles. This is a popular dog walkers route, so the path quickly becomes assessable, although can be  very muddy after rain.

Through the gate and we were on Burnetts Lane and passed the "Corrigated Cottage". Now used as  a holiday let in an old Anderson shelter, which had been used by Land Girls during the World War 2.

The Corrugated Cottage

Following on past here, we looked over the fields and could just make out our house down in the valley on the edge of the playing field, a lovely view.

Soon we were out on Ham Street. Turning left, we followed the road to the top of Muchelney Hill, by the phone box which now holds the new defibrillator. 

The next part of the walk continued to the top of Ham Street and then left towards Lottisham. This part of the walk took us passed the lovely little church of St Mary's in Lottisham. The door to the church was open so we wandered in for a look around.

St Mary's Church Lottisham

We are so luck in this country to have so many delightful little churches tucked around the country and lovingly looked after. 

St Marys is beautifully kept  with some great stained glass windows. Unusually these are modern ones but beautifully done. Surprisingly it was built in 1876 in the Arts and Crafts style, so relatively modern. Built of blue lias stone by the architect  Thomas Graham Jackson.

Note the Tor!!

All to soon, time to continue the walk. This time we were heading across the fields on the footpaths well marked, although there were a few minor obstacles to navigate around. We crossed Hells Ditch over the tiny bridge which marked the boundary between the parishes of Lottisham and Baltonsborough.

The bridge across Hells Ditch.

We paused for a short breath at a handy farm store.

Lots of lovely old farm houses on route and back towards Ham Street and the end of the walk. 

Finally back to the start and our walk was finished. A lovely ramble in lovely weather.

Looking forward to the next village ramble!!

Uphill Marina Walks

 The Uphill Walks are a set of 10 walks from Uphill Marina and Campsite at Weston -Super-Mare. Lovely spot to start walking, with a handy café, picnic area and beach nearby. Easy parking with a public loo on the road by the marina. A short walk along the beach or bus ride to Weston Town. Two pubs a 10 minute walk away.

Uphill Walk 5

A relatively easy walk to start with of around 4.5 miles. The only tricky bit was climbing the slope to Bleadon Hill, walking poles needed in the winter or after rain.

The start of the walk. Uphill Marina. Also a campsite. We have stayed many times.

 

This was the hardest part of this walk uphill!

One of the beacons lit as part of the Queens Jubilee celebrations.

Lots of variety on this walk. Fields, tracks, lanes and hill! Finally a stiff climb to top it all, a climb to the beacon tower then the old St Nicholas Church.

Uphill Walk 7

A challenging walk this one, we managed to get lost! It should have been 6.5 miles, I think we managed around 7.5 miles, eventually flagged down a passing motorist for directions and they gave us a lift .....so only minor cheating! A few spots where the footpaths are totally overgrown especially the bit along the Axe River, we had to hike through a corn field and the bridge had disappeared. On Purn Hill, we went straight on over the top, when we should have gone on the bottom track, still you live and learn. Great fun though, we'll have to do it again. Braved the wild animals, donkeys, cows, horses and survived to tell the tale!  We really do need to brush up our map skills.

 

On the beach at Uphill, a lovely start to the day!

Purn Hill, we were doing so well until we got here.

Oh and a certain person forgot the camera! These were taken with the smart phone.


Uphill Walk 7 (Revisited)

Well having done this walk last week and going completely wrong we decided to do it again properly. Looking at the map we decided to avoid the section through the cornfield and trip along the road instead, a good decision