Standing at Gold Corner, the waters rising, as the clouds sailed past and changed from silver to steel to leaden greys and the lines of ancient willow trees loomed up in the mist it was possible to believe in the myths our ancestors made about the wetlands. A sword could have been forged here in a grey place, and lost again in the grey mist. People could have come and gone in the misty world, silently. Cuckoos have called here for ages, and still do, as invisible today as in any other.
Probably in the distant past people would have used small boats for this kind of crossing, before the Levels were properly drained. The small hills, knowles and mumps rose up around me, reminding me of the safety of higher ground. This could have been Avalon, named for the apple trees that still bloom here.
Before I started walking, we stopped on the way at the Abbot’s Fish House at Meare, the oldest remaining monastic fish house in Britain. Around it the meadows would have seasonally been a pool and earlier still it was an area of Lake Villages.
My route today began on an old railway line from Bawdrip. It was dripping from trees and bridges and the sculptures on the heritage route wore the marks of the rain, both today’s and other days.
After Cossington the roads were often straight lines, alongside the Drains, crossing by small and large bridges. I remember Gold Corner from Hannah’s walk in 2012. Bob also walked this way in 2003 so now all three of us have taken this way across the Levels. At Gold Corner there is a large pumping station. The red line on the wall to the right of the main door, impossibly high over my head, marks the height of the highest recorded water level.
I took an old Drove route and then a footpath which of course made the going wetter. There are many degrees of wetness on a walk. The fact that my underwear was now wet meant this was a seriously wet day.
Bob helpfully appeared at the bridge where I rejoined the road with a seat in the dry car and a hot pasty to warm me up.
Refuelled, I set off for the second part of the day and soon met a pair of Lejoggers on bicycles. Sue and Ivan are both in their 70s and doing the ride for a cancer charity. It was uplifting to meet them, as it always is when you met others who are undertaking this particular challenge.
The Levels have played host to many historical groups. The Romans were said to have made salt here, presumably to finance their legions (and maybe there as one here).
The final part of the path was overgown with cow parsley. But as I was already completely soaked, what did a bit of wet foliage matter. The Sexey Arms car park was soon witness to the wet walker’s legs as I stripped off my trousers and wrapped myself in a blanket. It was only 20 minutes back to the van and some hot soup.
God grant us a quiet night and a drier day tomorrow.
JAL 24.04.2019
Day 23 of the End to End, Bawdrip to Blackford via Gold Corner.