Jennie Evans

D45 – Bridgwater to Taunton
Actual distance 19.88Km or 12.35miles (or the length of 8,147.5 8ft fishing rods)

Total Ascent 95m (or the height of 60.5 Deborah Meaden’s)

Written by guest writer Olly Mackley..

0810 and I am 10 minutes late for starting breakfast! This was day 2 for Ethan and I (Seawolf / Olly), and I couldn’t believe I had fallen back asleep, after waking at 6.15ish!

Phil, Jennie and James were already up and getting things organised for the day.  I got the bacon and scrambled eggs on (plus beans for GF’s), along with the coffee. Did a bit of washing up and cleaning, and got ready to go, whilst Phil and Jennie made sandwiches for lunch. As you can imagine the kids, after 44 days of non-stop exercising, take a bit of steam to get going. 

We got in the car about 10 to drive back to the Boat and Anchor pub which was the end of the day before and the start of today. We had a lovely drink in there yesterday at the end of our bike ride, whilst we waited for the support crew to pick us up. 

It occurred to me though, that under no illusion, this is not a holiday. At every single waking hour there is something to do – making lunch, walking here, cycling there, washing this and cooking that, planning this and writing blogs. From 7am to gone 11pm, they are on the go. And at the end of the day trying to write a blog post/social media (which uses considerable brain power / energy, which is a ‘thing’) after a long day of exercising, logistic planning, driving, cooking, washing etc it’s draining. This is no mean feat, especially when you consider it will be nearly 60 days and 1100 miles, when they finish. 

Meeting us at the Boat and Anchor was Lynne and Imogen (a Scout from the 1^st Chandlers Ford, and her mum). We started our journey on the canal path towards Taunton (the Taunton to Bridgewater canal). As you’ve probably read that the team have had a mix of success with Canal paths, but this one, for 12 miles, was the best. 10 out of 10! No problems whatsoever – gravel path all the way. 

For some reason, which I never understood, there were stone statues of each of the planets (equi-distant) but scaled down, including the Sun, along the canal path. Many discussions around why Uranus was so important in the Solar system, and how ‘My Very Educated Monkey Just Served Unicorn Noodles’ is a great way of remembering the order of the planets (we love a good acronym)!

The canal water was clean and at lunch I got a reprieve from the heat and stuck my hot feet into the cool water! Bliss! We mused at the thought of the little fishies giving me a bit of a spa treatment, but no such luck. We carried on towards Taunton, but by this time the heat had turned up a notch. 

We took a quick detour into the Creech St Michael Baptist Church, where they gave us free coffee, tea, cold drinks, flapjack and Hot Cross Buns (which was lovely). We chatted with three of the parishioners who had opened the café today to help weary travellers, one of whom who had lived in Southampton not long ago! We even had a few rounds of Dobble, with Bethan and Hattie winning the last 3 hands, after Phil had been victorious in the first!

Back on the canal path, getting ever closer to Taunton, we wandered under the M5 and back into sillyivisation (thanks Imogen). There were a few notable pieces of Graffiti along the way, a couple of which caught my eye. 

We finally stopped at the Morrisons, around 4.30pm after walking past the Somerset Cricket Ground and the junction of the River Tone and the canal. Elaine and Phil met us with the cars, and supplies in hand, we zipped back to the same campsite, and had a tea of sausage, chips and beans! 

Like I said, this is no easy feat, and I am in awe of Jennie, Phil, Hattie, Ollie, Bethan, James and Cara.

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Day 44 – Wells to Bridgwater

Actual distance 42.21km or 26.23miles (or the length of 196,325.6 Bridgwater bricks)

Total Ascent 294m (or the height of 98 maize plants)

Staying at Huish Woods, Blackdown District Scout Campsite

It is always a treat to stay at the place we end one day/ start the next. Not needing to drive means we are able to head off that little bit earlier. Phil quickly popped to Bike City before we started today to grab a part that had fallen off Ollie’s bike, then we headed off on our bikes on the National Cycle Route 3. The path was really easy riding – initially along designated pavement alongside the main road, then along a disused railway line before turning onto country lanes leading to Glastonbury.

