The Wednesday Walk 29th July 2009

The Plan
Meet at Diane's. Depending upon the weather, it may be possible to swim as well as walk.

The Leader
Trudy

Who Turned Up
Trudy, Trisha, Diane, Beatrice. Tony, Sue and Jackie.

The Walk
We had a forecast of wet and miserable conditions for today. In the event, two people opted out but not because of the rain: Tony R didn't walk because he had his eye stitched the previous day (good luck with the recovery Tony), and David was missing because he had a hospital appointment for his palsy (They said the present state of his face is as good as it's going to get. How nice of them!)

Now for the real walkers story, courtesy of Diane (Thanks Diane)

We walked from Norden to Corfe and back. Sue, Beatrice and Tony completed the morning walk leaving the other four after a lovely lunch at the Fox. We had to choose a table by the illuminated well as the pub moggy occupied it's favourite seat! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their meal. The weather was very kind and only rained whilst we had lunch. The walk was similar to last time but only one alpaca was in the field. We all returned to Diane's for tea and cake. No one fancied a swim as it started to rain again!

The Pub

The Fox at Corfe Castle. Once again the food was well up to standard.

The Wednesday Walk 22nd July

The Plan
Meet at Beatrice and Tony's for a walk from Woodlands to Verwood.

The Leader
Trudy

Who Turned Up
Trudy, Wendy, Sue, Trisha, Beatrice, Diane and Tony R, David.

The Walk
This morning, while having breakfast, I switched on the television to get the day's weather forecast. The chart showed clear skies and sunshine to start the day in our part of Dorset. Outside the window, at the very same time, heavy rain was piddling down. With that in mind, we were very lucky to have a largely dry walk. We drove to Woodlands and set off on a two hour walk to Verwood. Our route took us through woodlands, across open fields and along country lanes. Along the way, we saw clover, buttercups and daisys, but no bluebells. Wrong time of the year. There was one unfortunate incident when Beatrice slipped on a muddy patch and fell on her bottom. It was fortunate that she landed on the cheeky part of her anatomy and no serious damage appears to have been done - except a bruise or two and a severe dent to Beatrice's confidence.
After lunch we took a shorter route back to Woodlands. We hadn't gone far before we saw an enormous fungus that was surprisingly undamaged. We photographed it and moved on. Ginny, Gareth and Tasha came part way with us, far enough to see the farmyard animals before we crossed the golf course. We had a few minutes light rain, but nothing serious. When we got to the wallaby farm we were disappointed to see no wallabys. Has Tesco's taken a large order for wallaby steaks, we asked ourselves.
At the end of the day, tea and cakes were provided at Beatrice and Tony's. The cakes were enjoyed by the two male walkers, but the members of Weightwatchers abstained.

The Pub
We lunched at The Albion in Verwood, where we were joined by Ginny, Gareth and Tasha. We have had very good meals here on previous occasions but something went a litle wrong today. Tony's breast of duck was very good, David's pie was good (bar some singeing on the top of the pasty) with tender melt-in-the-mouth steak. Unfortunately, the ladies of Weightwatchers - who diligently stuck to a simple meal of baked potato and filling - were disappointed. Their potatos were not up to standard and some had to be sent back. We shall want to see signs of an improvement before we go back again.

The Wednesday Walk 15th July 2009

The Plan
To meet at Wendy's for a Purbeck Plod.

The Leader
Wendy

Who Turned Up
Wendy, Diane, Tony R, Trudy, Sue, Beatrice and David.

The Walk
I must offer my thanks to Wendy for providing me with notes to help me remember the finer points of this walk. Our first view of colourful flowers came while we were still on the road, passing through Wareham town. The main street was lined with flower arrays. We drove on to Church Knowle, a pretty little village in the Purbeck Hills. From there we set off across country towards Corfe Castle (that's the name of a village, Marion, as well as a castle). One or two of the group were a little hesitant when we met a field of cows with a bull in attendance. Diane overcame the problem by ordering Tony to go first! He didn't come to any harm so the rest of us followed.
Wendy pointed out some blue flowers she had had at her wedding. She also pointed out some flowers that were not blue and she didn't have them at her wedding. For the technically minded, the first lot were called Blue Scabious and the second lot were called Rosebay Willow Herbs. Still on the subject of flowers, we saw some colourful tubs of them adorning the lavatories at the pub.
After lunch we set off on a route that took us back towards Church Knowle, passing around the base of Knowle Hill. As we approached the village, Tony was first to spot a large heron standing forelornly alone in the middle of a field. The day started out cloudy but turned brighter in the afternoon. Together with the glorious views of the village, the castle and the countryside, this contributed to an excellent walk.
To round off the day, tea and biscuits were taken at Wendy's. Many thanks, Wendy. Did I get the flowers right?

The Pub
We had no single pub in mind as we headed towards Corfe Castle. The first one we came to was The Fox, a small place that was closed the last time we visited the village. This time we decided to give it a try. Inside, we found a cosy atmosphere and a deep well in the middle of the bar room. It was lit up from inside and covered over with a glass plate.
Let it be clearly known that David did not have a pie. He had medallions of pork in a mustard sauce which was excellent. Everyone else enjoyed their meal.
We discovered the pub garden only after we had finished our meal. This was when we found the lavatories covered in richly coloured blooms (sorry - no technical names) and Trudy took a picture of them (see above).

The Wednesday Walk 8th July 2009

The Plan

To meet at Beatrice and Tony's for a walk in the forest.

The Leader

Not too sure. Could have been Wendy or Trudy or Trisha. Let's call it a combined effort.

Who Turned Up

Wendy, Diane and Tony R, Trisha, Marion and Roger, Ros, Trudy, Beatrice, Pam (and friend) and David.

The Walk

It was a great day for a walk. It was also a special occasion because Marion and Roger had flown all the way from the United States especially to be with us on one of our Wednesdays walks. Well, maybe they did also plan to look in on Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London, but those must rank as minor attractions when compared with a Wednesday walk!

To start the day, we drove to Frogham and parked within smelling distance of the Forester's pies. Then we took a leisurely stroll across the heathland arriving back at the Foresters well before all the pies were sold. Wendy did mention seeing some flowers with some unpronounceable name, but they were sitting in a vase on the pub table. Someone swapped his shirt for a Mr Greedy tee-shirt before entering the pub, but what else can you expect from a committed pie lover?

It's worth mentioning that this walk was where Marion and Roger were introduced to the concept of a New Forest pony: an animal who thinks he owns the place. Actually, he probably does. Anyway, the ponies were, as usual, seen in abundance around the pub.

After lunch, we took another leisurely ramble, stopping at the Frogham church to see the forest animal window. Wendy wanted to show Roger an olde English country stile, but the best we could do was show him what we call a kissing gate. No, Roger, it's not an excuse for kissing your wife, it's a description of how the gate works! This was probably one of our shorter walks, but no less enjoyable for that. At the end of the day we returned to Beatrice and Tony's for tea and cakes. Many thanks Bea.

The Pub

It was the old faithful; the Forester's at Frogham. It's almost become one of our trusty old regulars by now. Surprisingly, only two people sampled the pie. Well done, Roger! Next time we'll convert you from Guinness to Real Ale.