Day 14, Beam Bridge to Taunton.

A tricky start to the day as we were hoping to make use of some footpaths. However, this was not to be as the footpath signs had been taken down and the gate to the field padlocked. We don’t mind exploring paths but just now we don’t want to have to retrace our steps and put in extra miles! We opted to use the small roads instead to reach The West Dean Way. We were very happy that this was clearly signed and headed off across a beautiful field of buttercups. Shortly afterwards we met up with Lesley, Steve and Marilyn out for a long walk. We had a lovely chat with them and were very pleased when they assured us that the way we were heading was a good well marked path. Thank you, it certainly was a great, well maintained trail. The landowners had gone to great trouble to put in paths, even through the middle of fields.

The route took us along The River Tone and also past a section of derelict Grand Western Canal. The same canal we were on yesterday.

There’s been quite a lot of rain today and we had more good advice from some locals. They suggested we eat our lunch on a sheltered section on the river’s edge. It was especially great as we were sheltered from the rain. No benches though!

An unexpected highlight of the day was Somerset’s County Cricket Ground. We knew we would pass by but were very surprised when we were able to go right up to the pitch to take photos. Thought we’d better stay off the wicket!