Day 4 Radstock to North Petherton
Quick facts:
43.1 miles/67 km
1,180 ft ascent
Sunny with cloudy periods H 22C L 10 C
Check out Corner to Corner, Day 4: Radstock to North Petherton activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/D8BkL2vQpsb
Today turned out to be a perfect cycling day. The weather was perfect, the pavement smooth, nobody had bike issues and our destination - the Walnut Tree Hotel in North Petherton is very comfortable!
I started my day early, cleaning my bike and chain to get rid of the canal track dirt and adding oil to encourage her to change to my lower gear - something she didn’t do on the critically steep hills yesterday. It worked and it was needed. There were enough steep bits today to want low gears working. We cycled 42.1 miles (67 km) with 1,180 feet elevation on our mountain bikes.
There was no place open for breakfast in Radstock so we headed off at 8:00 on the Norton Radstock Greenway (formerly Bristol and North Somerset Railway) railway trail and then biked along gorgeous country roads… interspersed with very brief “A” roads and bits of quiet B roads … to Wells.
Breakfast in Wells was well worth it.
You enter this medieval town high on a hill and as you coast past the old buildings that were ridden past on horseback centuries ago you can’t help putting yourself back in time. Suddenly there is a dramatic view of Wells Cathedral (c1240).
It is VERY impressive. More a fortress than a church. The moat and ramparts around the bishop’s palace have been protecting the Bishops of Bath and Wells over 800 years (1206).
I gave a small donation and did the world’s shortest tour of a church. The stonework alone was worth the price of admission.
Another ancient monument - the Glastonbury Tor greeted us high on a height of land shortly after leaving the cathedral behind.
The Somerset Levels are worth a mention here. This is a large area of peat that is 20 feet or so above sea level bordered by tall hills. It has been prone to flooding over the millennia humans have inhabited the area. Ralph can tell stories of a year he cycled down to Brixham and the next week on the train trip to London the whole area was under water.
As we cycled along today we stopped at a wooden roadside post pointing to Westonzoyland. Ralph mused about what zoy meant. A gentleman coming out of his house explained that “zoy” meant island. Centuries ago the towns named zoy were islands surrounded by water.
He was retired from the RAF and explained that there was a Navy helicopter training school nearby which explained why there were so many military helicopters in the air.
The Shapwick Heath and Avalon Marshes Centre gave us opportunities to bird and people watch as we peddled along absolutely flat terrain - only made a bit challenging by the headwind. Lunch was at the Avalon Marshes Centre where I couldn’t help thinking that birders sort of wear a distinct “uniform” somehow.
Our final 16 mile leg to North Perherton included a mix of the old Bridgwater Railway path from Cossington to Bawdrip, quiet country roads through dairy farms and a cycleway along the King’s Sedgemoor Drain and on to the cyclepath beside the busy roads to the Walnut Tree Hotel.
It was about 4:00. The sun was shining, the bikes locked away for the night and we spent the evening enjoying the excellent meals the Walnut Hotel chef was offering on the menu today.
Thank you to those of you who sent in donations today. They are appreciated.
Lorraine