We both slept very well last night so we are hoping we have adjusted to the new time zone. Today was a relaxing one in the sleepy seaside town of Minehead. There is no mine here, the name derives from the Welsh word, Mynedd, meaning hill. At the west end of the beach is a hill, North Hill, which we will climb tomorrow. The town has Saxon origins and in Elizabethan times was a thriving fishing port. Today it is a quiet seaside holiday town with three main attractions: the beach, Butlins holiday camp and the West Somerset Railway.

Minehead Beach is known as The Strand and is a wide expanse of sand with some shingle and pebble areas, a wide promenade and all the usual amusements. The beach is on the Bristol Channel and the whole coastline has a lot of silt in it which gives it an off-putting murky appearance. It does have great sand for making sand castles. When the tide is out, and it goes a long, long way out, you walk half way across to Wales to get a swim. It is recommended to wait for high tide to go swimming. The Bristol Channel has the second-largest tidal range in the world with a mean spring tidal range of 12.5 to 14 metres and strong tidal currents. I had hoped to have a swim here at the start of our walk and another at South Haven at the end, but there were signs warning of the water quality after rain, the tide was on its way out, and most of all the water was freezing cold. So we settled for dipping our toes in the water. Amazingly the public toilets on the promenade had piping hot water in the wash hand basins so we could wash the sand off our feet and get them back to normal body temperature.

Butlins Resort Minehead is a huge holiday camp highly visible because of the large tent like white fabric tensile canopies. The camp was opened in 1962 and can accommodate 7,500 holiday makers. It has outdoor and indoor pools with water slides and water cannons, a miniature railway, a chairlift, monorail, amusement arcades, a stage for shows, shops selling souvenirs, groceries etc, restaurants, cafes and bars and a wide range of accommodation from luxury to caravans. The first Butlins Holiday Camp was built in 1936 and by 1966 there were ten but by the 1990s due to competition from overseas holiday packages, rising costs and changing holiday expectations only three remain including this one in Minehead.

The West Somerset Railway is a 36km heritage railway with ten stations, running through the Somerset countryside and coast. The railway originally opened in 1862 as part of Great Western Railway and was closed by British Rail in 1971. In 1976 it reopened with the line and stations owned by the local council and the railway operated by a charitable trust. We heard there are 800 unpaid voluntary workers who keep the railway running. It is the longest standard gauge independent heritage railway line in the United Kingdom. Some more useless trivia: The Beatles visited the line in 1964 to film part of “A Hard Days Night”. There is a scene of George Harrison and Ringo Starr cycling on the platform alongside the train. There were no trains running today but outside in the carpark were three old steam traction engines firing up and getting ready for a trundle around the Minehead foreshore. They looked magnificent all polished up, snorting and hissing, belching steam and smoke and smelling of burning coal and hot oil.

When we were here in 2019 we had a great meal at a restaurant called The Wheel House. For old times sake we called in to have lunch there today but unfortunately they were fully booked. We went further along the road to The Queen’s Head Pub and had a nice meal there instead. In England pubs and restaurants still have the tradition of a Sunday roast. Barbara had beef and I had pork along with roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, carrots, leaks, cabbage, onion, stuffing balls, gravy and Yorkshire pudding. A huge meal and all for £12 each and your first drink for £1. Being wowsers these days we didn’t have the drink. In future on Sundays we will track down a roast as they are an easy way to get vegetables – seemingly a rare commodity in meals in England these days.

Today was also a visit to Lidl’s supermarket. We bought dates, dried milk, sun flower seeds, flax seeds, mixed nuts, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds and oats to make our own healthy snacks. So much of the supermarket food is ultra high processed factory food, ie crap. It is hard to find the good stuff. Barbara spent the afternoon mixing the above ingredients into golf ball sized energy grenades.

Today was a perfect spring day. Cold at first but bright and sunny and no wind. By afternoon we were getting too hot. The air was also very clear. When we were here in 2019 Wales did not exist, shrouded in mist and rain showers, but today it was clearly visible across the channel. The weather forecast looks like we have of few more days of this ahead of us. Can’t wait to get walking!