The Wednesday Walk 28th July 2010

The Plan

Corfe Castle to Church Knowle

The Leaders

Trudy and Tony H

Who Turned Up

Trudy, Tony H, Trisha, Diane and Tony R, David

The Walk

We parked in the National Trust car park at Corfe Castle. We were lucky as it became chock-a-block with summer visitors only ten minutes after we arrived. We crossed the road to the take up the footpath to the village, branching off towards Knowle Hill and Cockknowle. The path took us upwards at a steady pace and, within twenty minutes, we were able to look back to see a glorious view of the castle and the village. The weather was pleasantly warm with just enough of a breeze to prevent us getting heatstroke. After an hour of walking we turned onto the gentle slope that led down into Church Knowle village. The New Inn was only one hundred yards away and a welcome site for quenching our thirsts.

After lunch, we took a more southerly route that took us past Bucknowle House. Our only dilemma arose when we came to a field of cows, calves and one hefty-looking bull. He seemed to be occupied with the cows - as bulls are wont to be - but, to begin with, he was right in our path. Fortunately, while we dithered about what to do, his favourite cow moved away and he followed. We quickly crossed behind them into the next field.

The day ended with very welcome ice cream sodas, tea and cakes at Di and Tony's house. Trudy and Leo even ventured into the swimming pool. Many thanks for the hospitality, folks.

The Pub

The New Inn at Church Knowle. The atmosphere was good, the food was good, if a little pricey, but there were no chocolates or biscuits with the coffee. A small criticism when the pies were very tasty and came with oodles of gravy in which to dunk the chips.