There was a definite favourite road of the day. Just before Glastonbury there was a 3km completely straight and flat lane leading through Queen’s Sedge Moor. On either side was very small water filled trenches with swans swimming in them! We were able to make really quick progress with very little effort which was fantastic.

We circumnavigated Glastonbury (stopping at a local shop to find a toilet), then turned into Ham Wall Nature Reserve which is a peaceful and well set out RSPB centre. We stopped at their visitor centre for lunch and ice creams (and a stretch!) before heading back on the road.

The route took us through country lanes, then through a series of little villages before turning down yet another disused railway line, where we almost instantly found a playground so had to stop for a play. Whilst there James got a call to say he has got the job he was interview for which is excellent news!

We continued on, turning into a village called Bawdrip (that Phil misheard as ‘Baldrick’!), then on to a path alongside King’s Sedgemoor Drain which is a tributary of the River Parrett. With only 5km left we headed off along roads again, and were surprised when the route took us off the road and down a farm drive, then over a tiny very, very overgrown footbridge.

Jennie braved the bridge first and got rather tangled in rose thorns, brambles and nettles, but cleared the way enough for the rest of the bikes to get through. We then cycled across a field with lots of dried mud to a tiny gap in another bramble and nettle filled hedge with a plank of wood denoting the pathway over a ditch. Again we squeezed through, all getting stung or scratched on the way, and found ourselves in a field of corn. There was no clear footpath around the side of the field (as shown on the map), and we found it easier and far less damaging to the maize to walk between 2 lines of crop rather than to try an walk along the edge of the field. At the end of the field was another tiny bridge, then a short grassy path, followed by a footbridge over the M5. The motorway bridge was another challenge and was missing a platform at the bottom to allow you to reach the bottom step from the path! Having carried the bikes up and over the motorway, we finally found a ‘normal’ path again! It was certainly a challenging half a kilometre (bridge to bridge), that had taken nearly an hour to negotiate!

Our last few kilometres were incredibly easy in comparison, and we were able to complete our journey for the day really quickly. We stopped at the Boat and Anchor Pub on the canal for a well earned drink and to meet up with our support team, before heading in the car back to Wells to collect our other vehicles. Once back at the 5th/ 7th Wells HQ the kids went in to use to the toilet before we jumped back in the car to drive to Huish Woods, our home for the next 2 nights. We locked up to leave, only to find Ollie was still in the toilet. We locked up again, and headed to the car, then got a call from Bethan to say she was locked in the building and couldn’t get out either!!

We arrived at Huish Woods early evening, chatted to the lovely team here and had a quick wander around the site (with Ollie trying the bouldering wall and assault course of course!), before sitting down to eat a lovely curry for tea made by Elaine (thank you!) in the Govett Hall – a brilliant facility with a kitchen, bunk rooms and a large hall. The kids were very excited to see a large TV on the wall in the hall and watched an episode of Ghosts before settling down for the night.

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Day 43 – Midsomer Norton to Wells

Actual distance 20.3Km or 12.61 miles (or 31.2 times around the moat of the Bishops Palace in Wells)

Total Ascent 329m (or the height of 6.7 Wells Cathedrals)

Staying with the 5th/ 7th Wells Scout Group

We were up and ready surprisingly early today and ready to leave by about 9am which is a first! We were walking today and set off on our first day entirely off any national routes. We walked through Midsomer Norton and reached the Silver Street Local Nature Reserve that was clearly filled with potential footpaths that were not plotted on the OS Map. As we were debating what to do Pete appeared. Pete lives locally and was headed through the woods in the same direction as us. Jennie asked advice about our route, and he kindly led us through the nature reserve and a subsequent field to the next village! Thank you Pete for being our guide for a little bit of today!

