One of the most beautiful walks we have done, but because of the terrain one of the hardest. 10.5 miles, very 'undulating' was the challenge we were looking forward to, but we didn't count on the mud.
We had just walked into our first field, about 5 minutes into the walk, when we met a group of 3 local dogwalkers. When we told them where we were going they said 'No you can't get through that way, it's a bog'. (They all had wellies or boots on, clearly no mugs). We expressed the idea that we would be ok because we had boots and sticks and things, and one of them said rather dismissively 'You'll need waders if you try to get through down there' (referring to our planned path). Well, this did not unduly perturb us (see last week's blog entry for evidence of doughtiness), but the muddy path we found ourselves on was given another twist we we encountered the 'Marshfield Mudlark'. This annual event is a run, on a muddly cross-country path, partly through and on our planned route.
We therefore had to cope with a steward who was trying to ensure that the army of runners got through a stile before we had a go (some assertive getting in line eventually helped us show that walkers did not have to be at the bottom of the pecking order). The runners, (and two clearer-uppers collecting waymarking stakes) were soon away from us and we continued to try to progess on our route, but oh it was so difficult. In lots of places the thick, deep, slippery mud meant extremely slow and uncomfortable progress, and it was generally clear that this walk was going to feel like much more than the stated distance.
We ended up completing it in 7 hours (Geoff Mullett had estimated 5.5) with about half an hour stops. I think this was commendable... even though after the first quarter of the walk the conditions improved a lot, there were still many places, including the return half of the loop, where the walking was uncomfortable and stilted, coping with soft fields in which cows had churned the surface to the point where you constantly had to watch your footing, to avoid tussocks, deep muddy puddles, and cowpats.
This is a rather negative summary of a walk with lots of positives, mostly wonderful valley views, distant views from the perimeter of Little Solsbury Hill,
some great houses,
an interesting variety of livestock,
including several flocks of Jacob Sheep (brown ones) and quite a few people on the way round to chat to.
Oh.... and Margie got a muddy bum!
