I’ve driven down in the southern half of Somerset for a few days, in the second-half of the week I’d booked off work for tackling The Ridgeway (which was, of course, cut short and put on hold). My day had begun with a visit to the National Trust-owned Montacute House (one of those long-term goals, finally ticked off) and, leaving my car in the parking area, I decide to venture off and explore the surrounding countryside.
For the fifth year running, I had signed up for Weston Hospicecare’s Mendip Challenge event. I read that over nine-hundred people took part this year, walking anywhere between five and thirty-miles on the day. I was set for yet another thirty-miler and hopped on to one of the four coaches laid out for our early start.
Six-months of the year; gone and never to be reclaimed or repeated. Six-months to go. A half-year of opportunity.
It has been over eighteen-months since my previous visit to Exmoor; an almost equally strenuous walk that climbed to the highest point, Dunkery Beacon. At the beginning of 2017, I’d vowed to make a greater effort to explore more of Exmoor… Other intentions must’ve interrupted this ambition.
Walks With Olly 