Wigtwizzle - Norman Smith's Travel Blog.

Watchet Harbour, Somerset

This set of photos were taken during the two weeks of the holiday and all of then were taken on my evening strolls down to the harbour. On our last holiday I witnessed the best sunset I had ever seen from the West Quay with both the sea and sky looking to be on fire but, as they say, lightening never strikes twice and unfortunately this year I was out of luck.

East Quay, Watchet Harbour

Warren Bay from East Quay

Water breaking on rocks

Watchet Harbour

Sunset from West Beach

Harbour Wall

Sunset from West Beach

West Beach

Watchet Lighthouse

Watchet Harbour

Watchet Marina

Sunset from Watchet Harbour

West Beach

Harbour Wall

Capstan, Watchet Harbour

Sal

The Ancient Mariner

Allerford and Bossingtom

A short, quiet afternoon driving to the far side of Minehead and visiting two of our favourite villages, Allerford and Bossington. Normally we would have walked up and through the woods which link both villages but my hormone therapy seemed to have knocked me for six. My energy levels were so low and muscle power nearly nonexistent which meant that we had to drive between the two.

Kitnors Kitchen was back open after the pandemic so we duly paid it a visit and sat out in the garden enjoying a cappuccino each. The garden is always full of birds and the sound of Sal opening her little bird food box brought then all to our table.

Fully refreshed we walked the half mile down to the beach. It's called a beach but there is no sand there, it is just a mass of pebbles which form a massive bay right round to Porlock Weir and beyond and is scattered with WWII defensive pillboxes. Sal wandered off to look for some wishing stones but unfortunately came back empty handed whilst I went off to look at one of the pillboxes. My energy levels were still low so I slowly started to walk back to the car.

Only one more full day left of our holiday now so when we got back to our holiday home, we set about planning our last day. Little did we realise we would be visiting a couple of absolute gems which gave us the perfect way to end the holiday.

This blog may sound like a bit of a doom and gloom blog but that's far from reality. I did feel a bit deflated at times I must admit, but just to be there, was more than enough for me. At one stage I thought I would miss the holiday completely and then that was followed by the depressing thought of having to go back home to chemotherapy, both of which turned out not to be the case so I really was counting my blessings and in a positive frame of mind. Three months later as I write this blog, that is still my state of mind thankfully.

Allerford

Sal on Bridge, Allerford

Bossington

Allerford

Allerford Post Office

Bossington

Bossington Beach

Porlock Bay

Bossington

Allerford

Sal by the ford.

Horner Woods, Somerset

Finally back down in Somerset for our yearly visit. I felt quite emotional driving those last few miles as I had been so afraid that I'd have to cancel the holiday due to my prostate cancer diagnosis. As it turned out, the consultant arranged all my treatment visits in such a way that I could get away for a few weeks.

I had a chat with him a week or so before we set off and he gave me some great news. I was to have radiotherapy treatment and not the chemo which the first doctor had intimated. This basically was because my cancer hadn't spread so the chemo wasn't the best way to fight it. This took a big weight off my mind as I had dreaded coming back home to a three month course of that! I was put on hormone therapy as well, which unfortunately isn't without it's side effects but they are ones I will just have to live with for the time being.

We stayed at the same house which was just a five minute walk from Watchet Harbour and spent the afternoon just settling in. The first evening Sal and I has a walk down to the harbour just to say hello to the old place again. It was easy to see by both our demeanours that we were both glad to be back in our 'happy place' once again.

Our first day was spent just pottering about and going into Minehead for some shopping so all the photos are from our second day when we went to Horner Woods. The weather was changeable, mainly damp but with a few sunny spells thrown in for good measure. The tearoom or should I say tea garden was absolutely lovely and that is where we made that our first stop.

After a lovely cuppa, we had a short walk in Horner Woods, mainly following a path alongside Horner Beck. We had intended returning on a different path on the far side of the beck but this was unfortunately closed due to fallen trees after the recent stormy weather.

Also we had hoped to hear a cuckoo but the lady in the cafe said she hadn't heard any all year. There was no shortage of other woodland birds though and they accompanied us throughout the walk.

My progress was pretty slow due to my cancer treatment but it felt great just to be back out in the countryside again without the dark cloud of chemo hanging over me.

A day I will remember for a long long time.