| Hike Southbound through Britain with Daryl May Click for Northbound hike |
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| John Gilbert's shot of me enjoying the rain and the hedgerows. West Country lanes often look like this | |
| Days S53 - S65 English West Country | |
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Day S55 - Bridgwater to Taunton
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Saturday, April 19, 2008
Time of departure: 11.30 am Time of arrival: 5.00 pm Place departed: Bridgwater, Somerset Place arrived: Taunton, Somerset Miles: 13 Cum miles: 806.2 Percent complete: 83.0  With friends, John and Aliuson Gilbert, in Stockland Bristol |
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| Ducks in downtown Taunton | |
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I walked without a backpack today. That was possible because I spent
the night back at John's place in Stockland Bristol near Bridgwater.
John and I hiked from Bridgwater to Taunton, and returned by train. My
pack stayed at John's place, and I didn't miss it at all.
It drizzled most of the day, so hiking wasn't much fun. We started late because the forecast said we'd miss heavier rain this way, but I don't think the heavier rain ever arrived. We took pretty, country lanes and the Bridgwater-Taunton canal towpath for possibly half the day. Unfortunately, the lanes were only rarely signposted. After a ploughman's lunch at The Maypole Inn, washed down with shandy, I selected a right turn about a hundred yards before the correct right turn. Twenty-minutes later, John's local knowledge told him we didn't want to be where we were. Usually, in England, you can fix this type of navigation error by going on to the next intersection, but not this time. We had to backtrack, and ended up catching a later train home. Tomorrow, John plans to drop me and my backpack at Taunton, and my mini-vacation wll be over. I've got something like 175 miles to go, but a lot of them are hills. It will be harder to do them without John's companionship. We spent a lot of our time asking each other, "Do you remember John Doe?" That's what happens when you've worked in the same outfit for over twenty years. Back in Stockland, Alison greeted us with "What took you so long?", and Oscar the cat greeted us with "Where's dinner?" |
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| Rest day 17 © 2007 and 2008 Daryl May Day S56 | |