We continued through the village (via Co-op for milk for Ollie, and a local garage for a toilet stop) to a footpath through the fields. We wished we’d just stuck to the main road! As we entered the field we clocked a herd of about 20 cows on the far side near where the exit stile was located. As we made our way up the side of the field the cows neared at a reasonable pace. As they approached it became clear they were bulls not cows, and their pace towards us was quickening! They then essentially chased us up the field away from the stile until they became bored of us and went back to eating grass. We braved heading back down the other side of the field to the stile, but by the time we got near the bulls were marching towards us again, and just as we were all safely over they made it abundantly clear they either wanted to join us or were guarding the gate to ensure we didn’t come back!!!

The following field was cattle free, but very overgrown, with ‘private, no entry’ on the gate adjacent to the next stile and ‘public footpath’ sign. We conclude the farmer doesn’t like walkers and was clearly trying to keep them out with crazy bulls and warning signs!

Sadly racing the bulls not only resulted in James twisting his ankle, but also causing Cara’s knee to give way again. We therefore had to leave them at this point for our support team to collect them, and guttingly for us all (but especially for Cara) Cara has decided not to rejoin us again. She has shown amazing determination and we will miss her massively.

We continued on, down, then back up a muddy valley, then along the road to Binegar where we stopped at The Horse and Jockey Inn for a drink and to eat lunch. We even timed it so we managed to watch the end of the football.

Feeling refreshed we headed back off along a few quiet roads, through a very muddy wood, across another field filled with incredibly long grass (that made the kids recite ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’!), and back onto the road. As we progressed along the road the view was spectacular and we were able to see Glastonbury Tor sitting in the centre of beautiful countryside stretching for miles and miles.

We continued through East Horrington (where Bethan found an escapee chicken) and on to South Horrington where we had arranged to meet members of the 5th/7th Wells Scout Group so they could join us as we walked into Wells. We arrived at our arranged meeting point (the Wells Cricket Club) with lots of time to spare. Phil, Hattie and Ollie headed off in search of a toilet and went to the care home next to the Cricket Club to ask if they could use their facilities. They were let in and directed to the toilets, but when they came to leave found the door was locked with a key code lock and no means of calling for assistance! They found a telephone and tried to call Jennie, but her phone was out of battery, so they headed back to the door in the hope someone would appear! 10 minutes later a family arrived to visit a relative, and they jumped at the open door to escape!!

Over the next hour Leaders, and Young People from 5th/ 7th Wells arrived to join us for the last stretch of our walk. It was really lovely to have local guides leading us through the city, providing us with fantastic insights about the various local buildings. We managed a stop at a playground, a quick look at the Bishops Place and a look at Wells Cathedral (with its unusual statue replacement by Anthony Gormley). We then headed back to their HQ for drinks and cake (all gluten free – thank you!). It was a really brilliant way to end our walk.

This evening we have said goodbye to Cara who has headed back home so she can rest her knee. We have also welcomed Olly (Seawolf) who is one of our Scout Leaders, and his son Ethan who are joining us for the next few days on our adventure. Dinner this evening was a very delicious sausage cassoulet courtesy of Olly – thank you!

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Day 42- Bath to Midsomer Norton

Actual distance 17.97km or 11.16miles (or the length of 9215.4 of the 3 man tents we have been using during this trip)

Total Ascent 297m (or the height of 742.5 red foxes)

Staying with 1st Midsomer Norton Scout Group

Following the luxury of sleeping in an actual bed for the night, we were treated to an amazing breakfast cooked by Jonny, making us all feel totally spoilt. We left the Gibbons to continue preparing for the village fete, finishing off cake decorating and importantly finalising how each entry was to be displayed. We hope you did really well girls!

Having said a sad goodbye we headed back to Dundas Aquaduct in Monkton Combe to meet up with The Wiskin family who were joining us for the day. We set out and circumnavigated the car park before finding the correct path to take. We ambled along in the warm August weather following route 24 which mainly ran along another disused railway line. We passed some spectacular houses as we chatted and walked.

