The South West Odyssey: The Last Post

The South West Odyssey was a long distance walk.

Five like-minded people started in 2008 from the Cardingmill Valley in Shropshire and by walking three days a year finished at Start Bay on the South Devon Coast in May 2019.

[Links to all 31 posts can be found at the end of this one]

So, it is finished. After 36 days walking over 12 years we have arrived at the end.

On our journey from the Shropshire Hills to South Devon we walked 660km through 5 counties: Shropshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Devon,

The South West Odyssey (English Branch) to use its full name

crossed two National Parks (purple on the map):

Exmoor

Exmoor was a delight, dry springy ground to walk on and blue sky above. (Day 25)

and Dartmoor,

Dartmoor ponies and Haytor Tor, Dartmoor (Day 31)
Wet, misty and boggy, I did not get the best of Dartmoor (though others fared better)

and 6 of England’s 34 ‘Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ (yellow on the map)

The Shropshire Hills

Alison on the top of Caer Caradoc in the Shropshire Hills (Day 1)
Our starting point, the Cardingmill Valley in the Long Mynd, is just the other side of Church Stretton, the town in the valley

The Malvern Hills

On the Malvern Ridge. (Day 6)
Here the path descends before the climb to the Herefordshire Beacon

The Cotswolds

Natural beauty is not always enhanced by human activity, but sometimes.....  (Day 11)
Bagenden Church has a 15th century nave and a Norman tower, but this site was used for religious observance long before Christianity or the Romans came to these shores

The Mendip Hills

Our trip across the Mendips started with a gentle climb up to a dull, flat grassy plain. Ho, hum.
Then suddenly the ground dropped away, down to the village of Wookey Hole. Glastonbury Tor can also be seen on the skyline two-thirds left (Day 17)

The Quantock Hills

The Quantocks gave us a lovely walk in pleasant sunshine along a high(ish) moorland ridge (Day 22)

South Devon

Most of our time in the South Devon AONB was spent on the coastal path. (Day 35)
I think we were all impressed and perhaps surprised by the variety of scenery and walking conditions we met on our litoral perambulation

We crossed many rivers and streams including

The Rea, the Teme, the Severn,

The River Severn at Upton-upon-Severn (Day 7)

the Churn, the Chew, the Brue, the Cary,

The River Cary struggling to flow across the Somerset Levels (Day 19)

the Parrett, the Tone, the Barle,

The River Barle at Withybridge on Exmoor. It shortly joins the Exe and together they continue south to Exeter (where else?)
I took the photo from outside a café which sells a memorable cream tea (Day 25)

the Teign, the Dart, the Webburn,

The exuberant little River Webburn rushes down from Dartmoor and under Buckland Bridge to join the Dart a drop-kick behind my back when I took the photo. (Day 31)
The bridge, built in the 1780s to replace an earlet version, was payed for by public subscription 

and no less than three River Avons (or should that be Rivers Avon), Shakespeare’s Avon.

Crossing 'Shakespeare's', the largest of the Avons, in Worcestershire not far above its confluence with the Severn (Day 7)

the ‘Bristol' Avon

Walking the Avon Way. We crossed the river where it is joined by the Chew in Keynsham (Day 16)

and the ‘Devon’ Avon (twice)

Francis and I on the magnificent Huntingdon Warren Clapper Bridge over the young River Avon on Dartmoor (Day 33)

and let us not forget the mighty Cressal Brook on Day 2

Brian swings across a chasm to cross the Cressall Brook (Day 2)

We also crossed the M5 (twice) and the M4, but I will spare you the photos.

Homer’s Odyssey described a ten-year journey across a small part of the eastern Mediterranean. It clearly did not involve a direct route. Neither did ours; after 3 years walking we were well east of our starting point, and on Day 12 ('Around Stroud on the Cotswold Scarp') we walked 18km and finished only 6km form our starting point. But then, it was about the journey, not the destination.

I asked the other Ody-ists for their comments. The brief was deliberately vague, the only stipulation was 150 words – and that was ignored by all. Francis decided to write about the route, he did all the route planning and booking of accommodation, a difficult job done supremely well, so he has earned the right.

THE ROUTE PLANNER SPEAKS

As the guy who plans each year’s walk, I have to say that it has been an excellent walk with each year taking us through fantastic scenery (even in the Somerset Levels). There have been four occasions when we have veered off the general south or south west trend. First, after we completed the traverse of the Malverns we headed east to climb Bredon Hill and get in line for the Cotswolds. Second, I encountered my only opposition to my route planning in the Cotswolds. Alison, with local knowledge (she lives in Cheltenham), correctly decided my route was rubbish and instigated the infamous ‘Alison Loop’ which we had to walk in inclement weather. Our third veering off was after we walked The Levels, we headed north west along the Quantocks and did a short stretch of the Somerset Coast between Watchet and Blue Anchor. And our final veering off was on the very last day after clearing Prawle Point and Start Point we headed north into Start Bay for a convenient point to set off for home.

