VISITORS and residents were this week enjoying the reopening of the £637,000 Blue Anchor to Dunster Beach section of the popular Steam Coast Trail, blocked twice in two weeks by shingle and rocks which caused the worst damage in its eight-year history.

Gales, high tides and torrential rain uprooted trees, flattened fences and swept tons of shingle onto the path and into adjoining fields known as Ker Moor, along a quarter-mile stretch of the trail leading to Dunster Beach car park.

It was expected that the trail would be unusable for weeks but, last week, workmen from G A Sully and Sons from Dunster, on contract to the Steam Coast Trail, moved heavy equipment on to the site and made a clean sweep of the path in just two days, leaving it in pristine condition.

Gales and floods a week earlier had caused less severe damage. This was also dealt with promptly by Sullys and brought a letter of appreciation from Carhampton parish council.

Walkers and cyclists went on line to applaud the latest transformation. “I tried to walk to Blue Anchor the day after the storm and was turned back by piles of stones two feet high,” said one.

“It was as though a hurricane had struck, with trees pulled out of the ground. I never thought anyone could clear the devastation so well and so quickly.”

Parish councillor Tim Taylor added: “I assumed that the trail would be out of action for at least part of the tourist season but happily this won’t be the case.”

“The damage to the trail was the worst we have ever had to deal with,” said director Christopher Sully. “The shingle ridge had been pushed into neighbouring fields, something I have never seen before.

“We have rebuilt the shingle ridge on the seaward side and hopefully it will provide some protection in the future.”

The 2km path, run by the Steam Coast Trail charity, and opened in 2016, was the first section of a route for walkers, runners and cyclists which will eventually stretch from Minehead to Williton.

“Sullys have done an amazing job to clear the path twice in as many weeks and make this valuable tourist asset safe and available at such short notice,” said Cllr Brenda Maitland-Walker, chair of Carhampton parish council.

A former member of the regional flood and coastal committee, Cllr Maitland-Walker said that shoreline management plan developed by councils and the Environment Agency had made it clear that no protective measures would be carried out at Ker Moor and that this section of the trail would probably have a life of little more than 15 years.

“We were shocked by the damage caused by these two recent breaches and want to keep the trail for as long as possible but if the shingle ridge has gone, the land at Ker Moor could suffer from breaches more and more often.”

“We are very lucky that the repairs to this increasingly vulnerable landmark are in safe hands.”