Another chapter closes...

We're closing another chapter in our travels and are leaving the UK for a while to resume the cruising life full-time. So, you won't be seeing any more medieval-era pictures for some time to come.  Dunster, Somerset is a fine place to end this chapter of our journey. It's a medieval village, located within the boundaries of Exmoor National Park. It has lots to recommend it for a day trip. In addition to Dunster Castle, it has a medieval dovecote, tithe barn and yarn market among other attractions. Unfortunately, our luck with the fine autumn weather ran out and it was a grey, murky day for our visit, not great for photos, but, we enjoyed the visit very much, in spite of the weather.

The village was built around Dunster Castle which was built shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066 (it's mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086). Of course, there have been many renovations over the centuries and today the Castle looks like this, mostly the result of Luttrell family occupation from the 14th to 20th century.

Due to the weather, visitors were sparse, just the way we like it and we did a quick tour of the village sites. The castle sits atop a 200 foot hill and it's a steep climb up. Today, it looks to be in fine shape and it is open to the public although we didn't go in. The daylight was short and we had a country walk in mind.We descended back down to the village and visited a welcoming tearoom for a hot cuppa and light lunch before heading out on our walk.

This was a short circular walk, only about five miles, but, it was straight uphill for about 700 feet (213 metres) for the first half to the top of the hill, which took a while and then straight down again. We went off behind the castle and skirted through a deer park around the lower slopes of Gallox Hill before heading up a steeper incline. We were heading ultimately for the ruins of an Iron Age hill fort at the top, known as Bat's Castle.

Once at the top, the views would have been spectacular, over the castle and village and across to the Bristol Channel and beyond. It was quite misty though and most of the view had to be imagined rather than experienced. At the top, it was a typical Exmoor landscape with low-lying gorse bushes spread across open heathland. The damp wind was up and blowing strongly, very atmospheric. The ruins of the hill fort's ramparts and ditches were clearly obvious. It was also prime country for wildlife viewing. Deer were there, but, camera-shy and we only got a glimpse.

More friendly were a group of wild Exmoor ponies. We sat with them for a while and enjoyed a flask of tea before heading back down.

Here's a mum with two photogenic foals.

The way down wasn't that obvious and at one point we took a wrong turn for about half an hour and had to climb back up again to resume the right path. Daylight was waning quickly and we got back to the village only just before dark and in time to catch our bus/train back to Bristol. Travelling back, in the dark, with rain lashing the windows of an overheated bus gave us time to reflect on this bittersweet ending to our time here. We've enjoyed it very much.

Now, another chapter in our travels is starting. As you're reading this, we've just arrived back in Perth, Western Australia and are back aboard Gjoa. Summer is just starting here and we're expecting temperatures in the 30's. We won't be doing much walking in that kind of heat! More to come...