Close to the border at Champernhayes - 29th December 2017

This was an unexpected bonus - another walk in 2017. The book I had prepared for Paul of all of 2017's walks will have to have an addendum of these past two walks! No matter; it was worth it.

I needed cheering up after dropping off my two offspring at Crewkerne station and decided that a day's vacuuming and dusting just wasn't going to do it; I wanted to be out of the house; what better than a walk? I thought to myself. Paul readily agreed and I consulted the map and hastily drew out an unexplored route not too far from home and close to the Devon border.

Starting near Lambert's Castle, just a little further south, we donned all our waterproofs in hammering rain and hail. "Should we sit it out in the car?" I suggested as we popped the last popper on our waterproof trousers. "What's the point of that?" Paul argued, "we're all dressed ready for it now." So off we set with my camera at the bottom of the rucksack.

We went wrong immediately, making the usual mistake of following the most obvious path instead of looking for the not-so-obvious path amidst the brambles and bracken. We had the added problem of the original path having been diverted, but we were soon on the 'straight and narrow' at the south edge of Wootton Hill wood and he rain had stopped. Time for my first photo.

Wootton Hill Woods - SY3596

It was still slightly overcast when we reached Spence Farm and exclaimed at the sight of the sea - funny how it never fails to charm us. There was also a vineyard, which was kind of apt as that word had featured in the previous night's game of 'Articulate'.

Spence Farm Vineyard - SY3596

We continued westwards to Champernhayes Farm, a soggy field which it was difficult to imagine as a campsite in the summer months. We were greeted in silence by a mannequin's naked torso leaning over a conglomeration of containers outside a caravan and a mute dog which bared its teeth at us in something between a smile and a grimace. It all felt a little unnerving. I didn't even want to risk a photo of the torso lest someone was twitching the net curtains!

Conglomeration at Champernhayes Farm - SY3596

We were not sorry to leave this farm as we headed southwards onto a wooded lane at Champernhayes Cross.

Mill Lane - SY3595

By now we were basking in dappled sunshine and our spirits had lifted and we were contemplating coffee break. All we needed was a seat. We continued down the lane, turning westwards and joining the Liberty Trail just south of Bowshot Farm. A faint rainbow ahead of us alerted us to the threat of more rain as I quickly snapped my photo for the gridsquare.

Bowshot Coppice - SY3495

We had left without contemplating geocaches and with the threat of rain once more behind us, we checked to see whether there were any caches in the area. "There's one just off our path," Paul said and we both agreed it was worth a short diversion to find it. This is when it's worth checking all the facts, however. Once there, after a fruitless search, we checked the website again and discovered quite a few DNFs (Did not find) logs. Neither did we find anywhere suitable to have a cup of tea; a ruined barn being completely barricaded up. "It's not far to Monkton Wyld church," I consoled, "we could have an early lunch there."

Stubb's Farm from the Liberty Trail - SY3495

Our spirits had completely lifted by now - that's the big bonus when you set off in rain as heavy as hammers - you know it can only get better! We retraced our steps and joined Monkton Wyld Lane where we climbed the hill up to Higher Wyld Farm where we turned off onto the Monarch's Way through a ten foot high corrugated iron gate. It was weird opening this gate without knowing what lay on the other side. It was in fact a farmyard.

Higher Wyld Farm - SY3496

Broken roof at Higher Wyld Farm - SY3496

We walked across the farmyard to the road, where we turned left to the spired church of St Andrew's, nestling in glorious winter sunshine and sat in the wooded porch (which could do with the wood being treated added Paul). We ate our lunch with sun pouring through the wooden lattice work. Having already tried the door and found it locked, we obeyed the instructions to seek the key from the cottage below the church. There was a chalked invitation to all and sundry to walk through the garden to find vintage goods for sale in the hut if you followed the arrows. We were stopped in our tracks by this additional adventure by the arrival of a small car turning into the driveway. The occupants made haste to get out of the car and into the house with a baby bundle but handed us the heavy key upon our question and asked us to return it under the chicken when we'd finished. This verbal exchange took all of two minutes and, although not unfriendly, I had expected a slightly friendlier attitude judging from the friendly signs all over the place. I think perhaps we had caught them at the wrong time. "Children visiting parents," I hazarded a guess to Paul as we left with the key in our hands.

