BETWEEN WESTERN SHORES

Dixe Wills forges a thrilling new West Country walking route-coast-to-coast from Somerset to Dorset

- Dixe Wills

I thought I knew the Somerset Levels. I've spent many a happy day walking or cycling across this extraordinary flood plain, drained first by the Romans (well, probably), then more extensively by medieval monks. Barring the distinctive mound of Glastonbury Tor, I've always thought of the Levels as fen-flat. How wrong could I have been?

Pausing for a sunny picnic high up on Corton Ridge, near the Dorset border, I looked out on a vast ocean of parched greens and sun-dried ochres, interrupted by myriad little ridges and hummocks (apparently known as 'burtles' in these parts) and the immense hulk of Cadbury Castle hillfort.

This was just one of several welcome surprises that came my way on my 100-mile hike from Weston-super-Mare to Weymouth. You won't find this coast-to coast walk on any map of south-west England because this is one I cooked up myself. With a lack of invention bordering on the heroic, I'm calling it the Wewey.

Over six days I was treated to a grand miscellany of sights and sounds. After skirting the Somerset Levels, I found myself climbing in and out of gorges, meandering about a tiny picturesque city, passing through villages little touched by the ravages of time, greeting throngs of inquisitive sheep (is it me or are they less afraid of people than they used to be?) and taking in the nation's most extraordinary beach before arriving at Weymouth, as busy as an ants' nest but with more ice cream cones. There wasn't a day without a hill of some sort, but none were particularly daunting and there were always views at the top if I fancied taking a breather.

PATCHWORK PATH