SOUTH SOMERSET CIRCLE AUTHOR’S NOTES
Some time ago, I found a walk entitled the Mendip Ring - a walk of 190Km round the boundary of the Mendip district of the county of Somerset. So, I thought that would be a bit of a challenge and I walked it over several months in 2017/18. I thought it would be a good idea to write a similar walk around the boundary of South Somerset. Mendip has an area of 285 square miles and a population around 112,500, whereas South Somerset has 370 square miles and a population of around 158,000, so this walk was going to be somewhat longer.
Whilst I wanted to walk as near as possible to the boundary, there were some other practical difficulties.
Firstly, splitting the walk into manageable sections - I aimed for 15 - 20 Km.
Secondly, I wanted the route descriptions to be accurate but not too long-winded, so do take the relevant OS 1:25000 Explorer map (and know how to use it!). Somerset Council provides a very useful Rights-of-Way map showing paths, stiles, gates, bridges and reported faults which is zoomable to 1:500
roam.somerset.gov.uk/roam/map
Finally, trying to have the start and finish points of each section within reach of public transport - which at best in Somerset is pretty sparse!
My normal idea would be to drive to the end point, get a bus to the start and then walk back to the car. At least doing it that way round avoids the inevitable pressure to reach somewhere in time to get the bus! Sometimes, that will involve a walk to get to the bus, but I figured that was the only way round having two cars and two drivers - something I’m keen to avoid! Timetables can be found at http://travelinesw.com/
As with any project, some compromises had to be made, especially over on the east where the route diverts westwards to enable transport connections to Wincanton and in the west to enable transport connections to Chard. I hope they don’t detract too much from the intention to circumnavigate (or perhaps circumnambulate!) South Somerset.
As always, I’m very happy to receive comments, suggestions and queries to [email protected]
Whilst I wanted to walk as near as possible to the boundary, there were some other practical difficulties.
Firstly, splitting the walk into manageable sections - I aimed for 15 - 20 Km.
Secondly, I wanted the route descriptions to be accurate but not too long-winded, so do take the relevant OS 1:25000 Explorer map (and know how to use it!). Somerset Council provides a very useful Rights-of-Way map showing paths, stiles, gates, bridges and reported faults which is zoomable to 1:500
roam.somerset.gov.uk/roam/map
Finally, trying to have the start and finish points of each section within reach of public transport - which at best in Somerset is pretty sparse!
My normal idea would be to drive to the end point, get a bus to the start and then walk back to the car. At least doing it that way round avoids the inevitable pressure to reach somewhere in time to get the bus! Sometimes, that will involve a walk to get to the bus, but I figured that was the only way round having two cars and two drivers - something I’m keen to avoid! Timetables can be found at http://travelinesw.com/
As with any project, some compromises had to be made, especially over on the east where the route diverts westwards to enable transport connections to Wincanton and in the west to enable transport connections to Chard. I hope they don’t detract too much from the intention to circumnavigate (or perhaps circumnambulate!) South Somerset.
As always, I’m very happy to receive comments, suggestions and queries to [email protected]
