Black Rock Nature Reserve, Cheddar - 7.3 miles

So last week I was away on our annual family camping/glamping trip near Glastonbury. My parents had a shepherd's hut and it was pretty awesome. The campsite was really cool and super peaceful...no kids allowed and very dog friendly. I highly recommend it - not least because they had a 300m fully enclosed dog field and it's so rare I get to let the beagles run off lead, they both really enjoyed and are thoroughly knackered! (Old Oaks Touring park - check it out)

You could walk up to Glastonbury Tor from the campsite (3/4 mile) - I didn't actually do this so this is a pretty awesome photo my dad took on his phone showing some of the views - and amazing weather!

It's only one weekend away from the long distance hike Tina and I are doing down the North Pembrokeshire Coastal path so I left my parents do their own thing on Wednesday and headed off to get some mileage in. The dogs weren't really feeling it first thing, I practically had to drag them out of bed...

Lazy beagles!

You're spoilt for choice with where to walk in Somerset and I was so indecisive after much googling, I still couldn't decide where to go. I didn't really want anything that was too difficult to navigate and I most definitely didn't want to end up wandering through a field of cows inadvertently.

I found this walk online and used OS maps to tweak it a little bit and see what footpaths I could follow, so I set off driving to Cheddar Gorge, which was only about half hour away from the site. Black Rock car park is basically just a long lay by on either side of the road and although it wasn't crazy busy, there's only about room for 12 cars or so and it was pretty full already so I just turned the van around a bit further down and pulled into a layby a short walk further on from Black Rock. There's quite a few lay bys here as the road winds down into Cheddar.

Vanhalla hiding away amidst the bushes.

I saw quite a lot of people at the start of this walk but I think most of them were heading along the foothpath to Cheddar Gorge so within 20 minutes, I didn't see anyone again until the end of the walk when I was back at the start, which was nice!

You head through the gate at Black Rock and go straight on up the footpath, ignoring the waymarked path to Cheddar Gorge. Click here for a map of the route I walked tracked on OS maps for more info:

No idea what the Mendip Pub Trail is but it sounds good!

A little way up the path, there's a gate to the right signposted as a permissive footpath and then another path carrying on uphill to the left. Head left and follow the path to the top then go through a metal gate and you carry on into a large field full of sheep. The dogs were pretty well behaved as Dexter has phases where he goes mental at sheep when they're close by. The field was also full of horseflies so I power walked as fast as I could batting them off as I have such a bad reaction to bites.

At the other end you exit the field and turn right onto a farm lane which you follow up for quite a while. At the end of this road, you turn left and follow another country road towards Tyning's farm. Just before you reach the farm, there's a public footpath/bridleway on the opposite side of the road. Cross over and head up this path.

This is a pretty easy walk and I wouldn't say you need to be fit to do it (don't let the 7 miles put you off)! There's only 2 very minor climbs and the most height you gain is about 312m. I'd originally planned to hike to Beacon Batch but as I kept beating through the ferns and brushing ticks off the dogs (there was a path although it was a bit overgrown), the path took me more adjacent to it and I couldn't see an easy way to detour there so I decided to just carry on. I was planning on stopping for a snack but there were still swarms of flies around and there wasn't anywhere decent to sit so I just powered on.

There's two really large radio masts/some kind of wireless station in the distance at this point and the path basically heads straight down towards them. Follow it all the way and go through a gate, signposted as Black Down/Burrington Ham on the countryside code sign. Apparently, this land is the largest area of open access land in the Mendip Hills so you don't have to use the paths. However, I didn't really fancy venturing into the many fields of cows (more cow drama coming up in the next blog post) so I stuck to the path!

You come out on a road at the end of this footpath. I turned right and headed down the road which is all downhill. It was around this point that I started thinking I needed to go home via a shop to buy some eggs and no sooner had I thought it, than I walked past a farmhouse selling eggs outside with an honesty box. This is why I love the countryside! I don't always take my purse hiking with me but luckily I had on this occasion, so I was now a pound lighter and had half a dozen fresh eggs in my rucksack to take back for breakfast. At the bottom of this road, I turned right and headed back up to finish the loop via yet another nature reserve - there are so many in Somerset!

Perfect timing!

I turned left at the Charterhouse Centre and followed the road down until a footpath was signposted on the right. I went through this gate and then just followed this winding path back to where I started. The scenery was quite nice here as you pass through Velvet Bottom nature reserve, lots of greenery and it reminded me of the Shire. It's all really easy walking though and just lots of rolling green hills - which is nice for a change from the dramatic rugged mountains! I enjoy all kinds of walks and woodland walks are always enjoyable.

You rejoin the path quite close to where you started and it's quite easy to find the route back, you turn left through a gate and then just follow the path back down to Black Rock car park. There were a lot of people at the end of the walk coming back from Cheddar Gorge so I was quite pleased I'd had a walk where I saw no one at all! I only really stopped for about 5-10 minutes for a drink/snack on the way around. I'd planned on hiking a bit longer but couldn't easily see how to extend my route without more navigating being involved and I'd set off later in the day. It took me about 2 hours 45 mins, so not too long! The good thing about having the van is jumping in the back for a can of pop and something to eat and somewhere to sit where you can take your boots off and relax after a walk before driving back.

It was a really nice walk and definitely worth doing if you're in the area and fancy escaping the crowds to do something easier. Lots of wildlife to see on the way around and very gentle with minimal climbing! I'd do the same walk again but probably extend it to make it a bit longer next time. The beagles really enjoyed and slept most of the evening, which is always an added bonus!