Blogs

When a traveller travels, best day ever

Written by David Herbert December 29, 2018

We took a stroll through the deep dark wood…. well actually we walked through the park, racing from one of the corners to the bottom gate to get to the road, daddy started off last with tyler and tegan in the lead, a sudden sprint from daddy he takes first place which gives tyler that last bit of motivation and pushing his hardest takes the lead and touches the gate first, daddy second and tegan third with mummy ensuring the kids were not last.

We take a walk down the road and up into the field.
Dodging past the fresh cow pats from that mornings moo-ing visitors. Searching for blackberry’s and sloe berry’s, Tegan really will eat anything, lol.
We found a newly built den, wow, a much better one than I ever built as a kid, we had fun checking it out, with Tegan gagging on sloe berries even though she was asked to stop eating them?
The London to Exeter train rushing past so close you could almost touch it, the closest train that we have ever seen, except in a train station.
Heading to the far gate and Tegan climbing over the gate and us walking through the kissing gate.

We all line up to kiss mummy as she walks through the gate.
Down the rocky road and crossing the main road into Yeovil junction.
Talking about station pool, how daddy and his friends used to swim in that part of the river, "can we go in there?" 'Not now Tyler." (it's cold) On the right there used to be a goat that lives there on that hill.
Wow we used to climb up that tree, oh and I accidentally set it on fire once, (a friend and I were setting some leaves on fire and it wouldn't catch fire, so we left it and walked around the field playing and as we were walking back we saw my school dinner lady, she asked was that you two catching that tree on fire? What…? no, what tree, oops yes it was, sorry.)
Trying to climb up the tree but feeling that the branches are older and weaker, and I am now much heavier that when I was 12 or so,
I gave it a miss. Too many stinging nettles if I did happen to fall.
Tyler and daddy having a wee together, almost a picture moment, had they not been weeing.
We went into the old farm buildings, they have not changed at all, they were old and broken before, maybe a few more broken bottles now, "welcome to our new Airbnb kids," lol.
Showing them where we used to play tag along the wall and rooftops.
"Just because daddy did these things as a kid, does not mean that it is safe for you to do it now." (yes mummy)
Tyler and Tegan heading up the hill, straight up, "looks like were going up there mummy," OMG, I was feeling the burn on the back of my legs, "mummy I fell into a hole, I'm ok, awesome!"
As they go to the top the sheep made the kids jump as they quickly ran away, when the kids startled them.
We were still only half way.

Holding hands at the top as we walked along the edge of the hill,
"can you see the old carriages that the trains used to pull?"
"Oh yeah, the red and brown ones, that was the station that we came in on."
Walking down the bottom past an old part where as kids we used to go grass sledging in the summer, grass sledging equals,
one summer sledge and one super steep hill to get momentum.
It was always risky as it was only 20 foot away from the river when we got to the bottom.
These fields were used as an old motor cross track 30 years ago. I was showing them where I fell off a little 80cc motocross bike,
I was going up a small steep bank and tipped back, me landing on my back with the bike on top of me.
Heading to the far-right hand side towards a dark tunnel, a tunnel that goes under the whole rail way line, at least 8 tracks, what I remember about this is that it was pitch black as it went around a corner.
As we got to the end there were a stack of logs that we sat and had lunch. Bananas, oranges, peanut butter sandwiches, and chocolate cereal, Tyler and Tegan tried grass and peanut butter sandwiches, first time not enough, next time a mouth full of grass and then a bite of sandwich. Chocking, spitting, gagging to get the last bit out. "Yuck," so Tyler had it with banana instead. Tegan however loved it.
I took a walk to the entrance of dark tunnel there were far too many stinging nettles, so I walked back, and we decided to go on a different adventure. We walked and walked down to rivers meet, where 3 rivers all join into one.
On the left were a lot of concrete slabs that we could play on, run up and down and further to the right was where I first went camping, tent on the left, fire on the right, where we had used petrol to start the fire, and drinking the water from the river testing out our purifying tablets.
After the kids having a toilet, the draw back of drinking plenty of water that our body needs. Tyler now with a wet foot as he got too close. We head onto rivers meet, about a 10 min walk through open fields along the river bank, very picturesque and quiet. The kids go there first, climbing through the branches, trying to cross a natural dam where a branch had fallen into the river and catching all the debris that had floated down over the years. Not knowing how safe it would be we walked back and back to the river bank, looking for a bridge to cross to the other side.
I found a perfect crossing place, a tree had fallen from one side and over to the other side, it wasn’t touching the other bank so a small jump from the tree to the bank would be needed, not sure how far it was over the bank until we got there.

Tyler and I went first, on the tree and under the overhanging branch, climbing around and over a big branch, a bit tricky but manageable, having to let go of Tyler’s hand showing him where to hold on, so I could leave him by himself, reassuring him that if we were to fall we would just get wet, and have to climb out up the bank.
I got around, sitting down so I could guide him around the branch,
as he climbed over the branch,
he stood back onto the lower branch,
he slipped and was dangling over the river,
I was holding his hand, with all our might,
pulling him back up,
as he got back up, we held each other tight,
I was laughing, reassuring him that it was alright,
it was close, but we are alright,
looking back at mummy, still laughing and asking if she had seen it,
she did not look impressed.
"Can you come back now boys?"
"We were almost there, its fine mummy."
Taking it in turns moving across the tree, him holding on to the branch while I go a little further, then holding out my hand for him to catch up, as we go to the end I make sure he is holding on tight as I jump off the end, so it does not bounce him up and he falls off.
He jumps off into my arms and we shout, "we made it, yes, awesome, best day ever!"
Your turn mummy, "no way",
"did you see that? He was dangling over the river?"
"I am not doing that", ok, you walk that way along the river and we will walk this way along the river, the river meanders around through the countryside leaving us further apart at some points.
We catch back up and walk down to the river bank and we find a rope swing, wrapped around the tree, I unwind it and take the first go,
a little uneasy as the piece of wood that we held onto seemed very dead and not to hold my entire weight.

