Saturday, March 10, 2012

Day 16: Taunton

Distance: 13.6 miles
Temperature: 15 degrees Celsius, warmer in the sun

The day began grey and overcast, but by noon, the skies were opening up and we walked in glorious sunshine.

We said goodbye to Greenham Hall


this morning and headed off. Today we were in a rush. We had to get to Taunton because our room at the Castle was waiting.

Our route took us mostly on trails and only a little bit of pavement, which was very nice for our feet. We were mainly on the West Deane Way, which at times followed the remnants of the Great Western Canal that we walked along yesterday.


At one point we came upon the remains of one of the canal's lifts. It was full of scaffolding as a local group is working on conserving what's left of the structure.


A new aspect of our walk today was that we were often near a railway line and saw quite a few trains fly by. They were all passenger trains moving at around 100 miles an hour. (I'm assuming based on the speed of our train to Penzance) Our North American readers are probably unfamiliar with this concept. Frequent passenger trains traveling at high speeds. At one point, our route took us across the rail line at a level crossing. As we approached, the lights started flashing and the gates lowered. Al quickly grabbed his camera and got ready for the shot. The train flew through the crossing. There were 4 cars and the engine, and Al totally missed it!

[note to readers from al: I accidentally deleted the picture of a rail crossing ... with no train.]

We arrived in Taunton and were able to walk into the middle of the city on a very nice path along a stream. The Castle at Taunton Hotel was easy to find. It's the old gatehouse of the Castle. Actually it's an 18th century reconstruction of the original 13th century gatehouse. Today, the Castle is a museum and the gatehouse is a high end hotel. Its always fun to show up at these places with our backpacks after a day of walking. (Al's beard doesnt help either!) (my beard is awesome -al) We are quite perplexing to the staff. Today's questions included "is your trip business or pleasure?" and "would you like help carrying your bags up to your room?". Once we got upstairs, our rushing paid off.


Our room is pretty nice!


The perfect place to put our feet up and relax until we start again tomorrow.

8 comments:

  1. It's awesome how lucky you guys have been with respect to weather. England in Feb/Mar sounded so cold and rainy and it's been just the opposite! Congrats!

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  2. I am having so much fun reading your blog every day. Today Brian and I had pasties for lunch and I thought of you. Probably not the same quality as what you have access to, but still a tasty pasty:)

    Laura

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  3. That was a very funny blog Dawn.
    Too slow on the draw Al.

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  4. What fun you guys are having! Was the snap in your robes after your massages? Really enjoying the daily posts. Thanks for keeping us all along the way!

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  5. looks like a great place to stay. hotel workers are programmed to ask those questions. they would ask you if you need help with your bags even if you showed up with only a briefcase. i think the beard probably helped al in the hotel. he looks more rugged. are you staying more than one night. thanks for the celsius; thats really warm. must be nice.

    bruce

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  6. Hahahhahaha "would you like help carrying your bags up to your room"

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  7. love the post-bathing pic in the robes! what a great room!

    julie

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