Just as we entered Wellow it started to rain very lightly, so we headed into the Fox and Badger in Wellow for a drink and lunch. Whilst we were sitting in the pub garden the kids suddenly started giggling and pointed. We turned around and watched a man climbing out of a skylight onto the roof. He happily waved, fixed a tile on the roof, then rather awkwardly half climbed, half fell back through the window again!

We continued on, making our goal of Midsomer Norton with enough time for the younger ones to find another playground. As we approached tonight’s base we found our next support crew- Jennies Mum and Dad, Elaine and Phil just outside. We then had the lovely surprise of finding our last support crew, Emma and Niall had unloaded our wet washing and wet tents before they left and hung them up to dry from the horrendous soaking they received in Tetbury when we were packing them away!

Home cooked bolognaise was served, along with a homemade delayed joint-Birthday cake for Hattie and Ollie, and some delayed birthday presents from the family!

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Day 41 – Norton to Bath

Actual distance 28.58Km or 17.76miles (or the length of 16,811.8 bathtubs)

Total Ascent 386m (or the height of 7.88 Bath Abbey’s)

We were lucky last night and the fire service did not get called out whilst we slept! It was raining lightly when we woke, so we headed into the station to have breakfast in the hope the rain would stop so we could get the tents down in the dry. However, sadly the weather had different plans and we got incredibly wet packing up!

Typically the rain stopped as climbed in the car to head back to Norton where we finished yesterday. Our route today was dominantly along the Fosse Way again. Most of the Fosse was on tarmac, with occasional stretches on gravel paths. There were a few marked ups and downs, but we made incredibly quick progress towards Bath.

At about the half way point for today we looked for somewhere to find a loo and saw a sign to a hotel. It turned out the hotel was a luxury hotel and spa for dogs based at Bath County Pets. It was pure heaven for the kids. Aware they had been missing for a little while, we went to find the girls. The bathroom was through the dogs lounge room, and at least 9 beautiful, incredibly friendly dogs all needed a lot of fuss from the girls as they passed through, and they were in heaven cuddling the dogs when we found them! In Bethan’s words ‘best bathroom stop ever!’.

We left the dogs and set off on our last stretch of the Fosse Way, down a nice hill then back up a very steep stretch before it flattened out. We then found the fantastic very steep 2km descent into Batheaston with 7% and 12% inclines for us to fly down which was immense fun!!!

At the bottom of the hill we joined the canal path on the Circuit of Bath clockwise to the Dundas Aqueduct where we finished for the day. Amazingly we completed todays route before lunch (and before 13:00!!!). We therefore headed into Bath for a few hours, and enjoyed wandering around the shops, buying fudge and finding a pub for a drink! We even managed to get school shoes for Hattie!!!

This evening we are being hosted by Jonny and Jenny from 1st Masefield Scout Group. They have been amazingly generous and opened up their home to us, fed us an incredibly tasty dinner and their daughters have even kindly moved out of their bedrooms so we can all stay. We are so very grateful!

James, Cara and Emma returned this evening having been home for James’s interview today (which apparently went well). We were also visited by Kirst this evening, one of Phil’s friends from university, and it was really lovely to catch up with her. An all round good day!

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Day 40- Stroud to Norton

Actual distance 31.28km or 19.44miles (or the length of 3066.7 fire engines!)

Total Ascent 448m (or the height of 33.2 standard fire engine ladders!)

It was an early start this morning in a slightly overcast Stroud. A-level results accompanied breakfast, which were a slightly mixed bag of expected and less expected news. The clouds soon burned off and we headed out with an ambitious plan to do enough today to allow James to get to his interview tomorrow. We therefore switched from a walking day to a cycling day.

