The Strange World of Temple Cloud - Part One

This is a copy of my blog about doing the Big Issue BigStep Challenge to raise money for the Big Issue Foundation which helps homeless people.  If you want to donate, please go to this site.

Sunday 9^th September 2018

I know the Big Step Challenge doesn't start until tomorrow, but I thought I'd try to get in practice by walking up to a neighbouring village, Gurney Slade, for a treasure hunt inspired by the 1960s television show TheStrange World Of Gurney Slade. After my Beloved Partner and I had walked around Gurney Slade and Binegar, picking up clues, we returned to the village hall for tea and cake and a chance to watch The Strange World Of GurneySlade itself.  This was a comedy about a character (called, not surprisingly, Gurney Slade – I’ve always said that Somerset place names ought to be fictional characters) who escapes from a television series and sets out to explore the real world, only to discover that the camera crew are still tracking him.  It was wonderfully silly, in a surreal way that I associate more with radio comedy than television – but, as the Beloved pointed out, in 1960 television was comparatively new, and hadn’t yet developed its own distinctive style.  

In total, walking to, around, and back from Gurney Slade, I have managed 19,782 steps today. I hope I can do as well when they're actually being counted.

Monday 10^th September 2018

The first real day of my sponsored walk began with a cloudy, moody, dramatic Somerset skyscape of the kind that looks even better with llamas.

I felt rather self-indulgent to giving over a whole day to walking, not dealing with any of the other stuff that needed doing, such as cooking or washing-up. To give the walk at least some air of purpose, I planned it to come back through Chilcompton, so that I could pick up a bottle of milk and a can of beans from the Co-op there - and also so that I would know how to get there if another snow-storm like the two last March cut us off from any supermarkets that aren't within walking distance. I started out by walking through Pitcot and Stratton-on-the-Fosse (passing through a field in the latter area, I was politely but firmly herded to the gate by a group of very insistent calves) and then up to Radstock.

I got lost a few times while walking through Loocombe Woods, mostly because they seem to have grown somewhat since my map was printed, so that the map's outline of their edges was no longer strictly accurate. 

Eventually I found myself in Haydon, on the outskirts of Radstock. I had wondered whether to try to walk round the outside of Radstock and Midsomer Norton, but time was ticking on. I retraced my steps as far as the B139, and then walked along this as far as Chilcompton, mainly because I couldn’t find the footpaths across fields that the map suggested as an alternative route. The part of the walk that seemed to take the longest was walking along Wells Road in Chilcompton, trying to keep a look-out for the Co-op, and wondering, since no supermarket was marked on the map, whether it would be the same place as the Post Office that was marked. It was.

Thankful to have got this far, I bought my groceries, and an ice-cream which I felt I had more than earned, and then began plodding home. By the time I reached a signpost that read ‘Gurney Slade 1 mile’, I was so tired physically and mentally that my first thought was, ‘Oh no - and it's at least an hour's walk from Gurney Slade to home,’ before it dawned on me that I was in Benter, which was closer to home than Gurney Slade. Having got my bearings, I decided to stick to the roads, as I was too tired to experiment with footpaths. By the time I reached the final leg of the journey, walking down the steep toboggan-run that is Ash Lane, I was holding onto the stone wall edging the lane. When I came in, I went up to my room to change out of my muddy socks and jeans and collapse on my bed to read for at least half an hour before I could even summon up the energy to go back downstairs and make myself a cup of tea. I had been promising myself that I was going to round off the day by walking up to Binegar Village Hall for the Harvest Supper. Blow that. I'm going by car.