Coleridge Way Part 6

Aside
Son # 1 and two grandchildren were here over the Easter holidays so, as the weather was fair, we decided to pick up where we left off on the Coleridge Way at Roadwater. This next leg was quite short 3.2 miles but there was a long climb through Langridge Woods. I needed a breaking in walk as Part 7 was strenuous and 5 miles in length.

Leaving the Valiant Soldier Inn we walked along the road for half a mile until we reaches a signed footpath to Treborough Lane just after Peterswell Lake Cottage.
Near the junction is Vale House where we saw a recently restored WW2 pillbox built during the 1940’s and disguised as a summer house with a pitched roof. The give away was the hinged iron shutters for windows. We couldn’t help wondering why on earth they should want a pill box in a village in deepest Somerset, and one could visualise Captain Manwaring peering through the slits.

We puffed up Langridge Wood and then took a R hand fork. After 300 yards we came to Langridge Wood Cist which is a stone lined grave probably dating from the Bronze Age around 4,000 years ago. It was found by workmen around 1820. We continued on the track until we reached a gate at the end of the woods. We kept uphill on the R hand edge of the next three fields. As we climbed we remembered to look back for lovely views across to the Quantocks and the Bristol Channel. Looking sideways across the fields we thought what a splendid place for tobogganing it would be or even in the summer on tin trays. Alas we had none with us

In the third field the path becomes a track leading to a gate on the road, we turned R on a footpath to Luxborough and headed L up a rise to a gap in the beech trees. Following the directions we went through a series of gates, making sure the last person closed them properly.

We had been warned that the path here could be very muddy but we were lucky having had no rain for some time. We left Higher Court Farm and crossed on to a bridleway signed Luxborough. After walking along the R hand edge of a long field we reached an enclosed track which dropped into Luxborough directly opposite the village hall. This descent was through banks covered with primroses and daffodils. The village was looking immaculate - no place to be a reluctant gardener and I blessed my bay hedges that conceal the comparative wildness of my own garden.

What I really love about these walks is that I can relinquish all responsibility and know we will be safely delivered at the other end. It’s like being a child again except that children don’t necessarily get quite the same pleasure from exercise in the fresh air. I remember how our boys used to grumble and now do exactly the same with their own children.
Like homing pigeons we reached the delightful Royal Oak Inn where we met MTL for lunch. The breaking in had not been too demanding and I felt ready for the next leg – as long as it wasn’t today!

Captain Manwaring –comic character in classic TV comedy ‘ Dad’s Army’about the Home Guard aka Local Defence Volunteers (L.D.V. Look, duck and vanish) in WW2.

Contact Details for Walking the Coleridge Way. Walking the Coleridge Way Porlock Visitor Centre Westend High Street Porlock Somerset Tel: 01643 863150 ...
www.relaxsouthwest.co.uk/main/en/attdetails.cfm?id=17007 - 19k