WALKING HOLIDAY WEEKEND IN LOXTON – Friday 25 to Monday 28 April 2008

As a relatively new member of the Mid Sussex Ramblers this was my first experience of a walking weekend away with the group. Forty one of us were picked up by the coach and taken to Loxton near Cheddar for a weekend staying at the Webbington Hotel, (a Best Western) used by Countrywide Holidays (part of the Ramblers Association) for their rambling holidays in that area. There were no other walkers present this time – just our group and our two leaders, Bill and Susie Davis.  

We had travelled along motorways to get to Loxton so a brief walk around the village soon after we arrived was a good idea. We noted the Victorian letter box and gas lamp in the village and the fact that it still had its own Post Office! After our walk we relaxed with a good meal for dinner and drinks in the bar. Bill had briefed us about the next day’s activities just before dinner.

Saturday – two full day walks of different lengths but covering much the same ground. The longer party, which I joined, walked about 8.5 miles while the shorter party walked about 5 to 6 miles. We left the hotel on foot about 9.30am and walked along the lane to Rackley village. We proceeded up Crook Peak (628 feet above sea level) and along to Wavering Edge where both groups met up to have our picnic lunch in a former quarry. The shorter walking group went down into Cross village to the White Hart Inn for a drink. Some of us on the longer walking party also went down into Cross and enjoyed a drink in the beer garden of the New Inn but others preferred to linger in the grassy quarry and enjoy the sunshine there. We rejoined those left in the quarry and proceeded to Compton Bishop village where we visited the old church, and then came back to Loxton on a fairly level path near the river, returning through Rackley village again. We got back about 4pm. We had another briefing before dinner this time in the function room. Later there was a party taking place in the room nearby which was rather noisy and that, together with the fire alarm sounding around midnight, kept us awake more than we would have liked! In response to the fire alarm, some people left their rooms dressed only in their nightclothes and there were some startling sights to be seen!

Sunday – today we would visit Cheddar Gorge! Again there was a choice of two different lengths of walk but we all would still be going up the side of the Gorge which was the biggest challenge. As yesterday, Bill led the longer walk and Susie led the shorter walk. It was cloudy today but as the day proceeded the weather improved greatly until it was as warm and sunny as yesterday. We were taken in our coach by our excellent driver Graham (known as Mr C Driver during the weekend) to the Cheddar Gorge parking area at the top end of the village and we then walked back down to our starting point. We climbed a little and then had a pleasant diversion at a viewing tower. I climbed up the steps and gained an interesting view from the top, but it was one that was repeated later in the day. After the tower, we walked straight up the hillside for some time. The path was steep and stony and all made of limestone. Our leader did not give us much time to rest and admire the view although we did have a brief water stop and later a coffee stop near the top at Black Rock. I was very pleased to get to the picnic stop which was called Velvet Bottom. It truly lived up to its name as it was a soft grassy dry valley with wild flowers and butterflies and plenty of birds singing; being part of the Somerset Wildlife Trust the whole area is protected. There is still evidence of former lead mining in the area. Part of the group did an extra short circuit at a fast pace led by Bill but I lingered in the valley and enjoyed the peace and sunshine. We all had our picnic lunch then walked on and steeply down back into the village of Cheddar again with enough time to explore Gough’s Cave (part of the Cheddar Gorge caves) have a cream tea and buy some genuine Cheddar Cheese, before re-boarding the coach. A very heavy shower of rain did not spoil our activities as we were in the tea shop by that time!

At dinner that evening the table next to us was very noisy and we noticed it was all ladies apart from one gentleman. One of the ladies had a private word with the head waiter and later he presented her with a special dessert – a lovely pair of pears, my dear!

On the Monday morning Tony and Ray had been persuaded to lead a short walk from Burrington Combe, before we really left the area to return home. Tony used to live in Somerset and so was familiar with the location. We walked for about an hour through some lovely woods and out to a magnificent viewpoint at Dolebury Warren. As we stood on the old iron age fort admiring the extensive views, the rain started and we dashed back into the woods to get some protection. There were some hail stones too but the trees did shield us from most of the wet. We walked back to the coach by a slightly different route, although still including some muddy patches so that our boots were not quite clean! Thankfully we were not too wet to board the coach and start our journey back to Sussex. We came back on the country route including some narrow lanes to take some of our party back to Balcombe. We were all back about 6pm after a most enjoyable weekend.  

See you next year?!

Report by Ray & Alison

(For pictures of the holiday please click into the attatched Gallery 'Loxton 2008'

For further photos taken by Janice during the holiday click onto:

http://picasaweb.google.com/janicetipping/TheMendipsMidSussexRamblersHoliday