It was a bit of a blowy day but eight of us met in Keynsham for the Sunday ride. We took the old LMS railway line into Bath, crossed the A4 and joined the old Somerset and Dorset line going south. Both lines are now decent railway paths and the attraction of the latter is the twin tunnels.
The second of the two tunnels is 1.6km long, within one km of the southern end of the tunnel is the old Midford Station and viaduct. We continued along the railway path to the outskirts of Wellow and the riding stables that has a small cafe attached, time for a short break with coffee and cake!
Prior to that we had looked at a large monument of different rocks. These commemorate the work of William Smith. Born in 1769 Smith found work in the Somerset coalfields as a surveyor and later became known as “The Father of English Geology”. In 1801 he produced series of sketches that would later become the first geological map of Britain.
He was also employed as a surveyor on the Somerset Coal Canal that we then visited on the way to Combe Hay. From there it rather hilly back across the eastern Mendips to the pub at Compton Dando. Everyone was keen on getting back to Keynsham so we gave the pub a miss. It was probably three hours of riding time and about 40km, not to mention just over 500m climbing! It was an enjoyable ride and once again we were lucky with the weather
