B2B Day 12 Catcott to Wells: Across the Slough of Despond Part II

For an OS map of today's long, mostly wet walk (13.4 mi; 21.6 km; 333 ft total ascent), click here.

Our morning began with a wonderful breakfast left on a tray at the foot of the stairs leading up to our suite, including fresh berries and warm croissants.

Our amazing breakfast

We knew that today's forecast was for rain, especially in the afternoon, but we were hoping that it would not be as bad as our 2013 experience, which was 17 miles of rainy road walking across what we nicknamed the "slough of despond" (click here for an account). At least today's walk was several miles shorter and started out without rain. After walking out of Catcott, we came to a field with a footpath through chest-high grain. 

Sara on the path through the grain

We later saw a woman walking on a farm road parallel to us, and she said that it was easier--local knowledge we didn't have.

We entered a Nature reserve with several hides for watching birds, and one of the farms was Canada Farm.

After some road walking, it started to rain. We were surprised to come upon the Avalon Marshes Centre, which looked quite new (link). We ordered two slices of quiche and sat inside the cafe/information centre/craft centre. We were at a table next to two ladies who were cyclists, and we had a good chat with them. The heaviest rain of the day fell while we were inside talking. 

After we resumed our walk on the road, we passed a plaque indicating a helicopter speed record had been set there (link). Further along the road, there was a group of tractors from various eras going before us and turning down the driveway where we were headed: Sweet's Tea Shop and Peat and Science Museum. There was a "crank-up" event held by the Wessex Stationary Engine Society.

Because it was raining, we didn't really look around, but we did rest and had some cake. Then it was more and more road walking. At first there were some interesting things to see, like the Red Devon cattle who saw the farmer's tractor go by, and they all rushed to the fence closest to him and started bawling as though they were begging for food. 

The bawling red Devon cattle

We also saw a field with Exmoor ponies, who had been imported to graze for a specific purpose. 

Because we took a road that was parallel to the one we took in 2013, we eventually reached the "exit" of the worst footpath we experienced, where the nettles were so bad we had to climb the gate rather than go through the stile. The exit still looked bad, though maybe not as bad. We were glad that we hadn't come that way. 

It rained some more. We couldn't take many pictures because of that. We again passed a water pumping station with a bench that we couldn't sit on because it was too wet. Further along the road, we were just talking about how in 2013 two young women on horses had ridden past us, looking down on us literally and metaphorically. One minute later, two girls on horses rode by, and they gave us really nice smiles when we said hello, so that felt like an improvement on the previous trip.

In 2013 it rained almost the whole time we walked, and the road walking nearly did us in. We were (at least Sara was) literally crying when we got to Wells because the road walking had been so painful. We were close to a repeat experience this time. 

We knew we wanted to visit St. Cuthbert's Church, and we thought it would be a chance to rest before arriving at our B&B. There was a clergyman inside, and Sara asked him if there was going to be a service. There was, in five minutes. We decided to stay for the service. It was beautiful, involving going to three different stations to think about Christ's resurrection. When we were asked to stand and walk to the different places during the service, we were both pretty stiff and sore but managed to remain upright! We chatted for quite some time afterwards with the small group who had attended, and a couple named Patsy and Graham invited us to dinner the next night, which was a very special invitation for us to receive.

When we got into Wells proper, we had a difficult time finding our B&B. Ken knew which building it was supposed to be in, but it was a medical building at the front. We walked up and down both ends of the street and couldn't find it. We finally walked down a side alley and found the owner coming home after walking her dogs. She took us up to our room, but seemed distracted. One of the dogs came into the room, and she shooed it out. She also closed a small door leading from our bedroom to what we thought was the bedroom next door. When we were in the room after she had left, we could see that there was a wet spot on the bed made by one of the dogs, and the bedding generally didn't seem very clean. 

We went for dinner after 6:30, and we decided to go to Ask, an Italian chain restaurant. We really liked our oval pizza, and we also had dessert--white chocolate mousse and a chocolate "Etna" that had hot sauce poured on it so that it "erupted." On our way home, Ken took several photos of Wells Cathedral.

Wells Cathedral

We found that we could also see the cathedral from our bedroom window.

The view from our window

We were quite tired from our challenging day of walking. We could hear a dog in the bedroom next door whining a bit and scratching, but it soon settled down.