Francis

It was a brilliant route with a huge variety of countryside and took me (and, I expect, others) to places I had never been before. The ‘Alison Loop’ was the Day 12 referred to above; it would have been an excellent walk but for the lousy weather. And I rather liked the Somerset Levels.

The Somerset Levels viewed from the towering height of Lollover Hill, all 90m of it (Day 19)

Mike, though, was less concerned with the mechanics of the route..

Has it really been twelve years of memorable three-day walks in order to reach Britain's south Devon coast from Shropshire? Yes, but my memories are not so much of wonderful English countryside, though there was much of that, but of the friends that I walked with and the shared experiences. The times I, and often others, spent walking varying distances behind Francis…

I had no shortages of pictures of Francis' back to choose from. Here we are entering Withypool on Exmoor at the end of Day 24 

…. and the secret pleasure gained when, on occasions, he was behind me!

I don't have many pictures like this. Knowstone Inner Moor (Day 26)

Full English breakfasts,…

Full English, Brownstone Farm, between Exmoor and Dartmoor (Day 27)
(and Lynne does not even have the excuse of walking it off)

…. coffees at eleven and rarely before.

Coffee at Fire Beacon on the Quantocks. This photo timed at 11.21 (Day 22)

Pints at pubs at lunchtime,…

We are joined by Lynne and Heather for lunchtime pints in the garden of the Cross House, Doynton (Day 15)

… and stings in the tail – the short sharp hills at the ends of the day’s walks.

After climbing over Glastonbury Tor the little Wearyall Hill lived up to its name
The sting in the tail of Day 18 (and surely that's Francis' white hat 50m behind!)

But most of all the opportunities to catch up with and share family news with a small group of special people who became great friends over the years. Thanks everyone. And if I have to pick my favourite bit of the whole walk it would have be the last two of all, from Outer Hope to Torcross, a quite spectacular coast path.

Mike

I would also like to mention the many convivial dinners we have shared.

Brian and a huge fish, the Star Inn, Watchet (Day 23)
And a pint of that nasty, cloudy cider that is so popular in those parts but tastes like wet, rotting wood (so I won't be welcome back!)

I know Alison was interested in the route, but she chose instead to concentrate on time’s wingéd chariot.

Looking back, my thoughts go immediately to the changes we have all seen in our lives - getting older, retiring, children getting older and having children of their own. My biggest change has been moving away from Stafford, leaving Francis and starting a new life with a new partner. I feel tremendously grateful to Francis and the others, to have been able to continue the walk despite this change. On a practical level, it meant I could do the walks as a day trip from home for a couple of years, as we walked through the Cotswolds. Apart from all that, I have felt a bit of the "odd one out" as the only woman - especially with my sense that the other wives thought I was mad to want to walk all day. But it has been great to meet up in the evenings - always Lynne, sometimes Alison and Hilary.  I have enjoyed the companionship of the walking, and the evenings, and what could be better than walking through the English countryside in the spring

No Alison, you were never in any meaningful way an “odd one out”. Although Lynne, Hilary and Alison T did indeed think you were mad – but that was their opinion of all of us (and I harbour a sneaking suspicion they might be right.)

As for other changes, Brian was the only retired member of the party in 2008, now none of us does a stroke of work and we all leach off society. And, yes, we could all supply a picture of a grandchild or two who did not exist in 2008, but if you look at the photographs of before….

Cardingmill Valley, May 2008 (Day 1)

 ...and after

Torpoint, Devon, May 2019 (Day 36)

…it is clear we all look younger than we did at the start (and if you'll believe that....).

Having talked about the route, the countryside and the people, perhaps I should finish with the wildlife.

I am no a birder myself, but Francis and Brian are, and I have tried to faithfully record everything they identified. If anybody wants to trawl through all 31 posts and compile a bird list, good luck to them. I will merely mention what I believe to be the highlights: common cranes circling above us on the Somerset Levels (Day 20) and cirl bunting on the south Devon coast (Day 35). Sorry no photos, that is beyond my capabilities.

Nor do I have photos of the fox strolling across James (vacuum cleaner) Dyson’s Cotswold Estate (Day 15), the muntjac deer running across the low-lying land beside the River Parrett (Day 20) or an Exmoor Stag. There were rabbits and squirrels, too, and possibly a hare that went unrecorded. I do have photographs of Dartmoor ponies (right at the start) and Exmoor and Quantock ponies, which are just about wild.

Exmoor ponies, Trisscombe (Day 25)

..and a slow worm on Day 35!

A slow worm basking in the sunshine on the South Devon Coastal Path (Day 35)

Farm animals featured as well, and they are easier to photograph. There were cute spring lambs in abundance…

Spring lambs near Exford (Day 25)

….young bullocks that run in packs in the spring, energetic, exuberant and supremely stupid…

This lot galloped round to cut us off at the gate....then meekly backed down, Avon Estuary (Day 34) 

…the odd self-important cockerel...

