Day Out in Somerset

A very long day out, as it happens. Sixteen hours of nonstop activity, and all thoroughly enjoyable. But not my usual sort of thing, not like a normal Saturday at all.

It was a sort of a party; a gathering, anyway, of people from all over the south west of England. From Salisbury and Saltash, Bideford and Bristol, we all converged at a cider farm near Taunton. Entertainment was to be provided, and one of the entertainments was to be bell ringing.

There is a mini belltower, complete with bells, which converts to flatpack for transport and can be taken anywhere. It looks like this when assembled. The problem was that it needed a vehicle large enough to get a 7ft heavy box of bits on the roof and six bells in a frame inside. My car, in other words. So I got up before dawn, walked my dog, fed the birds, had a quick coffee and was on the road at half past eight.

Picked up the organiser in Plymouth, picked up the belltower in Kingsteignton. Was instructed in the method for fitting the bits together like a jigsaw in the case for transporting, but as it was on my roof and above my eyeline I didn't get it all...

And then I drove very slowly and carefully to Three Bridges Farm, where Sheppy's Cider comes from. Because the weight on the roof was all on one side, corners were quite interesting. So, given the total weight of about five tons (perhaps a tad exaggerated, but quite heavy), was going down Telegraph Hill. I was quite glad to get there, to be honest.

A few willing volunteers got it up and running just as easily as I'd been told it would be, and it was a successful part of the day. We also had a talk on bellringing in general which was interesting, a very nice lunch (for 60 in a smallish room) and various other activities, most of which I missed. Although I did try my hand at Smite. A little known (because rarely televised) sport, Smite involves throwing one piece of wood at other named and numbered pieces of wood to achieve a perfect score of 50 and win the game. I'm not very good at it, although other people were pretty impressive. Somebody took a picture:-

After a long and enjoyable afternoon messing about, talking to people I haven't seen for years and some I'd never met before, it was time to disassemble the bell tower for transport home. About ten people helped to take it to bits very quickly, but then spent hours arguing about how to do the jigsaw of getting the bits in the box. We got it wrong, but it was functional. I only had to take it somewhere in Taunton and wait for someone else to come and collect it, but it took hours - long enough to have a meal in the town, then sit watching swifts circling until it got dark and they went to sleep to be replaced by bats - finally it was collected and I could drive home. I arrived at half past twelve, tired and ready to sleep. Ty, however, who had been out with Ron all day running round and going to beaches etc, was worried in case I hadn't been getting enough exercise, and insisted on taking me out for a good walk before bedtime. After he'd had the cookies he deserved for being abandoned, that is.

Oh, it was nice to lie down, when I finally got there...