Walking in Somerset

Somerset is a county of great variety. 43 walks between 3 and 12 miles, with gentle rambles to strenuous hikes on Exmoor, the Quantocks, Brendons, Mendips and the pastoral lowlands. Plus details of some 20 long-distance routes.

How to use this book

The key to the enjoyment of the walks in this book is the Ordnance Survey’s mapping; none of the walks below should be attempted without one. Buy the map - the one you need is mentioned at the start of every walk. Before you set off, mark in the route on the sheet, using a highlighter pen; grid references and map features are mentioned in the text as well as features you will see on the ground. I suggest that for walks on the higher hills around the coast or overlooking the Somerset Levels, you would do well to take a photocopied section of an atlas, to identify features you can see across the Severn Estuary in Wales. All the research for this book was done with 1:50,000 mapping and any reference to “the map” is to this, not to the 1:25,000.

I also recommend you take a compass, not just for the chance of low cloud on Exmoor. There are many occasions in the lowlands when you can cross a stile and see no sign of whether the path on the other side goes diagonally across the next field, or sticks to this hedge or that - at such times a Silva compass is invaluable. It goes without saying that you should know how to walk on a bearing.

Instead of grading walks as to difficulty I have mentioned their length with the title; if a walk does include notable ascents, or a number of them, this is mentioned within the first paragraph of the description. However I would ask the reader not to let the length of a walk be the overriding factor in deciding which of the walks to do. In many cases short cuts or extensions to the walks I have described suggest themselves and these are described in the text. It is also possible in many cases to combine two or more walks together. If the text does not suggest a shortening or lengthening to what you require take a look at the walk on the map and see if you can adapt the walk to the length you require - in a number of cases you will find that it is perfectly possible. There are walks in this book, particularly on Exmoor, where you see the start point before you reach it and may be tempted to take a short cut off the right of way to get back to it - please don’t.

The Geology of Somerset

It is often forgotten by walkers that the landscape they are walking over is dictated by the geology of the area including all the later development of the landscape.

The highest parts of Somerset, very closely corresponding to the area covered by Chapter Three - Exmoor, the Quantocks and the Brendons - are of Old Red Sandstone. Geologically, Exmoor, the Brendons and the Quantocks have a strong link with Devon; the rock which lifts these hills is also called Devonian Sandstone and the immediately noticeable red soil is a shared feature between much of western Somerset and Devon. There are also small outcrops of slate and shale. The oldest rocks in the Quantocks are known as Hangman Grits, formed some 490 million years ago as aquatic deposits. Triscombe Quarry (Walk 6) extracts this rock, not for great architectural feats but merely as road surfacing.

Further south-east, the ridge of the Blackdown Hills is of Upper Greensand. There are patches of chert, a kind of flint and Gault clay. Lias, which famously crops out at Golden Cap on the Dorset coast near Lyme Regis, is responsible for the thin ridge of the Poldens, running across the Somerset Levels. The hill shapes created by Lias are also characteristic; compare the vicinity of Golden Cap in Dorset with the isolated hills of Glastonbury Tor, Nyland Hill and Brent Knoll. This was mined at Keinton Mandeville, the stone being used for paving and fine pieces even being polished. Lias can be seen around Kilve (Walk 4) and at Watchet; both areas reveal fossils after storms.

The lowlands to the north of the Blackdown Hills, as well as the trough between the Quantocks and the Brendons and a belt to the east of the Quantocks, are of clay, specifically known as Keuper Marl. Looking out across the Somerset Levels on a clear day gives you the impression of an amphitheatre, surrounded by high hills overlooking them. This is especially marked if you are looking across them from any of the hills to their east (Lodge Hill or Cadbury Hill for example). On the northern side of the Levels, the Mendips are Carboniferous Limestone (with small outcrops of Devonian Sandstone and igneous Silurian rocks). At its eastern end this provided coal in what was the Somerset coal field around Midsomer Norton and Radstock. In the heart of the Mendips on the limestone were lead mines.

The eastern side of the county is marked by a belt of Oolitic limestone, yellower in colour than the carboniferous. This was quarried at Doulting for the castle of Castle Cary, Glastonbury Abbey and Wells Cathedral. The villages west of Yeovil are notable for the richly coloured sandstone of their buildings. Many an estate agent’s window today will boast that a house is built of Hamstone - quarried on Ham Hill. This was also widely transported to be used as mullions and lintels for doors and windows.

Equipment

In the introduction to my book on Dorset I warned walkers of the abundance and richness of mud to be found there. Somerset is just as muddy! Be warned and wear appropriate footwear. In high summer and warm weather you will probably want to do some of these walks wearing shorts. If you do, carry a pair of long trousers with you for protection against nettles; few of the walks in this book are entirely nettle free.

I frequently find a pair of lightweight secateurs useful in lowland walks. In spring bramble sprays and stems of thorn can rapidly obliterate a path through a thicket or block a stile through a hedge. Modern secateurs, all of plastic except a single blade, are almost unbelievably light. It does a hedge no harm to be cut back slightly around a stile.

A word of warning

I have carefully avoided start points for walks that give you any opportunity to park your car on the roadside verge - please do not do this. Sad to say, that even in Somerset, theft from cars parked in rural spots is rife. It is vitally important you take the normal precautions of removing or at least concealing all valuables, including if possible the radio. The more you make yourself known to those around when you park your car, the more you tend to minimise the risk from thieves. The great majority of walks in this book start at or go past a pub. If you are going to park your car in a pub car park, go into the pub before your walk.

In my books thus far I have consciously avoided mentioning badger setts, lest my book should be read by badger baiters and attention might be drawn to a sett. For this book I have relented - I cannot imagine that this book would appeal to a badger-baiter. Therefore, where a route passes a badger sett this is mentioned. If you see anyone (invariably male) looking suspicious near a badger sett, do not approach. Endeavour to take the number of their car and report it to the police.

A word of advice

I ask of those who follow the walks in this book that they should leave no sign of their passing when they go home. I have never met with anything other than a welcome from those in the countryside on my research. Respect those who work there rather than use it for recreation and you will ensure that walkers are always welcomed. A spot that may seem almost complete wilderness to the urban-dwelling walker is known intimately to a surprisingly large number of people in the villages round about. That same visiting walker may have come to that spot in search of a supposed sense of timelessness - he will frequently be rewarded in the walks in this book.

The fact is, however, that the countryside is no more a static entity than the town. For that reason you may well find minor inaccuracies in this book, as footpaths have sections diverted, new barns go up and so on. The earliest research for this book was made in the spring of 1994, the last in the first weeks of 1997. It was checked using the County Council Public Rights of Way Definitive Map available for reference in Taunton in accordance with the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

It only remains for me to express a hope that you will have some of the pleasure that I have enjoyed walking in the county where I grew up.