Look at me, I am beautiful. Williton, Somerset (Day 22)

....rather more alpacas than I had expected....

These Alpacas near Chew Lake in Somerset (Day 16) were not the only alpacas we encountered

....and what would Gloucestershire be without its Old Spot pigs?

Gloucester Old Spots (Day 13)

That just about wraps it up, so I will leave the last word to Brian, who covered all bases:

For me these walks were more about meeting up with friends and enjoying their company whilst taking part in an outdoor activity rather than where we were. However, you could not fail to be impressed by what we were seeing. My highlights were seeing properties and parkland in the Cotswolds, walking through the Quantocks and meeting my first Quantock pony; seeing an Exmoor Stag in full antler growth standing in the gorse early one morning whilst positioning the car and, of course, the day walking to Prawle Point. Our accommodation varied but none reached the depth of the Commercial Hotel, Colne and I fully appreciate the difficulty that Francis has had each year to find somewhere that offered the particular combination that we required. Our final cottage was different and enjoyable. To finish I would like to thank everyone for their company and Francis for his considerable organisation - a great 12-year Odyssey.

I would like to add my thanks to everybody for your companionship and the way nobody moaned when my slowness held people up, to Francis for all the organisation,  to Mike and Alison for dropping back to walk with me on some of the more challenging sections, to Brian and Francis for walking Days 21, 28, 29 and 30 with me when injury prevented me from doing it at the right time, to Hilary for hospitality when making up those days (but a small boo for Dartmoor which held back the vilest weather for those days) and to Lynne for just being there and for TLC. The one year she missed through illness I discovered how many little tasks she did that I then had to do for myself.

And that is it. We have all walked all the way from Shropshire to the South Devon Coast. It is an achievement.

Addendum

There is a little more, including the answer to ‘why did we start in Shropshire when in 2008 we all lived in and around Stafford?’

Before the English Branch there was, in 2005,6,7 The South West Odyssey (Welsh Branch).

South West Odyssey, English and Welsh Branch

And before that (roughly 2001-4) there was Go North when we walked (more than three days a year) from Stafford to Hadrian’s Wall.

The two Odysseys and Go North

And before that in 1998 (or was it 1999 - in the days before digital cameras nice clear dates are unavailable) there was Go West when we walked from Stafford to Barmouth on the Welsh Coast, linking Go West to the Welsh branch of the Odyssey, which links to the English Branch. But we started the latter two walks from different places in Stafford, fortunately the Stafford Wheel (2006-8) links everything together.

The two Odysseys, Go North and the Stafford wheel

One (or more of us?) missed some sections of Go West and/or Go North, but I think four of us have walked from Hadrian’s Wall to the South Devon Coast – with a side trip to Barmouth. I do not know how anyone else feels, but I am proud of that achievement, even if it took 20 years.

Francis has also walked from Stafford to the east coast, and in early June Brian will spend a couple of days more on the Coastal Path to link his former home in Stafford to his new home in Torquay. He now lives on the top of a hill, so there will be a sting in the tail.

The South West Odyssey (English Branch)

Introduction

Day 1 to 3 (2008);Cardingmill Valley to Great Whitley

Day 4 to 6 (2009) Great Whitely to Upton-on-Severn via the Malvern Ridge

Day 7 to 9 (2010) Upton-on-Severn to Andoversford
Day 10 (2011) Andoversford to Perrott's Brook

Day 11 (2011) Perrott's Brook to the Round Elm Crossroads

Day 12 (2011) Walking Round Stroud

Day 13 (2012) Stroud to North Nibley

Day 14 (2012) North Nibley to Old Sodbury

Day 15 (2012) Old Sodbury to Swineford

Day 16 (2013) Along the Chew Valley

Day 17 (2013) Over the Mendips to Wells

Day 18 (2013) Wells to Glastonbury 'The Mountain Route'

Day 19 (2014) Glastonbury to Langport

 Day 20 (2014) Along the Parrett and over the Tone

 Day 21 (2014) Into the Quantocks

Day 22 (2015) From the Quantocks to the Sea

Day 23 (2015) Watchet, Dunster and Dunkery Hill

Day 24 (2015) Dunkery Beacon to Withypool
Day 25 (2016) Entering Devon and Leaving Exmoor
Day 26 (2016) Knowstone to Black Dog on the Two Moors Way
Day 27 (2016) Morchard Bishop to Copplestone
Day 28 (2017) Down St Mary to Drewsteignton
Day 29 (2017) Drewsteignton to Bennett's Cross
Day 30 (2017) Bennett's Cross to Lustleigh
Day 31 (2018) Southwest Across the Moor from Lustleigh
Day 32 (2018): South to Ugborough
Day 33 (2018): Ugborough to Ringmore
Day 34 (2019): Around the Avon Estuary to Hope Cove
Day 35 (2019): Hope Cove to Prawle Point
Day 36 (2019): Prawle Point to Start Bay: The End

That's All Folks - The Odyssey is over