The Wednesday Walk 19th October 2011

The Plan
An Upton Park walk

The Leader
Wendy

Who Turned Up
Wendy, Sue, Trudy H, Trudy B, Beatrice and Tony H, David

The Walk
Autumn chills are starting to affect us but the day started with a clear blue sky, not a cloud in sight. Perfect for walking. We chose a local walk and left the cars at the entrance to Upton Park. Then we crossed the road to the heathland. We made a few detours along the tracks that took us through trees and marshes before joining the old railway track that took us up to Broadstone. Along the way we managed to scrump some apples which staved off any hunger pangs for one or two walkers.
Tony joined us at lunchtime. From Broadstone we retraced our way down the old trailway and branched off towards the lakes. The reflections on the water made some excellent photographs.
We finished up with tea and freshly baked cake at Sue's house. Thank you, Sue. Delicious as usual.

The Pub
The Blackwater. This is Wetherstone's new pub in Broadstone. The big shock was being able to buy a pint of best bitter shandy for £1.95.  All the meals were good value and the beef and ale pie was excellent.

The Wednesday Walk 12th October 2011

The Plan
The Winterbornes

The Leader
Wendy

Who Turned Up
Wendy, Trudy H, Beatrice and Tony H, David (from lunchtime)

The Walk
We parked the car (only needed one today) by St Andrew's Church in Winterborne Tomson. This is a very old church, steeped in hundreds of years of history and, sadly, badly in need of repair. Inside, worshippers are penned up in what look suspiciously like cattle pens. Well, that's how it was done hundreds of years ago. Our route took us round in a curve through Anderson - past the impressive Anderson Manor - and then back parallel with the A31 main road. We walked through meadows and farms, passing the pretty little village of Winterborne Zelston, until we came out on the main road opposite the World's End Inn.
After lunch we took the exact reverse route, pausing for a chat with a cheery farm yokel along the way. His word of assurance to us was that most of the farm's cattle end up in Tesco's. Not alive, obviously! As the A31 was subject to road works and tail-backs, we took a different route home through Lytchet Minster. We finished up with tea and a nice soft sponge courtesy of Wendy. Many thanks, Wendy.

The Pub
The World's End. The first thing that has to be said about this place is that the owner's have a very poor command of grammar. Not one single written mention of the name had an apostrophe... not even the signs hanging outside. The food was okay, but the service was a bit lacking. We received our main courses about an hour after we arrived. Two first courses were wrong and the bill at the end deserved to be challenged by two eaters. A pity, as we have had good meals here before.

Next Week
Meet at Wendy's for a walk from Upton Park.