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The Plan
Delph
Woods to Lamb’s Green
The Leader
A
shared role
Who Turned Up
Wendy,
Ros, Sue, Trisha, Marion (welcome back, Marion) Beatrice and Tony H, Trudy H,
David
The Walk
The
forecasters promised us a dry morning and wet afternoon. Well, they got the
second bit right. In fact we had a wet morning as well. But we don’t let a spot
of rain get us down-hearted, do we ladies and gents? (Answers on a postcard) We
met at Delph Woods and relocated two cars to The Lamb’s Green before we donned our
boots and wet weather gear. Then we set off through the woods. The ground
underfoot turned wet, boggy and, at times, redolent of the Great Grimpen Mire.
Thankfully, no one was drawn into the swamp, never to be seen again. We counted
them all out and we counted them all in at the end of the day.
We
took the usual route across country until we hit the Higher Blandford Road,
then cut off towards Ashington. On the way we passed the sign for Happy Bottom.
Did you know that findmypast.co.uk has compiled a list of Britain’s most
unfortunate place names? The list is headed by Shitterton (near Dorchester) and
includes Scratchy Bottom (near Durdle Door) and Happy Bottom (near Ashington). We
seem to have a lot of Bottoms in Dorset.
After
a lazy lunch we emerged from the pub into another downpour and decided to
curtail the afternoon walk. Thanks to Trisha and Tony for talking us back to
our cars. Thanks also to Trudy H for sharing her rose hip jam, a product
stemming from last week’s walk.
The Pub
The
Lamb’s Green. Wednesday is their Traditional Pie day and Marion was persuaded
to try a traditional English pie. She survived. Meantime we polished off a
number of crosswords while we waited to see how the afternoon weather would
turn out.
The Plan
The
Avon Heath Country Park
The Leader
Wendy
Who Turned Up
Wendy,
Sue, Trudy H, David
The Walk
The
forecast cold weather has yet to reach us so we confidently set out for a nice
dry walk. We parked in the service road immediately alongside the A31 at St
Leonards. We then crossed over the footbridge to take us into the Avon Heath
Country Park – neatly avoiding the car park which is quite expensive. The walk
across the heath would have been very pleasant but for the flies. Trudy resorted to using an improvised face mask. Unfortunately, the cold
weather and northerly winds, guaranteed to drive them away, have yet to reach
us. To Trudy’s delight, however, we saw numerous rose hips and promised to pick them on
the return walk. Images of freshly made jam flashed before her eyes.
After
lunch we took the reverse route back to the Avon Heath car park where the best
of the rose hips seemed to be. Because we delayed here to pick several bags of
fruit, we took a shorter route back to the car.
ThePub
The
St Leonards Hotel. This is the one where wartime pilots signed their names on the wall. A small area has been glazed to preserve the signatures. Three of us had the carvery, which was very good value at
two courses for £5.95. One person had a nice ham steak. No complaints at all.
And no one had a pie.
Next Week
A
Dorchester walk. Please arrive at Wendy’s within a fifteen minute time slot:
not before 09.45 and not later than 10.00.
The Plan
An
Arne walk
The Leader
A.M
– RSPB
P.M
– Trisha
Who Turned Up
A.M
– Wendy, Beatrice, Trisha, David
P.M
– Trisha, Sue, Trudy H, David
The Walk
The
forecast looked reasonable so we planned on something a little different. We
drove to the RSPB car park at Arne - arriving earlier than we would usual plan
- and tagged ourselves on to a guided walk led by an RSPB guide. He took us
first down towards Shipstal Point where it quickly became clear that today’s
high tide was more than just high, it was over the top. The path to the bird
hide was under water and our guide was forced to find two wooden seats which we
used to clamber over the wet stuff. From the hide he gave us an interesting
talk on the bird life in the harbour. I gather that the birds were either
dippers or dabblers. The actual names escape me, but I seem to recall that most
were either lesser-crested, greater-crested, long-tailed, short-tailed,
black-tailed or common. Leaving the hide, we saw a mother deer tending a six
month old fawn in close proximity to us. Neither seemed worried by our
presence. When we came to the harbour view point, we saw just how high the tide
really was. The spit between Round Island and Long Island was gone, replaced by
a stretch of open water.
After
lunch, Wendy and Beatrice opted for shopping in Wareham, while Trudy H and Sue
joined us for the afternoon walk. This time Trisha took charge and obtained a
route map from the RSPB centre. Things started out well but we were quickly
overtaken by heavy rain. We managed to get to the bird hide at the Western
Front trench before the heaviest downpour hit us. Afterwards, we decided to
head straight back to the car park.
Thanks
to RSPB and Trisha for an interesting day out on Arne but the weather got us in
the end.
The Pub
The
King’s Arms at Stoborough. A good eating
house, and the food was well prepared. The pie was delicious.
Next Week
Meet
at David’s at the usual time for a Forest walk.
The Plan
A Poor
Common and Hampreston Lakes walk
The Leader
Wendy
(by virtue of her natural leadership skills) but others were induced to help.
Who Turned Up
Wendy,
Ros, Beatrice and Tony H, Trisha, Sue and David (with Trudy B joining us for a
pre-walk coffee)
The Walk
We
met at Haskins Garden Centre for coffee (glad you could join us, Trudy, and we
hope your foot recovers soon) prior to the walk. This was also an opportunity
for the ladies to do a little shopping. We then drove to the lay-by near the
Angel Inn and set out along the Poor Common walk. We continued past the Guide’s
camp at Dudsbury and took the riverside track to the Bridge House Hotel for
lunch. The river was running high, but that was not surprising after the recent
rain.
After
lunch we walked alongside the Hampreston Lakes and then out to Ham Lane. After
crossing the road, we continued on along the pathway until we came back to the
lay-by and our cars.
The Pub
The
Bridge House Hotel at hampreston. All but two of us had the carvery which has
gone up in price to £5.50. It is still very good value. No one was dissatisfied.
Next Week
Meet
at Beatrice and Tony’s at 10am for a walk to High Hall.
