The Wednesday Walk 25th January 2012

The Plan
A walk to Fordingbridge

The Leader

Wendy

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

The Walk
We parked at Bicton Ash alongside the main A338 road. From there we crossed the road and walked past Bicton village, taking the route through the trout farm where we saw many hundreds of fish leaping in the ponds. We continued along the most direct cross-country route into Fordingbridge and, as we were a little early, detoured round the town before arriving at the Ship Inn. Along the way this morning we saw snowdrops, camellias and daffodils.
After lunch we crossed back over the main road and took a path alongside the cemetery. That was where we found a badly maintained style on a public access path. Trudy took a photo so that a complaint can be made. The rest of the route was relatively straightforward - past the Three Lions and Stuckton - although we had to cross numerous styles along the way.
All-in-all, it was a pleasant walk.

The Pub
The Ship Inn, Fordingbridge. They were doing a “two courses for £6.95” deal which suited everyone. The food was good and Trudy enjoyed the coffee. The only downside was a distinct lack of pies.

The Wednesday Walk 11th January 2012

The Plan
A trip to Swanage.

The Leader
Wendy

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

The Walk
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Beatrice,
Happy birthday to you.
And what a glorious day it was for a birthday walk. The sky was blue and cloudless and the air was calm. Given another ten degrees of temperature and we could have believed it was summer. We left our cars at Canford Cliffs Village and caught the Swanage bus. We used our OAP bus passes for the ride which took us across the Sandbanks ferry and through Studland village. Bearing in mind we are in the early part of January, the bus was an open-top double decker. We had a choice of cooking in the heat downstairs or enjoying a cool breeze upstairs.
Once we arrived at Swanage, our walk took us up the hill to Durleston Head where we inspected the rewly refurbished castle. They've done a very good job on it and we took enough time to enjoy the glorious views over the English Channel and Swanage Bay as well as the visitor centre attractions. The only disappointment was the new cafe. The old one was was quite good, but the new one hasn't a hope of staying in business. It had gas supply problems so couldn't give us a hot meal, and maybe that was fortunate because the prices were totally extortionate. £20.12 for a set lunch!!! And £7.50 for a sandwich!!! And the menu wasn't much to shout about either. The twelve pence added to the price of the set lunch was - so we were told - to reflect the year.
We walked back down the hill into Swanage - still enjoying the views which included the Needles standing out nicely on the horizon -  and had lunch at the White Horse Inn. We then wandered back to the bus station outside the Swanage Steam Railway. All in all, it was a very pleasant day out. The views and the weather couldn't be faulted.
Trisha very kindly offered tea and cakes at her house after the walk. Thank you Trisha.

The Pub
The White Horse Inn at Swanage. A cheap and cheerful pub near the sea front. The steak and ale pie with chips and vegetables was £7.45, which worked out at five pence less than a sandwich up at the castle. The pie was okay (said the pie connoisseur) although the pastry was a touch stodgy, and the salmon salad was very good. The tea and coffee were free so we couldn't really complain about them.

The Wednesday Walk 4th January 2012

The Plan
A walk along the sea front

The Leader
Wendy

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

The Walk
After Tuesday's storms, we were pleased to see a much calmer day. We parked at our usual spot in the Branksome Woods car park just upwind of the Tennis courts. The ground was a bit muddy underfoot through the woodland walk, but we've braved far worse. The walk took us to the sea front at Branksome Chine where we found the shore road covered in sand, sometimes to a depth of several inches. This was a legacy of the previous day's high winds. With time in hand - or so we thought - we had a pleasant break with coffee and biscuits at Tricia's beach hut. Thank you, Tricia. We then walked on to the Harvester Inn... but more of that later. Trudy Junior and her mum, Trudy Senior, joined us at the Inn. We were pleased to see you both, Trudy. A pity your mum had to see Bournemouth catering at a weak point.
After lunch we climbed up the 102 steep steps to the cliff top and walked round to Argyll Gardens. The path through the gardens took us back to the shore road. From there we retraced our steps back to the car park. To finish off, Trisha kindly did the honours again with tea and cakes.

The Pub
The Harvester Inn at Durley Chine. Well, the food was okay and reasonably priced. And we were pleased to see Trudy Junior and Trudy Senior join us. But there was a problem. Well, two if you count the fact that they had no pies. We were told we would have to wait half an hour for a table. We actually waited an hour in the bar before we could get our bottoms settled at a table... one that had been unused before we got to it. We then waited another fifteen minutes to be served. We came to the conclusion that the management had probably been caught out with insufficient staff on duty. Not good enough!

Next Week
Meet at Whitecliff for a bus trip to Swanage. We'll hope for some decent weather for that trip. Wendy will advise the meeting time after consulting the bus timetables.