Strawberry Line - Jan 2026
| Strawberry Line - Jan 2026 | |
| The Strawberry Line was a railway from 1869 and 1963. Now it is a very nice hiking and biking trail. We have walked Winscombe to Yatton. (LINK) Today we wanted to walk the other direction from Winscombe to Cheddar. | |
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| As we have done before, we parked on Winscombe Football Club car park. It is located right on the Strawberry Line trail. We turned left toward Cheddar. | |
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| The trail is nice and firm with little in the way of mud. There are also gates made to make it difficult for motorbikes to pass. Walking, running and cycling are encouraged. | |
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| Shute Shelve Tunnel is a 165-metre-long tunnel along the Strawberry Line between Winscombe and Cheddar. | |
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| At the entrance signs tell us to not stop and linger due to the risk of rock falls. They were not kidding - by the look of the partially squashed utility cabinet! | |
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| The tunnel is nicely lit and it is easy to step around the odd puddle without getting wet socks. | |
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| The walls were a bit creepy - alien-like dripping limestone walls made us keep walking to get out the other side. | |
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| The trail took us through the charming town of Axbridge. Old picturesque houses that are nice to look at, but it looks like a hassle to actually live there. Tiny houses and narrow streets. | |
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| Work on Cheddar Reservoir started in 1934 and it is completed and full of water in 1938. It holds 1,350 million gallons of water. In the 1970s people were allowed to walk around the reservoir on Sunday afternoons. In 1976 the summer was so dry that the reservoir was almost empty. By the 1980s people were allowed to walked the 2.2-mile perimeter any day of the week. | |
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| It was a cold and wet day, but we wanted to have our usual picnic. We found a log to sit on next to the sailing club. A sandwich and a cup of tea makes all the difference. People walking past were very jealous of us. | |
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| We took no more photos as the rain came in and the route back was the same as before. There was enough sun to reveal a nice rainbow to cheer us up. Still, a lovely walk worth doing. | |
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Jan 2026