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North Somerset
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The Walk:To be quite honest, this was the only top I was looking forward to today; a decent length walk would lead to a thousand-footer. In addition we could link together tops off of two separate lists – both a county top and a marilyn. Despite the disappointment of Dundry Down we still held out faint hopes that some of the heavy snow in South Wales may have made it’s way over to the slightly higher Beacon Batch. From a distance we could see that we were to be disappointed – there was no snowy cap on Beacon Batch. Our disappointment was ameliorated by the spectacular approach road, the steep-sided B3134 through Burrington Combe. Lots of other people were clearly impressed too – even on a cold winter’s day, the car parks through the gorge were busy.
From the tent a good stomp took us straight to the top of the hill and our 25th marilyn. We had to briefly queue for a photo at the trig point, but the other group of walkers soon left and we had the hilltop to ourselves. The hill itself was a flat-topped ridge, with occasional lumpy tumuli scattered around. I looked at the open, brown heath all about and loved it. The views were great from this, the highest point in the Mendip Hills - we could see as far as the Quantocks and Exmoor. It was pretty chilly up there in the biting northerly wind, and so we didn’t hang about too long. We headed east along the short ridge towards a subsidiary top, topped with radio masts. In the slight dip between the two peaks there were a few small patches of snow, but not enough to warrant celebrating. Flat-topped and surrounded by radio masts and a reservoir, the subsidiary top didn’t feel like a hill at all. We turned left and headed down a gentle slope back towards the B3134.
Returning to Two Trees, we headed downhill still further, then turned left along Luvers Lane. A short walk through fields and past occasional agricultural buildings bought us to a left turn, which took us back to the car. As we settled down to lunch we felt pretty content (despite ghastly flask tea) – it had been a good walk which I’d recommend to anyone for a gentle afternoon stroll (preferably on a warmer day though!). |
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Fortunately we found a space at the lay-by
we wanted, from which we could make an ascent of Beacon Batch by the most
direct route. This led us through a narrow band of woodland before emerging
onto sloping heathland. Taking a slight right turn we saw ahead a bright
splash of red on the hillside ahead. It turned out to be a tent surrounded
by balloons and a group of four lads who’d clearly decided to celebrate
a birthday in somewhat unorthodox style – and in a somewhat exposed
position! 
The marilyn bagged, we now headed for the county
top. The boundary of North Somerset runs along the northern slopes of
Beacon Batch and the county top is unfortunately merely the highest point
along this boundary, rather than a true summit in it’s own right.
We turned briefly right on the B3134, then left down a minor road marked
on the OS map as “Two Trees”, before turning right along Leaze
Lane at Blagdon Hill Farm. The unitary boundary reached its highest point
somewhere along this road; after a slight initial rise the road was pretty
much flat for a few hundred metres. We wandered along and back with the
GPS altimeter before picking a spot which we felt was maybe a few centimetres
higher. So… not the greatest “top” then, but it did
have pleasant views across Blagdon Lake below.