Learning British: Stiles

Taking a break from wedding talk today for my first ever installment of Learning British, featuring a fun little tidbit about life in the English countryside. Not that I live there... at least not yet. But I went for a visit this past summer to see the boy/man and to finalize my visa and national insurance number and all that other fun paperwork stuff.

So the b/m's moma was going to a conference in Taunton, a cute little town in Somerset (South West England) and she offered to take me with her. I figured while she was conferencing, I could go explore, poke around a shop or two, and take in the fresh country air... or find a café and get a scone and a cuppa tea if it started raining (which it did, of course).

I had about 4 hours to do all of that, so my first stop was the tourist information center, to find out about circular walks - self-guided tours around town and the surrounding countryside. Boy/man's father had been on one of these, and he's not really the hiker type, so I figured I'd be just fine walking in my ballet flats. (Yeah, no. Hunter wellies would have been much better.)

I picked Circular Walk #10 - Cotlake Hill, where, at the climax of the hike, you get a panoramic view of Taunton and the surrounding area from the top of a hill. (You can download my whole walk itinerary here, if you're at all interested in following my little adventure.)

So the walk started out really well - I made my way through the town's beautiful gardens in Vivary Park, where I snapped a few pics of a father and his daughter feeding ducks and a cute older couple walking hand in hand. (Yeah, I was feeling sappy and romantic. That's what newly-engagedness does to you. I'm still working on suppressing that.)

(But seriously, something about older people holding hands always gets to me. I hope B/M and I always holds hand. Ok, see, that sappiness has got to stop.)

Anyways, after Vivary Park, I walked through more residential streets, where I saw some incredibly beautiful old churches and buildings (some dating back to the 13th century). I am amazed that these structures are still standing today. I can't wait to move to England to explore more of this Roman/Saxon history.

Then the walk got complicated. It took me through fields, and walking past cows and ancient trees. Problem is, I hadn't practiced my British countryside vocabulary, like here:

Opposite the Winchester Arms, enter the recreation ground and keep to the left hand hedge until, at the trees in the corner, follow the path down over the stream. Continue across the field, over the weir, then keep the stream to your left until the road is reached.

What the heckles is a weir?

I also didn't realize I had to start counting fields. I was too busy looking around, so I guesstimated:

Turn left, then immediately right to go over the stile. Follow the hedge on the right, and climb over the stile, up the steps and into the next field and bear right. At the top of the hill in the third field, bear right and go through the hedge in the corner to emerge on Cotlake Hill.

And a stile? Seriously? I had NO idea what that could be until I reached this step looking thing near a fence.

Yep, that's a stile.

The view up on Cotlake Hill was well worth it, though, even if my camera's battery died just when I got up there. But it was nice, trust me.