The Wednesday Walk 20th January 2010

The Plan
A cross-country walk to Dewlish

The Leader
Trudy

Who Turned Up
Trudy, Wendy, Beatrice, Ros, Tricia, Sue, David

The Walk
The snow has all gone only to be replaced by rain. After a bright day yesterday, today we were treated to a cold mizzling drizzle. We drove on past Milbourne St Andrew to a parking spot near Crowthorne Farm. Fortunately, we all came kitted out with wet weather gear as we needed it when set off across the muddy fields. Even the woodland paths were thick with clingy mud. But we were a determined bunch: determined to enjoy the chance of a walk without the risk of falling on snow or ice. We even saw snowdrops pushing their hardy way up into daylight. The rain didn't let up all morning and we arrived at the pub in a state of saturation.
After lunch, the heavy clouds had passed on by and we set off with a lighter step ... until we got to the top of the hill leading out of Dewlish and had to tackle the sticky paths again. Sue had elected to stay at the pub for an extra cup of coffee, leaving six of us to tackle the return walk. After half an hour, the group split again. Ros, Trudy and Tricia decided to take a longer route back to the cars while Wendy led Beatrice and David on a more direct path.
Despite the rain, it was good to be out in the open country again, breathing in all that fresh air. We finished off with tea and cakes with Beatrice and Tony (who had been busy redecorating at home).

The Pub
The Oak at Dewlish. This was where Michael used to enjoy the faggots. Joy of joy, they still had home-made faggots on the menu. As the faggots were available, no pies were consumed, a point to go on record. The prices were reasonable and the food was well prepared. Someone asked how the sausages could be called Dewlish sausages when there was no butcher in Dewlish. The rest of us ate up and said nothing.

Next Week
Meet at Brian's at ten o'clock (later than usual) for a Highcliffe walk.