Whewat one

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This is a fine way to get into Exmoor from the pretty harbourside town of Watchet, with long steady hill climbs and descents, and extensive views of the country around. The route gets a big four stars from me - just a tad short of the full five because there is a fair amount of walking on roads, although they are very quiet and usually scenic.

It is mostly easy to navigate, with a lots of long straight stretches of road, track or bridleway, and a section of the old mineral line railway path. The only slightly more complicated part is in the woods near Kersham and around Kersham Farm.

Access is mostly through field gates and there are a couple of stiles. A couple of spring lines across the fields east of Cutcombe look as though they might get boggy in winter.

Watchet has lots of shops and several cafes, including one at the recently-opened art centre at East Quay, while Wheddon Cross has a shop and pub. There is nowhere to eat or pick up supplies between Wheddon Cross and Washford. It is possible to divert to the nice old Royal Oak pub in Kingsbridge midway, using the road through Churchtown and the footpath up the valley by Perley Wood but that adds a good mile to the journey.

The walk starts at Wheddon Cross, the highest village on Exmoor at 300m above sea level. It has a shop (plus post office services and petrol station), pub, village hall and cattle market. The free car park has toilets and the walk heads North East from here through the village, taking the minor road past the phone box and war memorial. The road has no pavement but is fairly quiet and is followed slightly uphill, level then gently downhill to Cutcombe.
Just past the church on the left, there is an x-stile and a finger post to Stowey Wood on the right. The footpath follows the left edge of the field to a second x-stile. Continuing to follow the left edge of the grassy field you head downhill to a gate. Shortly after the gait head diagonally right across the field to pick up the corner of another field boundary (this section is not signed but the path was clear on the ground when I walked it). Follow beside the hedge to another gate with way markers. The finger post points diagonally downhill but the path was less obvious on the ground. There is a gate at the bottom corner of the field and a path/sheep track leading away. It is easy to miss the yellow topped marker post on the right leading down into the woods so keep an eye out for it. The path into the woods head to a stream and a gate. After passing through the gate follow alongside the stream to another gate with an awkwardly positioned latch. Slippery rocks make up the path heading down to a finger post so take care when wet or green. Care needs to be taken with navigation at the finger post as a number of paths radiate from here. Cross the stream by the ruined building and turn left along the stream to another finger post which points right to Kersham
The path heads steeply uphill through woods to a stile with a dog pass post. There are a myriad of maybe-paths uphill through a grass field with overgrown gorse and bushes to reach a gate.
The path crosses a clearer field to another gate to enter the field above Kersham farm. Half way along this field, on the left is a gate onto the minor road. Turn left and walk uphill on the minor road to a cross roads with a busy B-road. Cross over to another minor road almost opposite and continue along this road, mostly flat to start then a slight uphill before a steady downhill to a T-junction with a seat under a tree in the middle of it.
From here take the obvious track straight ahead and uphill into Croydon Hill woods. At the Croydon Hill sign take the right fork and follow the track to a 5-ways finger post. Turn right (signed Druids Combe) to stay in the woods.
At the end of the woods go through the gate straight ahead and follow the field boundary with wide stunning views of the Bristol Channel. At the end of the field go through the gate and along a grassy lane. Cross a minor road to a more overgrown lane to come out on a minor road. Follow this downhill to a cross roads by Croydon Hall. Go straight over to a minor road and follow this to a T-junction. There is a track directly opposite which you follow to a field edge (which can be overgrown) and a stile into a field then another stile into another field and a gate onto a short section of lane then onto the main A39. Cross over the road with care and turn left. Turn right by the bus stop to Castle Mead residential street and walk to the far end. At the T-junction turn left the turn right before the railway bridge. There is a finger post opposite the school to ‘Old Mineral Line’. This is a level, multi-use path/track to Watchet.
For a route which goes from 300m to sea level, there is still about 300m of ascent. Although a lot of the route is on minor roads without verges or pavements, there was not a lot of traffic around when I walked it on a Sunday in August but you would want to make sure you were visible if conditions were cloudy or dark/dull. The views from Croydon hill were spectacular and the walk is varied enough to be interesting. There is a very limited bus service from Minehead to Wheddon Cross (the 198 run by Atwest) and a more frequent bus service between Minehead and Watchet (the 28 First bus).

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