Travel down to Minehead

August 29, 2003

I got up at normal work time even though I was off this Friday. I finished packing my rucksack and when mum had dropped dad off at the shop and I'd got money out of the hole in the wall, she took me to Nuneaton station. I decided that I had time to go and buy a lighter-weight raincoat from Millett's as my ruck sack was FAR too heavy and was worrying me more than slightly!! My existing raincoat that I'd packed was quite heavy and every few grammes saved would help. I managed to get one and then went back to the station and waited for the 10.15am train to Birmingham New Street.

Simon was waiting in the allotted spot by WH Smiths when I arrived and our train down to Taunton came in early so we went and found our seats 33 & 34 in coach D. The racks over the seats in the new space age Virgin train weren't big enough for the rucksack, but I took things off it and wedged it in somehow. The journey down to Taunton was only 2 hours ish which was fab. We went and asked at the ticket office where we could get a bus to Minehead when we arrived, and handily it was outside the train station!! But not until 2.10pm and so we had about half an hour to hang around. The bus arrived, and only a few minutes late and we set off, careering through the rolling countryside, calling in at lovely Watchet on the way, where a steam train was just pulling out of the station as we left. We got to Minehead and donned our rucksacks and set off in search of a campsite marked on the OS map. We soon found the road that lead to it thanks to a handy signpost. It was a serious trudge of about 1.5 miles and all VERY uphill as the lane wound in and out of the contours of the hillside above Minehead. I was sweating buckets by the time we arrived at the Camping and Caravanning Club site. It turned out to be a lovely site though! Incredibly clean and tidy with views out over the Bristol Channel to Wales and only £4.10 each as well!!! How many campsites have I been to that have flowers in the men's toilet and shower block!!??

We pitched the tent with a lovely view, though on a slight slope as most of the campsite was anyway. It took us no time at all and we trudged all the way back down the road to Minehead, deciding to risk leaving our rucksacks in the tent. It was lovely to be rid of all that weight!!! We wandered around the town for a while and ended up eating a nice tea in a VERY large and sprawling pub called The Hairy Dog – a bit too kid ridden with a big play area out back , but the food was nice. I had sirloin steak with Jack Daniel's glaze.

When we had eaten we went to investigate the beginning of the South West Coast Way, and the sculpture that marks it, that I'd seen on the official website. That done, we actually set off up the official footpath for 100 yds or so, until it turned off to the right and we trudged back up to our campsite. We sat outside chinwagging until it got quite dark, watching the lights wink on, on the far and distant Welsh shoreline. When it got a bit chillier we went into the tent and got ready for sleep with the intention of talking for a while, but I must have been asleep by 9pm!! I woke up several times throughout the night, partly because I felt I was slipping down slope I think

The lovely thatched, old part of Minehead half way up the hill to the campsite....	....clustered around the lovely church.
Simon leaning up the wall by the beach.. the first headland of the South West Coast Way behind him.	Steam engine at the station in Minehead... could it have been the one we saw pulling out of Watchet Station earlier?
Simon in front of the South West Coast Way Sculpture in Minehead....	...and me!