Day 18 North Cadbury to Yetminster

North Cadbury to Yetminster

16 Miles

I expect that you are waiting for a reference to North and South Cadbury being “chocolate box” villages. That  would be too easy and although attractive in themselves the Cadburys are not of that special a note.  Their main attraction is the 18 acre hill fort that was built at the junction of the several track ways that meet here. The fort is one of the possible locations for Camelot, the legendary Headquarters of King Arthur. Excavations to date have failed to establish any proof, but on the other hand have not been able to disprove anything either. Arthur will always be a legend among the British, so perhaps it is best if things stay a mystery.

The next two miles of the walk was due south along Corton Ridge. This provided excellent views to both east and west before making a gradual descent into Sherborne.

Sherborne Abbey

Sherborne Abbey was founded in AD705 by King Ine of Wessex. The present buildings date back to the church built by Bishop Roger of Caen in 1120 and the rebuilding programme of 1437. The honey coloured stone gives a wonderful mellow tone.

Sherborne has two castles. The first was also the work of Bishop Roger but was largely destroyed during the Civil War. The second castle was built by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1594 and is now a museum.

The walk out of Sherbourne was a mixture of country roads and fields that took me to the very attractive village of Yetminster. Piece of trivia for today. Benjamin Jesty lived in Yetminster. Jesty was the first person to use cowpox as a vaccine. It is amazing what you can learn!

Good progress today. Yetminster is 265 miles from Boston. Only 25 miles left to go before Chesil Beach.