Wells to Glastonbury

[Tribble]

Last summer (2015) I did what on paper was a short (about 5 miles) and pleasant walk: Wells to Glastonbury. However in practice it turned out to be about 8 miles, and not always pleasant! (Although the views towards Glasto in the early part of the walk were great). The reason, apart perhaps from the standard of my map-reading, was that on the approach to Glastonbury, the signposting and quality of some of the footpaths was very poor. I had to retrace my steps at least once from a wrong turning, and I did more road-walking than I wanted.

There was no danger of me completely losing my bearings, because of the Tor being visible for miles around. But I was exhausted by the end of the walk.

Any comments from anyone familiar with this area? I would have thought that with Glastonbury being so popular with visitors, the surrounding countryside would be a bit more walker-friendly!

[alewife]

Hi there. I live near this area and that is the nature of the terrain on that particular walk, crossing part of the levels called Queens Sedge Moor, which comprises bascically flat field and waterways which are basically just drainage ditches. There are a few trees and you might see herons, the odd barn owl and plenty of cows , even the odd crane, but if your navigation is not spot on you keep unexpectedly coming to the rhines (ditches) and can't cross them.

There are nice walks from Wells, and nice walks to Glastonbury, but this ain't one of them.

 I have walked from Castle Cary to Glastonbury and thats a much nicer walk with cider orchards and Carymoor wildlife centre en route, and you reach the tour from the other side.
And from Wells I would walk probably in any direction except the way you went.

Mind you, Glastonbury and Wells are both worth visiting for a mooch, a cuppa, or a pie and a pint (though it probably has to be scrumpy )

[Tribble]

Hi, many thanks for your reply. Your Castle Cary suggestion sounds really good.

Some parts of my walk were very scenic, e.g. around Launcherley. (I thought of going up Launcherley Hill, but didn't have the time. Perhaps I might do that one day as part of a circular walk from Wells).

I didn't make a note of my exact route, but I'm pretty sure that the area I found difficult was due east of Glastonbury, rather than Queens Sedge Moor. I got to West Pennard OK, with the idea of following what's shown on the map as a virtually straight path to the Tor. I think it was after East Street that I came unstuck.

A few days later I did that part of the walk from the opposite direction, and found out where I had gone wrong. It was much easier to follow the path in that direction … because there were placards at every stile with an arrow and a picture of a red lion! Clearly someone thought it important that people should be able to find their way to the pub in West Pennard. If there had been similar signs pointing to the Tor in the opposite direction, my walk that day might have been very different!