Velvet Bottom

An Easter break with a party to look forward to.

The Daughter's on Friday, a walk on Saturday and a L'Ubley Jubbly house warming party at the sister in law's on Saturday night. All sounds quite splendid.

I am lookng forward to one of my regular Mendip walks; Velvet Bottom. That's a walk sharply up from Blagdon and over Beacon Batch (that's a nose bleedingly high 325m or 1066 feet in proper money) and down into Cheddar for a spot of lunch and then a delightful stroll up the gorge and into Velvet Bottom - a beautifully soft spot that had once been a cauldron of industry. Then a scamper past the Roman Forts and back down to Blagdon to make myself beautiful once more for the party in the evening.

The weather forcast is not brilliant but it will be lungfulls of good west country air, perhaps with a dash of hail, sleet and snow for good measure. The same day last year I was plodding 22 miles over the Black Mountains from White Castle to Hay-on-Wye in the rain and mud.

Twelve miles; all of them good for the soul.