We headed out on the cycle path along a disused railway. There were a couple of bridges early on that echo’s brilliantly! The path was well constructed and flat, meaning we reached our first stop of the day only 25 minutes after we headed off! We popped in to say hi to Mike at his place of work. Mike is a Leader with Tetbury Scouts and has kindly helped liaise with Gloucester Fire and Rescue Service about our stop tonight. He even offered to cook a BBQ for us!

Having said hello (and used the facilities!) we rejoined the cycle path to Nailsworth. We then jumped on the road and turned up a steep drag. Unfortunately the hill caused Cara’s chain to slip, causing her patella to dislocate and then relocate. Sadly she was in a huge amount of pain from this and was unable to continue on the journey. James helped Cara to walk around to a garden centre that was slightly further down the road and our support team came to collect them.

There was quite a lot of up and down today, but despite this, fuelled by several snack breaks the team managed to keep up a very respectable speed. We had planned to stop at a pub for lunch, but unfortunately pubs were few and far between. We had only made gluten free sandwiches, and despite being hungry, the gluten eaters in the team didn’t fancy sharing them!! We therefore looked again at the map to review possible options for food.

We made it to the Fosse Way and spotted a hotel on the map a little way down our route. The first part of the Fosse Way we encountered was a gravel path with several ruts and pot holes lining the route. Then we found the ford! Phil was almost convinced to try cycling through it, but came to his senses and pushed his bike over the little bridge like the rest of us. We continued down the Fosse until we came to a turning that looked on the map like it led to the hotel we had been aiming for. However, half way down the track a lady in pink pyjamas stopped us to tell us we were on her drive and not a public path! We turned around and headed back the way we had come, but decided to push on a further 3km to the next pub on our route at Norton instead of further backtracking to the hotel. Hopeful that Norton would be good for a late lunch we called our support team and arranged to meet them there.

We reached Norton only to find the pub was shut for refurbishment! By this time the children were too hungry to continue, so we called it a day and loaded the bikes on to the car. We headed for Tewksbury and had a slap up meal deal at Tescos! We then mooched around the town (which is very pretty with loads of antique shops), finally found a pub, then headed to our hosts for the night- the Tetbury Fire Station.

We were welcomed by Jake and Neil from the fire station whip who showed us round and made us massively welcome. Once we had pitched up safely in their enclosure, Mike, who we had met earlier, arrived and started setting up a massive spread and working the BBQ. Fed and watered, Ollie and Hattie got to try on some of the equipment and learnt about some of the kit the fire and rescue team use. They had an absolute whale of a time! Then it was time for showers and a little gym time for Ollie who is now considering being a firefighter (with maybe a second job running an ice cream shop!)

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Day 39 – Gloucester to Stroud

Actual distance 17.72Km or 11.01miles

Total Ascent 413m

Staying at Stroud Scout Centre

This morning started with a slightly different twist to normal. James had a video interview for a job he had applied for, so we packed, breakfasted and made lunch whilst he put on a smart shirt and sat at the computer. Once the interview was over he quickly changed and we headed off on foot towards Stroud.

Our route started off following the Wysis Way – a route we understand is used as part of the Cotswold Marathon. We had had a good variety of different tracks today – muddy steep hill climbs through woodland, beautifully mown grass adjacent to a golf course (making Cara feel very at home), freshly mowed fields, and tarmacked paths. Some of the paths were incredibly overgrown with brambles, thistles and nettles, and we were all stung at least once! Bethan even managed to get two large spikes of wood embedded in to the sole of one of her trainers (but still walked with it sticking into her foot for a few miles before mentioning it!)

We had hoped to reach Painswick for lunch, but due to the slightly delayed start and the heat of the day we stopped in a wooded area to eat instead. The ground was muddy, so several of us perched on a stile whilst we ate. It sounded like other walkers were approaching, but when we turned to look a very inquisitive horse was leaning over the fence looking very interested in our sandwiches!

