The Wednesday Walk 15th April 2009

The Plan
Meet at Wendy's for Michael's walk.

The Leader
Wendy

Who Turned Up
Wendy, Trisha, Sue, Beatrice, David

The Walk
I must begin by stating that I am under threat of excommunication unless I mention that we saw a wide variety of flowers in bloom: bluebells, primroses, daffodils and others I've forgotten the names of, but never mind because we saw them and that's what matters. Oh yes, we also encountered a lot of yellow gorse. Good, that's me guaranteed tea and delicious cream scones for the next week or so.

The walk: we drove to Turnerspuddle and parked at our usual spot by the farm. Then we walked along the lane to the start of Michael's Walk. That's where you can see the plaque nestling in a sea of greenery with bluebells just starting to bloom in the surrounding woodland. Very peaceful and idyllic, perfect for the remembrance of Michael. We walked on through the woods before crossing the main road and veering back towards Bere Regis alongside the watercress beds. The weather was nice at the start of the walk but got a bit cool towards the middle of the day. I won't say enything here about the pub, you can read all about it later.

After lunch we went to the shop next door for an ice cream and then made our way back along the shorter route to Turnerspuddle. That's when it started to rain so we had to break out the foul-weather gear for a while. But it soon cleared up again. After the walk we went back to Wendy's where we were treated to hot scones with jam and cream. Delicious. Thanks, Wendy.

The Pub

Ah yes, the pub. Well, what a disappointment that was. We went to the Royal Oak as we've eaten there before, but half of it was closed up, and the other half wasn't serving food. No food! So we walked on to the Drax Arms (past the village store which was closed down) and found their specials board advertising a nice home-made pie. Oh joy! But then we were told they were only serving snacks today. Oh heck! So we had a mixture of baguettes, panini and spud. It was okay, but not like the real thing. Is this the recession biting home in Bere Regis, we ask ourselves, or were we just plain unlucky today?

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