Taulan three

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Taulan here.

A big four stars from me for a long but often lovely walk, mostly on the watery Somerset Levels. I did it in sections. Much of the route is alongside canals, rivers and drainage channels, bar a few miles through fields and villages on a low ridge in the middle of the walk which makes a change of scene and yields some long views over the area. It is almost all off road bar a couple of miles of lane walking between Stoke St Gregory and Stathe which is necessary to get around a closed level crossing that has blocked the old route across the fields.

From Taunton to Charlton the canal towpath makes for easy navigation and walking. Beyond that there is a peaceful few miles along the ramparts of the River Tone with potentially a lot of gates to go through though most were open when I went through in mid September. There are plenty of grazing cattle in the area and although they were usually indifferent or distant, I did meet one lot of curious and more excitable bullocks that followed after me, gambolling about a bit when I waved them away. Much nicer were the various birds on the river. I saw snipe, mallards, cormorants, a big group of swans and a kingfisher and a kestrel hovering over as I passed through.

Just before the path reaches the road and a bridge crossing, there is a private house and garden on the rampart and the path angles down a scruffy embankment into the field behind it to reach the gate to the road. It is not completely obvious. The route then crosses the river over a narrow road bridge without a footway (quietish little road though) and continues a short way along the opposite bank before taking a grassy drove (passing a couple of fields full of willow whips - a distinctively local crop) towards the ridge ahead. A stony, rough path then leads uphill through some woods to the top of it.

The route follows along the ridge for a while, with some wide views to enjoy before it passes through the grounds of a willow-themed visitor attraction complete with wicker dinosaurs and a cafe before crossing the road and edging round some fields towards Stoke St Gregory. The path doesn't always exactly match the paths on the OS map here. The route plot of the Slow Way was correct when I walked through. How it is depends, I guess, on the current cropping regime.

Stoke St Gregory has a community-run pub/shop. After that there are no facilities until Langport. It is a bit of a dull walk along lanes from there to Stathe, heading eventually gently downhill to cross the River Parrett over a bridge. From here the Slow Way follows the River Parrett Trail between the river and a flood channel. This was my favourite bit of the route as it has gorgeous, almost Dutch-style lowland scenery and you get to appreciate the massive drainage system that makes these wet lands habitable and farmable. Note that there are likely to be cattle grazing on this stretch of the walk too.

Finally, the trail goes under a low railway viaduct and arrives in Langport. There are various routes across/around the last field. The mapped one for this route continues along the river but you can equally well head diagonally across it and go straight on through the gate into community garden and through an archway under the Town Hall, which also seems to be a well used route in and out of town, although it is unclear to me whether or not it is open 24/7.

Langport is a likeable little town with a history strongly influenced by the river and flooding. It has a popular riverside park beyond the shops/carpark at the meeting point and there are a couple of cafe options at the far end of it over the footbridge if you are in need of cake after the 16 miles.

Overall, the access is pretty good along the canal at the Taunton end and there is the usual varied rural mix of gates, stiles, footbridges etc for the rest of the way. Taunton has good public transport links. Langport is on a couple of bus routes during the week (to Taunton, Yeovil and Bridgwater) but nada on a Sunday. Maybe you could hitch a lift on a paddle board if it’s a sunny summer day. Plenty of those around then.

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