At the invitation of Pete Nicholson and his wife, while they were staying in the Camping Van at Christow, the scout set off from Taunton Station along the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal to visit the Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum on its annual open day in 2015.
Not a great many people roam the minor roads across the Somerset Levels. For a cyclist used to exhausting climbs and exhilarating descents, these byways seem quite strange and disorientating. During the floods of 2014, many of the place names were featured on national news and passing through them in the summer brought the striking images back to mind.
Near Westonzoyland, where the Battle of Sedgemoor was fought, the last on English soil, lies the fascinating little museum with a narrow gauge railway layout. It is a good place to learn how the Levels, much of which lie below sea level at high water, were, and are, drained.
The scout was sad to learn that Pete Nicholson, for many years a contributor to Railway Magazine, had passed away in 2023.