After a few goes Tyler takes ago and swings around, third time not so lucky, when he swung hard and let go of the wood and slid down the muddy bank on his bum.
I pick him up and dusting him off, mummy shouts across the bank, "that's enough boys".
(on a side note: Mummy is super adventurous, though now we have kids their safety absolutely comes first to her, so as always she strives to be the living example to our kids) We head on to the next part to where mummy and Tegan could cross to this side of the bank.
We took a bit longer as there were low hanging trees that I used to climb on as a kid, trying to rush Tyler along so not to miss mummy as we had further to walk around.
They had almost found a place. Mummy had to lift Tegan up, grab on to the thick branch, swing around like a sloth and crawl along the branch, with mummy climbing up afterwards.
Mummy did not like that idea, so we walked on a little further, the girls decide to head back to the main gate, not knowing this and thinking they were walking along the river bank, we carried on around and climbed over the barb wire fence, holding Tyler over and him kicking the fence into my leg, ouch.
Me holding onto a branch and pulling myself up over the fence thinking if this goes wrong this will hurt and Tyler will see a lot of blood.
We get across and walk along the bank, we were just about to walk up to the top and into the field, when we saw another tree down that had gone across to the other side.
Tyler we can make this, looking across the other side for mummy to let her know we were coming back over.
We climb up, a nice thick tree, and fairly level, with over hanging branches to hold onto to steady us.
Holding Tyler's hand, we steady each other, as we were about 15 foot above the waters surface, knowing if we fall we were going to get wet, and possibly stuck in the mud a little.
At one point putting Tyler's hand onto the branch and his stick that he was holding into my pocket.
As I had to climb over a branch, while he held on for dear life, we were over the half way point and had to balance, there were no more over hanging branches for balance, we were over the other side of the bank, still 10 foot to fall if something went wrong, we kept each other going with our new found mantra, "keep moving sideways, keep moving sideways and we held each other's hands, small feet as we move closer and closer to the end of the tree. No jumping from this one as this tree when broken crashed into the floor and into the bank. We got to the end and Tyler says, "let’s not do that anymore", "ok Tyler we won't."
Where are mummy and Tegan, we called out, no sign of them, we headed out for the exit.
Tyler slightly worried about the a few huge cows grouped together,
I said we will walk around the outside and they will all move into the middle, as we got closer we could see a cut through, so we headed that way and a small brown cow started to walk to us,
Tyler grabbing my hand tighter, we continue and the cow kept moving towards us, I turned around, stomp my foot and roared a little at the cow, then we walked on and it stayed.

We kept shouting for mummy and Tegan with no answer.
We got to the main gate, went through and looked down the road, no where to be seen?
I took off my t-shirt and left it by the gate, so they knew we had been here and went looking for them.
We headed back down the foot path I was slightly worried, where were they, had Laura slipped and fell down the bank?
Had they tried to cross the bank and had got stuck or worse fallen in? We kept walking and calling out.
Eventually hearing Tegan shouting, me and Tyler shouting back and getting closer and closer to each other, they had got to the other side and we had got to the other side then they had left us.
Luckily as we were walking through we found a concrete walkers bridge to cross, Tegan getting louder and louder until we could eventually see her. We cross over and finally see them. We walk up to the top of the hill to see how we had got separated.
After a short discussion we decided to walk back down the hill and over the bridge, back to the beginning to the main gate so that I could retrieve my t-shirt.
As we got to the main road, I say "whose ready for the next adventure?"
We cross the road and down to a public footpath, the beginning slightly overgrown. Walking back talking mummy into this new way, I just want to go home, its fine I said and there is a proper bridge that we can cross, I don't want any more bridges, I don't want any more of your crazy ideas.
I say it has a proper bridge that cars go across at the end of the foot path, it will bring us to the back of Stoford.
We walk past a hidden building, I knew it was there but was hidden beneath brambles and under growth, it used to be a pumping station,
I climbed over and took a look, Tyler insists on coming with me, we get around there and he wants to go inside, I say no as the roof looked worse for wear.
We carried along that foot path and as we were walking along I noticed a bridge, well a waterpipe that we used to play along as kids, I remember falling off it when I was 4 with my big brother and I rolled down the bank, hurting myself.
Winding mummy up saying, this is the bridge that we need to cross, not impressed. Lol
We get to the end of the footpath, we walked along the road up through the village and this time we take one of Tyler's short cuts through the park, we run around the football building and in front of mummy.
As we get to the back gate, we realize it is locked and have to climb over to get in, opening the door and getting the key to the gate, letting everyone in.
Life really is an adventure.
We sat down waiting for the kettle to boil, Tyler making us a hot chocolate and chilling out, and I take a moment to take in today's adventure then I started writing THIS.