Day 24: Minehead to Crowcombe

An excellent day's walking! The weather was cool, crisp and fine and we set off from Minehead initially following the lanes until we reached the MacMillan Way at Dunster. A quaint village with lots of lovely thatched cottages

And more...

Reaching a stream just out of the village 

we started to climb up past Bats Castle (an ancient settlement site) where the views were spectacular... We could see across to Dunkery Beacon where we climbed yesterday

And the other way over to the coast

The views continued to be spectacular... A bit like the opening scenes from The Vicar of Dibley...

Speaking of which. We stopped for a coffee break in a gorgeous little town called Monksilver at a pub called the Notley. We were feeling tired and our boots were a bit the worse for wear and so we were a little tentative about breaking in on the Sunday lunch crowd. We needn't have worried. The publican could not have been more welcoming if we had ordered a 3 course meal instead of just coffee and he invited us to sit for as long as we wished. When we were leaving he told us to pop next door to check out the church as it has some spectacular gargoyles and grotesques. We did and they are. One in particular is of a dentist... Said to be the earliest representation of a dentist. The photo does not actually do it justice as the dentists hands are thrust right into the poor patients mouth

The rest of the village was also of the picture book kind and you could almost imagine Miss Marple sitting in the garden sipping tea...

The rest of the walk was equally pretty with wild violets in the hedges

Daffodils by the road signs

And tranquil rural scenery (and smells if one likes that kind of thing)

All that being said we are starting to feel tired and were glad to reach a nice bed in Crowcombe. One more day and then a day of rest in Bridgewater. Aaaahhhhh!