St Andrew's Church, Monkton Wyld - SY3396

Garden at Monkton Wyld - SY3396

Stained glass window in St Andrew's Church, Monkton Wyld - SY3396

The most interesting thing we discovered in the church was that James Harrison, the geologist, was buried in the churchyard underneath a yew tree. It didn't take long to find his grave. The inscription is now gone, but commemorates James Harrison (d. 1864), a geologist who found the earliest British dinosaur, which was named Scelidosaurus harrisoni after him.

James Harrison's grave, Monkton Wyld - SY3396

James Harrison's grave, Monkton Wyld - SY3396

We left the church and walked up the road, past Greenlands (got to be worth a photo) to Highgate where we would turn eastwards again.

Greenlands - SY3396

Highgate - SY3397

Before our turning, however, we stepped aside to let a car past, but the driver stopped his car and wound down his window. A man in shorts accosted us, "Are you local?" was his first question. "Sort of," we replied, "Can we help?" He went on to ask us what could have been an intriguing question. "Where does the parish of Monkton Wyld end?" Were we suddenly in a round Britain quiz with really obscure questions. "Oooh, that's an interesting question," I replied, eager to find out his motive in asking. Perhaps he was aiming to photograph every gridsquare within that parish or had to identiy every veteran tree in the parish or every bridge or . . .  "Someone bumped into my car on Boxing Day and left a false phone number," he explained, "I've done my research from the registration and it's registered to this parish." He pointed to a scrap of paper with the car registration on it. We directed him to the house below the church with the not-so-friendly people in it. "I think they might be able to help," we offered. "Either that or we've just directed him to the person he's looking for," Paul laughed as the man with a mission screeched and gear-crunched down the hill. We couldn't fathom why you wouldn't just let the insurance company deal with the problem."Perhaps he's got nothing better to do with his time," I suggested as we turned off onto a very rough track.

High Gate - SY3397

As we walked down the really rough lane, I spied a head bobbing above the hedge, a human head. It was swiftly followed by the body of a lady who appeared to be feeding her horses. She bade us a curt 'Good Afternoon' and continued on her way. The people here appear to be a race of either false or few words!

We continued on a track to Wyld Warren which apparently has nothing to do with a wild landscape, but is a reference to 'snare', or 'trap', suggesting that the woodland here was a lair of poachers. I liked the name anyway; it kind of reminded me of the Wild Wood in Wind in the Willows.

View towards Wyld Warren - SY3497

Monarch's Way near Wyld Warren - SY3497

Ruin at Wyld Warren - SY3497

Wyld Warren - SY3497

Once in the woods we followed the GPS and this time managed to find a cache which was cleverly hidden and also admired some inosculation of tree branches (where tree branches have fused together - strictly speaking it refers to branches from separate trees, but I've never really seen that so use it to refer to branches of the same tree which have grafted together in time).

Inosculation in Wyld Warren - SY3497

 We were now on the homeward stretch,having returned to Chamernhayes land and an avenue of beautifully highlighted Beech Trees.

Beech trees and roots near Champernhayes - SY3497

Near Champernhayes - SY3597

We decided to risk the track which led parallel to the road to avoid the risk of being run over by beshorted men on a mission or similar. This meant of course fighting our way back through branches and brambles out of the land of Narnia and back to the wardrobe or, in this case, our car!

Number of miles walked: 7.2
Number of new gridsquares: 8
Number of unusual people: 4
Number of mute dogs: 1
Number of half mannequins: 1