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Itinerary
Caves, Coast and Gorges washed down with the finest Cider in the Country. We love Somerset!!
Fred - Walking Advisor
The Mendip Way
The Mendip Way
Overview
Interactive Map
Pricing On This Route
Our average prices are between £110 and £160 per person per day for those sharing a room and between £170 and £199 per day for single walkers - A quote will give you an exact and fixed price as walk costs depend on factors like your accommodation choices and the time of year you want to walk.
Our prices include -
- Your choices of good quality en-suite B&B, Inn and small hotel accommodation with full breakfast (where available), together with upgrade options.
- Detailed walking route planning and ongoing support from specialist walking advisors from your enquiry through to the end of the walk
- A full booking administration and holiday management service including information on travel to and from your walking routes
- Secure and reliable daily luggage transfers between accommodations
- Your own personal detailed route notes & itinerary emailed to you and access to our resources page, where you can see the maps and guidebooks we recommend for each route, as well as downloads for route notes and GPX files (where available).
Please see below for six factors which affect your quoted price -
1 - The time of year you are walking - The low season (outside of May to September) is generally cheaper than the peak months.
2 - How early you book. Cheaper accommodation tends to book out first so to get the best prices and choice of accommodation we recommend you book as early as you can. Bookings open for the season the previous summer.
3 - Which routes and areas you choose - Cornwall, South Devon and Dorset are the more expensive regions while Wales, Somerset, North Devon and Dartmoor tend to offer better prices. We also often run seasonal special offers on certain routes so ask if these would be of interest.
4 - Type of accommodation - You can choose to upgrade to luxury hotels or downgrade to basic B&B's and we will try to match your walk to your budget. Quotes will show standard options and the costs for any upgrades so you can pick and choose to suit your plans.
5 - The number of walkers - rates are generally based on 2 walkers - the more walkers the cheaper prices get as we split the costs of providing the walk between the group.
6 - Luggage Transfers - our quotes include two prices - with and without luggage transfers so if you want to keep the costs down you can choose to carry your own luggage to avoid those charges.
If you want to try to get the lowest prices let us know your budget - we can advise honestly and openly what is possible - we don't want to see anyone unable to walk the routes due to costs.
To request a quote costs nothing and there is no commitment to book - so do try us! We usually have quotes emailed back to you within a few days and these documents are very detailed with accommodation choices, website links to the accommodations, route descriptions, daily walking grade and mileage, travel info to the trail and of course a guaranteed price to consider. All for the specific walk YOU want.
Route Profile And Options
Relaxed Route
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Option
Daily average 10 miles
Weston-Super-Mare to Shipham
Shipham to Priddy
Priddy to Wells
Wells to Shepton Mallet
Shepton Mallet to Frome
Glastonbury Pilgrims Walk
14 miles
11.5 miles
6 miles
6 miles
13 miles
11.5 miles
Fast Route
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Option
Weston-Super-Mare to Shipham
Shipham to Wells
Wells to Frome
Glastonbury Pilgrims Walk
14 miles
17.5 miles
19 miles
11.5 miles
Daily average 17 miles
Travel To And From The Route
With excellent train connections this is an ideal rail to trail walk with trains running to Weston-super-Mare and the start of the Mendip Way and leaving from the end of the route at Frome.
Train Arrival - Regular and fast mainline Trains run from London Paddington Station to Bristol where you change for the short journey to Weston-super-Mare Station. Total travel time is only around 2 hours 30 minutes. Connections from the Midlands and the North are via Bristol Temple Meads Station.
Train Departure - Mainline Trains run from Frome to London Paddington taking between 2 and 2.5 hours usually with a change at Bath. Bristol Temple Meads Station with connections to the North, Wales and Midlands is around 1 hour from Frome and for those heading to Bath its only around 40 minutes away by train.
Finishing at Wells or Glastonbury ?- Both locations have regular bus links to the train line at Bristol Temple Meads - 1 hour 20 minutes by direct bus from Glastonbury or only 1 hour from Wells. We can also provide information on how to arrange private transfers if you prefer. There are also bus links taking around 1 hour 20 minutes to Bath from Wells for those heading there.
Reviews & Feedback
Mendip Way
Weston to Frome
Keith
3 October 2024
Great time over 10 days with my friend. Couple of things to mention - We often found the way markers very much lacking and got "lost" on many occasions !!! and it always seemed that the weather was at its worst. I am aware that these are maintained by rangers and perhaps Encounter could feed this back to their organisation ?
Wells was the highlight and Shepton the lowlight but all in all very good experience - Keith, St Albans
Mendip Way
Weston Super Mare to Frome
Patrick & Tracy
26 September 2024
We thought we try an interior walk after a couple of coastal walks. We basically did the Mendip Way because we could get a train on both ends and avoid driving. We did not enjoy this walk as much for the following reasons. Too many fields of cattle, mud and dung. There were stretches on the road we did not like. September was rainy so the trail was muddy, in some places running or standing water was on the trail. Shepton Mallet - Frome was the worst day. We had problems finding the Mendip signs in numerous places and had to rely on the All Trails app to figure out where we were. The OS maps we were given were worthless. We never used the unwieldy things on the trail.
Everything went smoothly with the inns, bookings, luggage and the trail instructions we were given worked the vast majority of the time. The Linden Lodge was excellent. The Maplestone B&B was also exceptional. The rest of the inns were good. Some great places to eat. The staff at Encounter got us good rooms and nice suggestions for food and trail snack.
The views from the ridges were beautiful, around Cheddar, Bleadon and Weare for example. But we think we will stick to coastal trails after this. The wet weather tainted our trail experience.
Mendip Way
Laura McCallum
14 October 2023
The Encounter team was very helpful and accommodated our daily distance requests, etc. very well. Beautiful views! Those of us with poles found them to be necessary on some of the slopes. We did get lost a couple of times and it was with the route changes - they were not well marked. The rest of the route was well marked. I laminated the map pages myself - it would have been nice to be provided with a laminated set. Very good trip! Very well organized. The daily info pages were very informative for lunches and for what to see along the way. I have used several other walking companies and Encounter was the best for that info.
Mendip Way
Claire
19 May 2023
This was our first experience doing a walking holiday. We enjoyed ourselves, but feel that the Walking Notes (for this hike anyway) need some reviewing and updating.
Mendip Way
Patricia Bleasby
2 May 2023
It's pleasant walking but coleridge way beats it for sheer variety and prettiness of route
Mendip Way
Michelle Howry
6 April 2023
A holiday we can't stop talking about now that we're home! Already dreaming about our next adventure.
Mendip Way
Bill Gerrish
1 March 2023
Really enjoyed it and will be back to do the East section next year! Thanks for everything.
Mendip Way
Cathy
8 October 2021
Very smooth booking process and well organised trip with detailed itinerary and lots of good advice and recommendations - thank you.
Mendip Way
Annie Singer
1 July 2021
My first long distance walk apart from our local ones in Cornwall. I had such a brilliant experience that it has whetted my appetite to do one every year.
Welcome to the Mendip Way - a dramatic ridge route cutting West to East over the Mendip Hills, a designated ‘Area of outstanding Natural Beauty’ that bridges the full variety of the rich landscape of Somerset.
This is a land of hidden caves and twisted gorges, ancient woodland, Iron Age hillforts and Roman roads. A place of myths and legends on a route that literally rises out of the Somerset Levels and King Arthur's Vale of Avalon itself. In doing so it gives the walker endless breath-taking panoramas from the ridge route over one of the best loved...