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The Plan
Garston
Wood
The Leader
Wendy
Who Turned Up
Wendy,
Beatrice, Trudy H, Sue, Diane and Tony R, David
The Walk
The
weather did not look too good, but we decided to go ahead with the planned walk
at Garston Wood. At least it gave us the choice of curtailing the walk if
things got too wet. In fact, the morning walk was pleasant with only the odd
spot of rain… nothing to deter a party of hardy perennials. I am indebted to
Wendy for supplying me with a list of the flowers on show: bluebells, wood
anemones, primroses, violets, early orchids, ajuga (bugle), wild garlic,
euphorba, yellow archangel and celandine. On top of that Tony spotted a variety
of birds. While walking through the wild garlic we disturbed the plants enough
for them to give us a good sample of their aromas.
After
lunch we came back to the Garston Wood car park. This time we met persistent
rain so we cut short the afternoon walk and returned to Beatrice and Tony’s
house. Our culinary thanks this week must go to Beatrice, Tony and Trudy, who brought
along a home-made cake of huge proportions.
The Pub
The
Inn on the Chase. The food was good. The pie-eater appreciated the help-yourself
vegetable selection. The only problem was a mix-up with the order.
Next week
Meet
at Sue’s at 0945
If
the weather is:-
from
“Caribbean sunshine”
to “English sunshine”
we
will go to Ringstead Bay.
If
the weather is:-
from
“dry but overcast"
to “just the odd shower”
we
will go to St Catherine’s Hill.
If
the weather is:-
from
“persistent light rain”
to “absolutely piddling down”
we
will go to the cinema at Tower Park.
Totally dependent upon the weather.
The Leader
Wendy
Who Turned Up
Wendy, Sue, Trudy H, Beatrice and Tony, Trisha, David
(With Diane and Tony R joining us for lunch)
The Walk
After that early warm summer weather we have now reverted to typical April showers. Unfortunately, today’s showers were forecast to be the most frequent and the heaviest this week. With that in mind we elected to stick close to base. We drove to Kingston Lacy (National Trust) where we immediately made for the restaurant and a cup of coffee. One walker let the side down by eating a cholesterol-inducing cake, but what can you do? When we came outside again we discovered a guided tour was about to begin. We followed the guide for about twenty minutes and then branched off on our own. Well, we probably know the route at least as well as the guide. Trisha joined us at this part of the morning, just in time for the next shower. Despite the weather, we were able to enjoy some interesting flower and plant displays.
We returned to the cars and drove to the pub where Diane and Tony joined us for lunch. They had arrived home from sunny/snowy Spain the previous evening. With the rain pouring down outside we were in no mood to continue the walk, so we cancelled the afternoon plan and returned to Beatrice and Tony’s house. There we enjoyed tea and cake, for which we offer B&T our thanks.
The Pub
The Lamb’s Green. The food was good, no one went away hungry, although we did have to calculate the division of the bill ourselves.
Next Week
Meet at Beatrice and Tony’s at 0945.
A Dewlish walk
The Leader
Wendy
Who Turned Up
Wendy, Sue, Trudy H, Ros, Jackie, Beatrice and Tony H, David
The Walk
I’ve just been watching a three minute video of today’s walk. I’m sorry I can’t post it on the internet for you, but I’ll bring along a DVD next Wednesday for anyone who wants to take it away and scrutinise the walk in detail.
The walk nearly ended where it began. We parked at a road junction on the A354 alongside a lane which is rather oddly named Jock’s Hill (with not a kilt in sight). We then made our way along the road to the start of a properly signposted footpath… except that there was no footpath. The farmer had planted the entire field in rape and the path was obliterated. After some discussion we decided to drive to a different starting point. We returned to Milborne St Andrew, took the Dewlish road and parked alongside the start of a woodland path. This is a path we would have come to had the farmer permitted! The weather was cool but stayed dry as we crossed very pleasant countryside: woodland and open landscape. A few drops of rain started to fall just as we reached the pub. You can't get better timing than that.
After lunch we took a detour around Dewlish to make up for the miles we lost in the morning. Then we returned to our cars along the reverse of the morning’s walk. A very pleasant day despite the awkward start. We finished off with tea and cakes, for which we thank Beatrice and Tony.
The Pub
The Oak at Dewlish. The food was good and reasonably priced. They had no pies, but the faggots were very tasty. The only slight hitch was an imbalance in the delivery of the food to the table. Several walkers had finished eating before two of the ladies had started.
Next Week
Meet at Beatrice and Tony’s at 10am for a local walk
The Plan
A walk from Athelhampton to Tolpuddle.
The Leader
Wendy
Who Turned Up
Wendy, Jackie, Ros, Beatrice and Tony H, David
The Walk
Welcome back from the Antipodes, Beatrice and Tony. It is good to see you back in the Dorset countryside. After two weeks of gloriously sunny weather today was overcast and cool. But it wasn’t bad enough to put us off. We drove to Athelhampton and parked in the car park at Athelhampton House. From there we crossed the main road and walked past the village church which claims to hold its services in English. As we were in a small, rural village in the heart of the English countryside, that statement seemed somewhat superfluous. The walk was very pleasant, leading us through woods until we came to open ground with a wide view across the Dorset countryside. Here, we stopped to look at the stone memorial to Adrian van der Weyer, who was killed at the Pas de Calais in 1940 aged just 20. His father, an army major, was High Sheriff of Dorset in 1942 and was also a renowned horticulturist. We continued the walk until we came to Southover Lane which took us up into the village of Tolpuddle. A note here for our good friends overseas: Tolpuddle was the home of a group of men who are often mistakenly believed to have been transported to the Antipodes for forming a trade union in 1834. In fact trades unions were perfectly legal and they were convicted for swearing an oath of allegiance to their union under a law designed to suppress mutinies in the Royal Navy. The effect was much the same... they got a holiday Down Under with free travel thrown in. The names of the men are painted onto one of the beams in the pub where we had our lunch.
After lunch we look the shorter route back to Athelhampton, following a trail that runs parallel to the River Piddle. The cloud cover did get rather dark and we wondered whether we might get wet. In fact the rain didn’t start until we were in the cars driving home.
It was a good walk and rounded off with tea and apple cakes at Jackie’s house. Many thanks, Jackie.
The Pub
The Martyr’s Inn, Tolpuddle. Here we were joined by Sue and Trisha. It was good to see Trisha back with the group after her enforced absence, even if only for our lunch break. And good of you, Sue, to bring her along. Make sure she joins our walks again soon.
The pub food was good but expensive. A steak and ale pie served with chips and veg, along with a pint of bitter shandy, cost £14.90.
Next Week
Meet and Beatrice and Tony’s at 10am for a Dewlish walk.
