Up at 08:00 and our breakfasts for free . The manager gave Jezabel a complimentary voucher on account of the drinking glasses being dirty. We robbed the breakfast bar and took a couple of bags of cakes over to the homeless people living in tents across the way
The Met Office forecast for Weston Super Mare was grim, 80% chance of heavy rain all day. In dry conditions we set out for the railway station
We rode the rails just one stop to Milton, then a ten minute dash to the (awesome) Helicopter Museum. I could have stayed all day and will definitely return with Paul
Our route to Lympsham was pretty well a straight line 180 degrees south. We reached Oldmixon just as dusk began to fall and our planed route took us over Hay Wood Hill and I could see no reason to vary from the plan
Bat calamity struck. About 100m from the top, the path became very muddy and steep. Jezabel was in 4×4 mode using her poles but I was still on my back legs and very soon on my backside. I also otcovered in mud. It took me over an hour to travel 5 metres during which time l repeatedly slid backwards down the slimy mud slope.
We stuck to footways thereafter and arrived at the Hobb’s Boat Premier Inn in good time for supper
Today has been a deliberately lazy day, grockling about WSM and we met with cousin Penny and husband Patrick.
A planned day of rest, I was glad to have a lie-in this morning. Jezabel and I walked north from the pier to ’Knightstone’ where we visited the tearooms, in the footsteps of the Queen, who re-opened Knightstone after its refurbishment in 2017.
A good ‘people watching’ place, the staff had entered into the fun of it by putting out four tables of four but only 14 chairs. On a busy ‘fully booked’ afternoon, you had to move fast to get your seating combination established before somebody else had relocated one of your empty chairs.
We went for a stroll along the prom and had a fish & chips lunch in the cafe on the pier.
It has been really nice to discover that I have a cousin so close. We’ll be sure to keep in touch.
Another walking day tomorrow, so Jezabel and I have had a quiet night in. Tomorrow the forecast is for rain all day. We have 10km to walk to Lympsham, possibly via the helicopter museum
Clevedon is a lovely old town. Lots of interesting, independent shops, no chains or big brands. There is a nice rocky beach that turns to sand once the tide is halfway out and it has a quirky pier of an unusual design
We saw two bob-tailed deer playing in the recreation ground by the beach.
There has been flooding in these parts.
Whilst the roads are not too bad, the fields are a different matter. Following a well used footpath, we encountered mud and standing water up to half a metre deep. This called for diversionary tactics and back tracking. Which cost us precious time on an already busy day.
Our venue for lunch was the Tiffen Cafe at Bullock Farm following which we headed straight for Weston Super Mare.
On arrival we couldn’t yet get into our room. Weston was mobbed: crowds of people in the streets, men selling light sabres and loud music booming everywhere. We had inadvertently arrived on the day of Weston Super Mare’s carnival.
The carnival parade was scheduled to commence at 7:00pm and the revellers were six deep on the pavement, but only the light sabre vendors came along. By 8:00pm the emergency services arrived, soon to be followed by dozens of floats. Brightly illuminated, packed with dancers and thumping sound systems.
We watched the spectacle for an hour in the good company of the Saron Cabs family (thanks for the donation) from outside the Winter Gardens Pavilion. Then the cold got the better of us and we retired to our accommodation
I had the best night’s sleep that I’ve had in a long time. Severn View Moto Services is one of the smaller service areas on the UK motorway network. It used to be busier but the building of the new Severn bridge a few miles further down stream has relegated it to the eastbound M48.
“There’s no such thing as bad weather. Only unsuitable clothing” said Ken, who I worked with at B&Q
We had a little breakfast and set out at 8:00am in a light, not unpleasant rain. First stop, the former observation deck, part of the original (now abandoned) service area
Jezabel bravely strode out across the pedestrian footbridge over the M48, then we doubled back round to visit the estuarine beach under the (first) Severn Bridge. This has exposed strata of: shale, strontium, red mud rock and green mud rock. A Mecca for geologists, the beach also gives up many fossils
We continued westward but the footpath we had planned to use was dug up and closed to enable contractors to work on the flood defences. So we had to walk beside a fast A road in pouring rain. Not nice!
