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St Michael's Tower and Perry's cider mill


boboneleg

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So with a free pass out for good friday I was keen for a ride as I am required for other duties the rest of easter.  I had a look at my Wild Guide book (cheers @yen_powell)  and found a 'tower' down in Somerset so that was the destination.  So away by 08.30 and down through Cheddar Gorge before the hordes arrive, the goats seem to get more and more each year.............

 

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Sorry about the fuzzy photos, I must be getting shaky.  Anyway, across the moors to Wedmore and Westhay and then up through Shapwick.  Hang on a second !!  what the feck is that in that field...............

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Yep, a skeleton's head.  I presume it's it's a leftover from the carnival season. What say you @Slowlycatchymonkey  ?

 

Stopped for a shot of St Mary's church in Huish Episcopi.................

 

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A bit further down the road is Muchelney Abbey, for some parts of the year when the Somerset levels flood it looks like this, cut off from the rest of the locality............

 

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Today it was much better,   the Abbey.......................

 

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and the modern church................

 

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So now I moved on to the original destination.  I had scoped it out on google earth and the easiest way in was to ride a short distance up a bridleway, I was ready for a fight if I got any moaners but it was ok so I parked here...........

 

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and now for the assault on the hill.  First I had to walk across this field.............

 

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and the view back to the bike..................

 

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Then it was up here and here and here until I got to the top, this really gave me a workout...............

 

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Eventually I got to the top and the tower.  There were stunning views from the top but ultimately it was dissapointing as the entrance was boarded up 😩

 

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I made my way back down by a different route after sorting out my leg.  It's obvious that there must have been a castle or something here in the past as you can clearly see a moat.............

 

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and the Motte.............

 

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21 minutes ago, XTreme said:

My knees wouldn't have coped with that!

I'll admit that was fecked after that walk , I'll finish the rest of the report tomorrow as I'm knackered now.

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34 minutes ago, boboneleg said:

So with a free pass out for good friday I was keen for a ride as I am required for other duties the rest of easter.  I had a look at my Wild Guide book (cheers @yen_powell)  and found a 'tower' down in Somerset so that was the destination.  So away by 08.30 and down through Cheddar Gorge before the hordes arrive, the goats seem to get more and more each year.............

 

IMG_1265.thumb.jpeg.167dc6c28cd8bbbeca8fe9dcc409c73f.jpeg

IMG_1266.thumb.JPEG.532f4ed87c90a0425733cb6ac7ccde47.JPEG

IMG_1267.thumb.JPEG.dd098447b8e1dcfe242ae4324b8925e4.JPEG

 

Sorry about the fuzzy photos, I must be getting shaky.  Anyway, across the moors to Wedmore and Westhay and then up through Shapwick.  Hang on a second !!  what the feck is that in that field...............

IMG_1268.thumb.JPEG.3282fbaa994ac206272db9d5e514238d.JPEG

IMG_1269.thumb.JPEG.c7bd6900bd92a20faca468ba6f2a35af.JPEG

 

Yep, a skeleton's head.  I presume it's it's a leftover from the carnival season. What say you @Slowlycatchymonkey  ?

 

Stopped for a shot of St Mary's church in Huish Episcopi.................

 

IMG_1272.thumb.JPEG.59ba52a26fa465d5d4ae2af70ecbcfb6.JPEG

 

I dunno if thats carnival or something to do with the odd pagan stuff that appears sometimes. 

Did you see the massive monster type thing that appeared in a field last year? The closer you get to Glastonbury the weirder it gets. Great ride that though, theres a nice place in Wells to take a flask of tea, it has with superb views for miles and miles. You probably already know Deerleap car park but if not thats well worth a visit (on a clear day before the grockles get up).

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/local-news/gallery/mysterious-figure-appears-side-hill-5370559

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Deerleap+Car+Park/@51.2398674,-2.691681,17.14z/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x48721f4d9e1914cd:0x80710ba7c100425f!2sDeerleap,+Wells,+UK!3b1!8m2!3d51.2337597!4d-2.6891064!3m4!1s0x48721f4f18fb4027:0x1cc819049214b5c3!8m2!3d51.2404449!4d-2.6903136

 

Paganism is alive and kicking in the West Country. 

Just remembered even though my school was distinctly CofE we still had to make corn dollies every year to thank Mother Earth for the Harvest during Harvest Festival, country dancing was a compulsory class 💃🕺😆

Theres still a Harvest Home every year, although they have conveniently moved it from the last full moon before the equinox to august because the weathers nicer 😆 I remember my Pa saying its bad enough they're filling your head with the one lot of superstitious claptrap but two lots, what is wrong with them?! 😂

 

 

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12 hours ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

I dunno if thats carnival or something to do with the odd pagan stuff that appears sometimes. 

Did you see the massive monster type thing that appeared in a field last year? The closer you get to Glastonbury the weirder it gets. Great ride that though, theres a nice place in Wells to take a flask of tea, it has with superb views for miles and miles. You probably already know Deerleap car park but if not thats well worth a visit (on a clear day before the grockles get up).

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/local-news/gallery/mysterious-figure-appears-side-hill-5370559

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Deerleap+Car+Park/@51.2398674,-2.691681,17.14z/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x48721f4d9e1914cd:0x80710ba7c100425f!2sDeerleap,+Wells,+UK!3b1!8m2!3d51.2337597!4d-2.6891064!3m4!1s0x48721f4f18fb4027:0x1cc819049214b5c3!8m2!3d51.2404449!4d-2.6903136

 

Paganism is alive and kicking in the West Country. 

Just remembered even though my school was distinctly CofE we still had to make corn dollies every year to thank Mother Earth for the Harvest during Harvest Festival, country dancing was a compulsory class 💃🕺😆

Theres still a Harvest Home every year, although they have conveniently moved it from the last full moon before the equinox to august because the weathers nicer 😆 I remember my Pa saying its bad enough they're filling your head with the one lot of superstitious claptrap but two lots, what is wrong with them?! 😂

 

 

If you look just north of Deerleap carpark on the opposite side of the road is Dursdon Drove, one of my favourite trails.  That would be a good one to take your Himalayan along   👍

Deerleap car park used to be one of my fag stops when I smoked .

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So where were we ? 

My next destination was Perry's cider Mill , it's not a cider that I've tasted before and they have a cafe , museum and shop 👍   So after a very brief run on the horrible A303 dual-carriageway I made my way on roads like this...........

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and in the village on Dowlish Wake I came across a gorgeous little bridge over the ford.............

 

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Just around the corner was the Cider mill......................

 

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Unfortunately the museum and the cafe weren't open  (bloody covid) but you were free to wander around the courtyard and have a nosey...........

 

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Luckily the shop was open so I bought as much as I could fit in my box.............

 

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and then I took a similar route back home but up through Charterhouse rather than Cheddar gorge as it would have been heaving by now 🙄

 

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I stopped once more for a coffee from my flask overlooking Chew Valley lake from the Mendip hills.................

 

 

 

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I don't know who this twat was but he'd been following me about all day in the sunshine...............

 

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