The Wednesday Walk 13^th January 2016

The Plan

A Wareham Forest walk

Who Turned Up

Jackie, Wendy, Sue, Tricia, Trudy H and David.

Trudy B and her sister joined us for lunch and completed the afternoon walk with us. Welcome to Dorset, Trudy’s sister.

We were also pleased to see Tony and Beatrice over lunch.

The Walk

It was a colder day than we have been used to, but sunny enough to make an enjoyable ramble. We started the walk at the Sika Trail car park on the Bere Regis Road, almost opposite The Silent Woman pub. A pub called The Silent Woman? Yes, really. It was originally called The Angel but was referred to in Thomas Hardy’s novel, The Return of the Native, as The Quiet Lady. So the owners changed the name sometime in the 1920s to The Silent Woman. I do not intend to include here any jokes about silent women. I might not survive the reaction! Incidentally, the area around the pub is called Coldharbour. With its Angel pub, it was a place where a traveller could find a harbour against the cold.

Our route took us across Coldharbour Heath and Carey Heath. We did have some reservations about how much flooding and mud we might encounter along the way but luck was with us. There was nothing we could not cope with. After passing beneath Carey Road, we joined the Wareham Forest Way, crossed over the fast flowing River Piddle, and continued into Wareham.

After lunch - with Trudy B and her sister now a part of the group – we walked back through the town, past St Martin’s church, which holds an effigy of Lawrence of Arabia. We crossed the main bridge over the Piddle River and went on through Northmoor Park. From there we joined the forest path that took us back to the cars. It was a pleasant walk.

Thanks must go to Jackie for the tea and Dorset Apple cake back at her house. Our overseas readers should know that Dorset Apple cake is a delicious local food not to be missed when visiting our county.
Thanks also go to Trudy H for the photographs.

The Pub

The King’s Head in Wareham. We were all pleased to see Beatrice and Tony join us for lunch. We wish you well on your road to recovery, Beatrice.

The food was good. The pie eater was under strict orders not to have a pastry-topped pie here because of raised cholesterol levels, but he did manage to find a tasty fish pie on the specials board.