antonalyptic: Willand and Wellington

20191203

Willand and Wellington

The Duke of Wellington got around. I fact there have been nine of him, the latest being still alive. But it was the first that most people know about and who won the victory at Waterloo in 1815. There are various monuments and other miscellania in memory of that victory - one in Phoenix Park, Dublin at 62m high, another in Trim, Co Meath, much to the chagrin of some of the locals. And the Wellington Monument, 53m high, near where Ali's mum lives and the nearby town named after the monument one supposes. When driving to her home I habitually look out for the monument which is clearly visible from the M5, and this time I noted it was covered in scaffolding and reckoned it was worth a visit on foot. Google reckoned it was about 9.5 miles away so would be quite a challenge barefoot running.

Part of my track, monument off top right

I set off kind of hiding my intent from my alter ego (or one of them) for fear of the goal being considered too much especially in the winter. I told myself I could be just going to Uffculme. But at each crossroads I persisted in the general direction of the monument. In the event I was saved by a road closure towards the end - the road was closed presumably because of works on the monument renovation. So I clocked up only 16.83 miles with elevation gain 484m. But I figured I could have made it there and back so, maybe in the summer...

A few days previous I had run 7.3 miles, this time to explore hitherto uncharted territory south-east of her home. Nothing of much consequence but opening up some ideas for my next visit.

Here I ascended Black Down Common, home of Culmstock Beacon, but I resisted the temptation to backtrack to the Beacon and ploughed on towards the monument. The common is definitely worth another visit.