Brean Down and Weston-super-Mare

12/9/15 We decided to finish off Brean Down and stroll on to Weston. The bus journeys were getting longer and the walk was starting to get disjointed as there was no official path anymore. Once up on Brean Down, the advantage of being able to see the rain coming in didn't stop us getting wet again. It stopped by the time we reached the fort.

From here we could see where we had been, Wales and where we were headed.

Between us and Weston though was the river Axe. We followed a footpath down to where a ferry used to run over to Uphill. But to get to the other side is now a long bus journey.

 Uphill had a couple of pubs, but once back on what might be called a coastpath, Weston's large beach awaited.

Weston itself is like most bigger resorts with large bland pubs. It seemed like we had run out of what we were looking for, a coastpath with characterful pubs in distinctive settings.

Burnham-on-Sea to Brean Down

2/7/15 Another long bus journey back to Burnham and we were soon walking along the front. The coastpath has been extended to here now and hopefully there are more signs for it. We decided to walk along the beach when the road deviated inland.

In the background of this photo, you can see the rain coming in across Bridgwater Bay. We decided to head inland across the dunes and golf course to where I thought there was a pub. The pub had been demolished and we were soaked. We carried on along the road to the holiday resort of Brean.

It was the middle of the afternoon, but the cabaret singer was was packing them in at The Seagull Inn. We dried ourselves under the toilet hand-driers and watched with our pints of mild. This didn't feel like part of Somerset. We did try some of the other pubs/bars and this small area did seem quite unique for our coastal walks.

We were running out of time as we ascended Brean Down. We had been looking at this lump of rock for a number of walks, but once up it we had to head back for the bus.

Dunball to Burnham-on-Sea

6/15 We bused it back to Dunball knowing that we were unlikely to see many pubs on this leg. So we started in the Admirals Table again as the beer had been nice last time. Then it was a cautious walk across the dual carriageway to Dunball Wharf. This wharf is occasionally used by small coasters, but was deserted as we walked along the rivers edge and through the security fence at the end. Then it was back along the flood defenses looking across the mud to the other bank that we had walked along previously. The flat walk continues for some way on this bank of the Parrett. On the left we eventually pass Combwich again, on the right we appear to always have a large tower just a couple of fields away as sweep around it in a large arc. I think it is an old water tower. When we reach the mouth of the river, the amount of bird life increases and we also have to pick our way around some of the sluices that protect the Somerset levels beyond. Then it is a short detour inland along the Brue towards Highbridge before heading back to the sea and Burnham.

The Reeds Arms (sorry about the photo taken from the bus as we were leaving) is a Wetherspoons these days and the only obvious pub on the front. They had a cider festival on and we tried as many of them as we could. The staff though didn't know what they were serving us.