LIFETIME of WALKS by DEREK HARWOOD

I parked in Pawlett on Monmouth Farm Close. I checked with neighbours that the van was not in their way. I then caught a bus on 'Old Main Road', just around the corner from the van. I alighted from the bus just before Bridgwater bus station on East Quay Road by the Medical Centre. It was a short walk around the corner to Western Way (A39) and the bridge over the River Parrett. I crossed the road and squeezed around the fence to a rough path descending to the wide path on the top of the river's east dyke. This is where I left the River Parrett on the previous section of the 'Fill', so I followed the dyke all the way to Brickyard Farm on River Road, approximately 4miles or 6.5 Km, passing a wide variety of sites, including factories, offices, houses, warehouses, pill boxes, ponds, fields etc. I also passed a muddy estuary at low tide. There was no dyke at Dunball Wharf, so I had to walk along the A38 main road for a few yards to Dunball Village and the gates of the wharf entrance. I checked with a worker the route of the public path through the industrial wharf complex and soon reached the open fields where a plastic sealed barrier running along a section of the dyke effectively raises the dyke approximately another foot (30cm). Some sections of the dyke were smothered with buttercups. I checked to see if I still liked butter, but I hadn't got a mirror so I couldn't see the result. At River Road I tried to continue walking alongside the river. I worked out a route around the cottages of River Road by the river, passing Pawlett outfall and then realised that I needn't have bothered because Pawlett village is at the top of River Road. I walked through the village, along Pound Road, turning right at Old Main Road and immediately left back to the van to complete another interesting walk alongside the River Parrett. Very varied. There was plenty of map reading on the section of the walk, which added to the adventure.

Location Map: - www.streetmap.co.uk, - Start: at Bridgwater