The pathway gradually ascended leading to the most beautiful views and massive skies over the Gloucestershire countryside, extending to the Wye Valley, Malvern Hills and beyond. Phone photos really don’t capture just how far we could see. We continued along the path for a further 3km with the aim to head to a pub in Painswick for a drink, some shade and to meet up with Jan and Neil. Just as we were entering the village James received a call inviting him to a second (face to face) interview on Friday which is great news!

The Royal Oak was lovely, and the barman even provided the girls with a whole pint of ice to crunch on to cool down! Unfortunately Jan and Neil had a warning light on their car that appeared shortly before we met up with them. Jan had chatted to a guy in a local car park about the problem, and whilst we sat having a drink he called her to check she was OK – such a lovely gesture. Luckily they called the RAC for assistance and their car was fixed before the afternoon was finished.

With less than 6km left, and fuelled by the promise of an ice cream in Stroud, we headed back off passing by more utterly stunning properties and beautiful countryside. We reached Stroud fairly quickly, and, after buying the promised ice creams, headed straight to Stroud Scout Centre, our home for this evening.

We were met at the Scout Centre by John and Aaron, and chatted to them about our adventures to date. We were also incredibly spoiled by Mandy, from Marah Trust, a charity that uses the Scout Centre as a base to provided meals and support vulnerable people in the Stroud area. She had left us a fantastic dinner of chilli, burgers, baked potatoes and cakes that we were very grateful for.

This evening we said goodbye to Neil and Jan who have been fantastic support for the last few days. However, we have been joined by Emma and rejoined by Niall (James’s parents) who are with us for the next few days!

Tomorrow is A-level results day, so we expect we will be up early! We may rejig tomorrows route a little so we go a little further, meaning we can shorten Friday in case of hangovers (post results), to accommodate a trip home for a face to face interview, and because the weather on Friday looks horrid!

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Day 38 – A tiny distance through Gloucester (mainly to get to the shops!!)

Actual distance 3.82Km or 2.37miles

Total Ascent 57m

Staying at Murray Hall, Gloucester District Scouts HQ

This morning we were spoiled to a lovely breakfast with the GirlGuiding Forest of Dean South District team and the Brownies who are currently enjoying their Swallows and Amazons camp at Deer Park. We chatted to the Brownies about our journey and were asked lots of really good questions.

There was no particular rush to get on the road, and we had no particular plans or deadlines to meet which was really nice. We therefore took our time to enjoy a shower, pack up and say our goodbyes before heading back into Gloucester.

We are being hosted this evening by Gloucester District Scouts, and were met at their HQ at midday so we could park our vehicles on site. After a quick tour of their fantastic facilities we headed off on foot back up to the docks where we finished yesterday. We had chatted about the different things we could do in Gloucester today, and the consensus was to head to Gloucester Quays for a spot of shopping, then to see if we fancied doing anything more. When the kids realised they were walking to the Quays and back they were not impressed as ‘this is a rest day’. We did point out that the walk back from the Quays meant they would have less distance to do tomorrow, but they were still rather unimpressed.

We said goodbye to Christian as we arrived at the Quays, and he headed off on his Brompton to catch the train back home. It’s been really great to have him with us for a few days and we’ll miss him.

The Quays was an all round success. Jennie and Hattie both bought some clothes, Cara got much needed new trainers, and Ollie was treated to new school shoes and school trousers! We also went to Costa and had a very late picnic lunch. We decided not to explore any further and instead headed back to Murray Hall. During the walk back Ollie got to stroke a ferret that was being taken for a walk on a lead. We also had a compulsory stop at a playground! We actually ended up walking nearer 12km today – don’t tell the kids!

This evening Jan and Neil joined us for dinner and bought a bag of clean washing with them which we were very grateful for. Phil popped out to get fuel and check the tyre pressures on the van, whilst Jan and Jennie cooked. The kids played card games and read, before we had a visit from Alan (the longest serving member of the Gloucester Gang Show), Dave (Gloucester DC) and Karen (who kindly took more washing for us!). We also got to meet Monty, Python and Brian, 3 lovely dogs who gave the kids lots of licks and cuddles!

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