Cannington to Watchet

 24/7/21

We left early for this one in order to get the connection to Cannington. We declined the opportunity to get a pint in Bridgwater at 10:00, which was a decision that we came to regret. This walk was going to be one of our longer ones. We left Cannington and immediately seemed to walk past hundreds of slugs in the fields and on the roads for the first mile or so. I was heading vaguely in the direction of Hinkley Point initially. The weather had been warm and wet recently and the paths had quite a few fresh brambles etc. We soon came across one path that seemed impassable, so we walked on along a road. We went through some farms and equestrian centres where the footpaths were not signposted, but we managed to keep going towards Hinkley Point.


A couple of fields after this photo, we came to a hedge with no way through, not even an overgrown one. We managed to get through to an adjacent field eventually and came out on a road near where we intended. Then it was only a couple of fields to Shurton and the Babbling Brook. On arrival, we could see the pub door was shut and there were a couple of horse riders in car park chatting who informed us that the pub was shut because of Covid. That was a blow after nearly two hours walking. We had little choice but to carry on to next pub thirstily. That was nearly as far away again, but we had less problems with the footpaths. The descent into Kilve was down a narrow, overgrown, steep and wet bridleway but we were getting closer to a pub.


The Hood Arms was a welcome sight, particularly once we were sure it was open. We had pints of Tribute (4.2%), Quantock Pale Ale (4%) and Amstel (4.1%) for £12.20. Service was a bit slow, but it was open and at least there wasn't any carpet to worry about with our wet and muddy shoes. We then visited the village shop next door for a local pasty, before walking down to sea to join the English Coast Path. The last part of this walk on the coast had been at Brean/Burnham where we could only just about see the sea somewhere in the distance. It was nice to be back on the coast.


It was a bit up and down. Eventually we ended up on the beach at St Audries. Portions of this were over large pebbles and my knee did not appreciate it.


We ascended back into one the holiday villages just after the waterfall. This part of the Coast Path hadn't existed when we last came this way (https://swcpubs.blogspot.com/2015/05/watchet-to-west-quantoxhead.html) and so we missed out on the Windmill Inn this time. I bravely struggled on to Watchet, over its railway station and along the quay.



The Bell Inn served us two pints of Butcombe (4.5%) and a Carlsberg (3.8%) for £11.20. Very pleasant they were too. It had been a long walk.

Just time for one more in The London Inn. We had two pints of Jail Ale (4.8%) and a Carling (4%) for £11.40 before catching the bus home.

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