Tess and Richard kindly dropped me off at the same place from where Richard had picked me up yesterday and I set off for the Somerset town of Street without any accommodation booked.
I knew it wa going to be a long day because I stopped short of Taunton yesterday and set off late today.
Once I reached Taunton I followed the canal until I'd seen enough of it (with not a canal boat, lock or other canal paraphernalia to be seen) and decided to follow some back roads to the 'Somerset Levels.'
Once across the 'Levels' as I neared Street I looked for accommodation but apart from an Inn well short of Street there was none to be found. I stopped at a pub to rehydrate and the locals suggested I pushed onto Glastonbury that had a Travelodge and Backpackers pub so I decided to take the first thing available.
The Travelodge had no vacancies so I rang the Backpackers pub which had a bunk so finally arrived there at 8pm and booked in without further ado. It was the usual dive but I was deperate after walking 26 miles (a marathon) and the fourth day of 28 degrees heat. Not that I noticed.
After checking in and showering I had a walk to discover two decent hotels with vacancies nearby but I was too tired to decamp.
Glastonbury certainly has it's fair share of antiquity and pubs on offer so I did a quick recce of both and after checking my route for tomorrow and accommodation options for the next few days collapsed into bed.
It had been my longest haul yet and fueled only on a slice of toast for breakfast and a 'Somerset pastie' picked up along the way plus countless rehydrations of blackcurrent at every pub I passed. As a consequence I have noticed that once familiar modest rolls of fat have now deserted me.
And oddly I'd met no one along my way to share my day.