Lunch was at a fabulous little cafè next door to the now defunct White Horse in Pilning. The excellent food from this cafe more than justifies the search for the elusive establishment
My knowledge of Portishead was until today no more than a place name on an M5 motorway sign. It’s a highly industrialised and commercial shipping port. Once much busier than it is now, for sure. Cutting right across the town is a massive high level bridge, carrying the busy A000 over the Avonmouth ship canal. This gargantuan structure stands almost 100 metres tall and is more than 2 km end to end. We too needed to be on the far side of the bridge so staked a claim on the cycle path and set out for the other side
Jezabel, I have to say, was incredibly brave to do this, she being uncomfortable even on pedestrian bridges
We spied at least a million unregistered Renault Trafik vans. Not sure if they are built here or just here for storage
We reached out Premier Inn accommodation just as the afternoon turned into evening and I beat Jezabel at dominoes.
I’m having trouble pasting images to this blog. Script is all settled and the images are ready but the blog page drops out when the images are added?
Note. It’s actually more like 12 km from Portishead to Clevedon but we were lucky enough to get a lift part way there from a nice lady belonging to the URC church in Redcliffe Bay
We were lethargic getting going today. Perhaps due to the continuous rain storms outside but also I think that I over did it a bit yesterday ☹️
We set out from Portishead, gone 10:00am, heading west, uphill toward the sea! I trusted my bearing (300) and Jezabel took over navigation, using her IPhone but the uphill component was counter intuitive for me.
But we stuck with it and soon reached the Windmill pub, by the Fishermen’s Steps on Mariner’s Path. The England Coast Path follows the Mariner’s Path here and we found ourselves sliding sideways and skating about on this winding muddy path .Jezabel commented “storms a brewing” as we approached a sailing club and within a couple of minutes we were inadequately sheltering from a downpour with only a 6” door lintel between us and heavy rain. It was’t making the path any easier so we set out for the main road and potentially a bus 🚍 but thre was no timetable, only a poster offing an out-of-date phone number. We walked on and decided to stop for a cuppa the URC church cafe. From where we got a lift for the last 5 km to the Walton Park hotel, our accommodation for tonight.
From where we caught the lovely Elizabeth Line train, which in not much more than twenty minutes, delivered us to Paddington.
From where we boarded the GWR train to Bristol Parkway, to be met by cousin Penny and husband Patrick. We stopped for a cup of tea and a chat. Now here I sit updating the blog and preparing the map for tomorrow.
Jezabel has gone to recce the Boar’s Head for supper
We’ve just returned from the Boar’s Head, complete with roaring open fire and super friendly staff.. A nicer pub you couldn’t hope to find. But…
At the worst of it, I could barely hobble 2 metres. Certainly, 3 metres was beyond me. Often, Jezabel would have to get my wheelchair to walk me into the house from the car, on our drive (less than 3 metres). At times, I resorted to crawling on hands and knees, being
the only way I could independently mobilise. I remember crawling from the car park into A&E at Dartford one time. The man on the door reacted as if this kind of thing happened every day. Perhaps it does.
And so, tomorrow, if all goes to plan, I embark on a gentle 60km coastal stroll, down Somerset way. This progress has been made possible by the wonderful staff of the Guy’s & St Thomas’s Spinal Team. They put a Cortisone injection in my spine and the miracle cure was instantaneous. Magic!
My heartfelt thanks go to Jezabel, who has supported everything I’ve done. I wold not be here but for her constant help. I also have to say thank you to the entire team at the Queen Mary’s Bexley Neuro Rehab Unit. Thoroughly professional, they are all highly motivated and have done so much to support my independence.
Cousin Penny and husband Patrick will be kindly giving me a lift to Aust, from where this little adventure begins 😜
Jezabel kindly bought me a few days away at our favourite hotel at our favourite seaside place. Our room at the Royal Albion hotel in Broadstairs has a balcony looking straight out to sea
Hasn’t exactly been deck chair weather but we walked to Ramsgate against a bracing wind yesterday and this morning the sun is shining 😁
The old right leg has been giving me bit of jip but it’ll be right as ninepence today I’m sure
We’re going for a run out in the new car to visit the sound mirrors at Denge later today
I’m off on my travels again, commencing on Tuesday 11th April. I reached Chepstow at the end of last year, so I’ll be starting opposite Chepstow, on the south side of the Severn Estuary to set out by climbing the back fence of Aust motorway services, then following the South West Coast Path to Poole Harbour, maybe further.
