LIFETIME of WALKS by DEREK HARWOOD

I drove to the caravan site and parked the car by the caravan. We walked from the site to the main road, A370, Bridgwater Road. We tried to catch a bus south but couldn't find a bus stop. There was a bus shelter on the northbound side but that was of no help. We missed bus No 21, it wouldn't stop, so we moved and waited opposite the bus shelter. After half an hour bus No 75 came along and thankfully stopped. We rode on the bus via Burnham-on-Sea to Highbridge where we alighted at the petrol station, just south of Brue Bridge. We walked over the bridge to Clyce Road, a narrow lane of small terraced houses. We enquired about a public footpath from a passer-by, but receiving a very complicated and confusing answer, concluded that an exit was possible, so we continued. The lane ended at Highbridge Clyce, where the sluice gates are opened at low tide. When searching for a path to continue the walk, to our surprise, right in front of us was the narrowest footpath you ever saw. If it hadn't been for the footpath sign we wouldn't have walked along the narrow, high-sided and long path, at the bottom of lots of back gardens. The brambles were a problem, but we emerged at a conventional path which was littered with rubbish, and had been for years by the looks of it. It was a short distance to a shale track which skirted the River Brue bank, passing several abandoned derelict boats, a major engineering project at the local sewerage works, and Apex Park to the north of the cinder track. There were good views to the Quantock Hills in the far distance with a rectangular shape also on the skyline of Hinkley Point nuclear power station. As a loop in the river course got closer, so did a line of high and dry sailing boats sitting on the river mud, high above the tidal river far below. That was a spectacular sight for a towny person like me, who lives as far as is possible from the sea in middle England. At that point the track followed an impressive curving brick sea wall around the bend in the river to the southern end of the concrete sea wall of Burnham-on-Sea. As we approached the promenade, so did the rain, and although we tried to walk through the rain, we finally decided to shelter and have some refreshments. The rain finally passed, so we continued north along the promenade, passing the town centre. Because the Severn Estuary has a huge tidal difference between low and high tide of approximately 40 feet and the tide was out, the sea wasn't really visible on the horizon. To protect the town from the high tide the sea wall is huge, with lines of many steps down to the sand and mud beach. The sea wall ended as the sand dunes began and, unable to see a path ahead, the thought of plodding through miles of soft sand didn't appeal to us. Therefore, reluctantly we walked inland to the busy main road, Berrow Road, B3140. On the sea wall there were lots of interesting historical plaques of locals who'd lived in the past. We passed an old, high round house which was obviously once a windmill or lighthouse, or possibly both. Further along the road we came across a line of almshouses, set back from the road, with a stone shield dated 1868 above the impressive arched entrance. We soon reached the Berrow Triangle where we investigated the surrounding bus stops to establish the routes of services 21 and 75. A No 75 bus arrived suddenly at the Triangle so we jumped aboard to return to Purn and the caravan site. It had been a very pleasant and different walk with Ann and we looked forward to the next section.

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