Stathe to Glastonbury
I set off from the campsite in my waterproofs. Although it wasn’t raining the haze in the distance suggested rain was on its way.
From Stathe, I joined the footpath to briefly rejoin the East Deane Way. At the bend of the river, we parted ways, and I joined the football to Pathe. The footpath followed the Sowy River flood relief channel. It was really interesting walking along the flood plains. It was a completely new experience and it felt quite odd to be somewhere so flat!
Along the footpath was a house with a beautiful purple flower mural. The patterns were almost like mandalas.
After reaching Pathe, I took the drove road to Aller. The road was incredibly straight and flat. Looking at the map, I wondered if this would feel like walking on a treadmill, but the subtly changing bushes and surroundings helped me feel like I was making progress.
Once in Aller, I took the footpath into the woodland. Someone had added a little Enchanted Wood sign to the footpath sign, which made me think of the Enchanted Wood in Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree books. Though I unfortunately didn’t find the Land of Birthdays!
After climbing through the woodland, the footpath bordered the top of a field, where I could see the flood plains below. It really was so flat!
I paused for a snack to enjoy the view, then continued along the footpath.
On my way to the Breech Wood Danger Area, I passed a field of alpacas, who all stood up to watch me pass.
A danger area is land owned by the Ministry of Defence and used for training. Access is allowed on footpaths through the area, as long as they’re not firing (thankfully the Breech Wood range is not in use at the moment). Signs at the entrance to the danger area bluntly stated “Do not touch military remains, it may explode and kill you.”, which kept me moving swiftly and definitely keeping to the path!
After getting safely through the danger area, I followed lanes to Low Ham, then joined the drove road over Somerton Moor. The drove road started as a bridleway that was straight and flat, even if a little muddy underfoot. It was nice to walk along and let my mind wander, as I didn’t need to focus on any navigation.
About halfway along the bridleway changed to lane and my progress was faster. I covered almost 2km in 20 minutes! The wind had a nice breeze, and although the weather had threatened to rain, I only had a couple of very light showers. The wind rustled the reeds to the side of my, which made me think of the reeds blowing in the Kiss the Girl scene of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. This was one of my favourite films growing up. I loved watching Ariel chase her dreams. (It was probably a good job that the film doesn’t follow Hans Christian Anderson’s original storyline!)
At the end of the Drove Road, I took a lane before climbing up into the woodland on Ivy Horn Hill.
I soon left the woodland and got my first view of Glastonbury Tor – a sign that I’d not got too far to go now!
I dropped down into Street, which proudly stated itself as the home of shoemaking! I stopped in Spoons for some late lunch and saw this collection of murals on my way through the town centre. It was funny walking through the town centre, lots of locals gave me a smile, but no one was quite brave enough to ask what I was doing!
I left Street along some footpaths and got a closer view of Glastonbury Tor.
Between the two fields, I crossed a weir. It was really impressive and the sound of the water overtook the landscape.
You definitely needed a head for heights crossing over the weir, as you could see through the metal grills to the water below!
A little while later I was in Glastonbury and had finished Day 16. With the straight and flat droves, I finished much faster than expected: covering 26km in under 7 hours, even with a half an hour stop for lunch!
Tomorrow, I have a rest day in Glastonbury, so it will be nice to have an explore of the town.
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