Cousin Penny has kindly offered to meet me at Bristol Parkway, put me up for the night and ferry me to Aust on the morning of 11th April. Thank you so much. I’ll set out from Aust and this first leg of 2023 should take me to Ilfracombe. From where I’ll get the ferry to Lundy Island. How exciting. Can’t wait.
My good friends at the Red Robins choir have made a substantial contribution to my charitable fund, in support of Parkinson’s UK. Sponsorship has now exceeded £3,000. Fantastic!
Some of you may have seen me this weekend travelling by wheelchair. Not the most practical vehicle for coastal walking. Fear not, this is a very temporary arrangement due to a bad case of Sciatica. I’ll be better tomorrow 🙁😁🤪
If you’d like to donate to the Parkinson’s UK fund, here’s the link:
Sedbury Cliffs? No, sorry, didn’t make it! The weather was foul. Raining cats and dogs. We had good intentions but reached Chepstow railway station and succumbed to the temptations of a warm, dry train.
Bright and early this morning we visited Tintern Abbey. A truly thought provoking place. CADW are doing their best to preserve it but the masonry is delaminating. It is literally falling to pieces after just 800 years. This process has been made all the worse because Henry VIII nicked the lead off the roof
The Wiremakers’ Bridge is undergoing restoration work and is only accessible to men in orange clothing. We had no orange clobber with us and the detour to Bigswier Bridge would have added 8 km to our journey, so we opted for the Wye Valley Path again. “It’s not steep” said the lady in the ice cream shop. It was blooming steep! But I forgive her. She gave me a free ice cream 😜
Halfway up the hill, we discovered the remains of St Mary’s church, destroyed by fire in 1977. The roof has gone and the whole place has been over-run by brambles but the bell tower is still intact and there’s a loft hatch in the ceiling about 4 metres up. I knew I should have brought my collapsible ladder
We continued up the steep footpath to Reddings Farm, where we sought permission to shelter from the rain in a barn. The farm worker we were speaking with was deaf as a post so we decided to seek forgiveness after the event.
Piercefield
The path led on towards Chepstow Racecourse (no racing today) but before we got there we chanced upon the Piercefield, at St Arvans, a very welcoming pub wih a roaring open fire. Just what we needed on such a wet day 😄
We met some men at Chepstow railway station. Very friendly they were, having been to a beer festival 🍻
We planned to take a local ‘Transport for Wales’ train just one stop to Newport, then a GWR express, three stops to Paddington. We had a leisurely 15 minutes to make the connection. The TfW train was running 11 minutes late, which cut us back to just 4 minutes to effect our changeover at Newport
We came in on Plarform 1. The indicator board was in welsh. Only by shouting profanities at it could we get it to spill the beans as to which platform the London train would go from (Platform 4). I’m useless on stairs, usually come a cropper. So we had to wait for the lift
Across the bridge (we could see our train already boarding on Platform 4) and there was a queue fo the lift. We ran on for the stairs. I grabbed the stainless steel bannister rail and cautiosly took the first two steps
Jezabel ran ahead, clattering down the wide circular srairs. I had no intention of missing that train. I saw my opportunity and grasped it. Years of practice at Dartford Grammar School had prepared me for this moment. I rode the polished bannister rail, side-sabble, facing forwards, my speed increasing moment by moment. I overtook Jezabel and was feeling quite chuffed with myself. Then, as I rounded the final bend, I saw a lady standing nonchalantly on the bottom step, leaning on the bannister rail and talking on her mobile phone. She never heard my warning shouts and must have been somewhat surprised as I gently placed my left hand on her shoulder and vaulted onto the platform.
The train doors were already sliding shut as we dived through them, ignoring the warning beepers. “Phew, made it!” said Jezabel and laughing, we hugged.
A moment later a welsh voice came over the train’s tannoy system: “[••• welsh •••], Chester, [••• welsh •••], Cwmbran, Abergavenny, Hereford, Leominsrer…
This was not the London train 🥺
This has been the final day for 2022. We shall continue the adventure in 2023, srarting at Easter. If you’ like to donate to Parkinson’s UK, here’s the link 😉
Sebastian's Swagger 