The Wednesday Walk 11th February 2009

The Plan
We will meet at The Oaks at 10am. The plan is to walk from Delph Woods to the Lambs Green. And - with sharp memories of the last time we did that walk - we will do our best not to set the pub on fire!

The Leader
Wendy

Who Turned Up
Wendy, Trudy, Ros and David (Tricia joined us for lunch)

The Walk
The snow has melted and the rain has stopped. If it were not for the flooding, we could almost be back to normal. Anyway, it was a nice sunny, if somewhat chilly, day. Just right for a winter walk.
We met at the Oaks Cafe where we had a cup of coffee. We were visited by a black cat (is that lucky?) who seemed mainly interested in the only male walker. Must be significant! We then drove to Delph Woods.

We left our cars at the far end car park and walked through the woods to the old railway track. Then we headed off through the trees towards Lambs Green. At times the going was a bit spongy underfoot, but we met only one water barrier so deep and wide that we couldn't get past. It meant a short detour, but nothing too onerous. After lunch we headed back along the more direct route to the Willett Arms. Tricia came a little way with us. From the road, we had a spectacular view of the River Stour in flood near Wimborne.
We guessed the walk ran to around six miles in total which was just enough to get our blood circulating again. A pleasant day after last week's appalling weather.

The Pub
The Lamb's Green, Corfe Mullen.
The food was good and the service was very prompt. And... can you believe it... no one tried to burn the place down!
Tricia arrived at around the same time as the walkers. She passed on some good news about Marion's health. We wish you well, Marion! We know that you keep up to date with our adventures on the blog.

Wednesday 4th February

There was no walk this week because of the weather. We have had snow since the weekend and the roads and footpaths are still slippery. More snow is forecast before we see the end of it.

The Wednesday Walk 28th January 2009

The Plan
We will do Trudy's Rockbourne walk and have lunch at the Cartwheel Inn at Whitbury

The Leader
Trudy / Wendy

Who Turned Up
Wendy, Trudy, Sue and David (morning only)

The Walk
In view of a forecast of bad weather, the planned walk to Rockbourne was cancelled. On the day, the majority of the rain had passed by so it was decided to walk from Ferndown to West Moors via the woodland path. Only four walkers were available and they met at David's. The walk was wet underfoot and, as we had time in hand, we extended it beyond West Moors along the Castleman Trailway.
Over lunch at the Elephant and Castle, the group discovered that they were all medically unfit and they had no 'minder' to watch over them this week.
Wendy's wrist is still not back to normal and Sue still has her arm in plaster. Trudy was still feeling the effects of her recent fall but, nevertheless, after lunch all three ladies walked back to Ferndown. David had to leave early, for a hospital appointment.

The Pub
The Elephant and Castle, West Moors. The three ladies each had a £4.95 two-course meal (which seemed good value) and David had a shepherd's pie in deference to the stitches in his mouth. (see - I told you we were all medically unfit!)

The Wednesday Walk 21st January 2009

The Plan
Meet at Wendy's house at 10 am. We will be walking from the house to Upton Park.

The Leader
Wendy

Who Turned Up
Wendy, Ros, Sue and David

The Walk
We met at Wendy's house and left our cars there. The walk took us across Upton Heath along the old disused railway track. Along the way we met a lady who Sue remembered from her school days. She showed us a detour that gave us a longer walk across the heath. We didn't put on our walking boots at the start as we expected a reasonably easy walk. In the event it turned out somewhat wetter than we anticipated. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant woodland walk, made all the more enjoyable by being so close to home.

Tricia and Trudy joined us for lunch and did a short walk around the Upton House grounds afterwards. From there, three walkers set out on the route back past the Creekmoor Ponds (Sue took a lift with Tricia). We ended up with tea and biscuits at Wendy's house, again joined by Trudy, Tricia and Sue.

The Pub

Not a pub this week. We had lunch at the Peacock Restaurant at Upton House. Although the restaurant had no pies, we all enjoyed an inexpensive meal in pleasant surroundings. This restaurant deserves the good trade it gets because it employes disabled people. Maybe it was appropriate that we went went there: Wendy (with her injured wrist), Tricia (with her bad leg), Sue (with her broken arm), Trudy (with her gashed shin), David (with his sprained ankle) and Ros (who did a sterling job as the minder).

The Wednesday Walk 14th January 2009

The Plan
To meet at Brian's and walk from Boscome to Bournemouth along the sea front

The Leader
Wendy

Who Turned Up
Wendy, Brian, Beatrice, Tony, Sue, Trisha and David

The Walk
This was the second walk of 2009 so we are still getting into our stride after the Christmas break. We met at Brian's house and drove to Boscombe. By parking at the end of Knyveton Road, we were able to walk through the gardens down to the shore. After a walk out along Boscombe pier, we strolled gently along the sea front to Bournemouth pier. After lunch, we walked up to the cliff top and then back to Boscome. A pleasant walk in the sunshine, albeit that the air was calm but chilly.

The Pub
No pub this week. We ate at Harry Ramsden's fish and chip emporium near Bournemouth pier. The food was good and... wait for it... they had a pie on the menu!

The Wednesday Walk 17th December 2008

The Plan
We will meet at the "sunken" car park near Avon Beach. The meeting time will be 1045 as we anticipate only an hour's walk. We will then have our Christmas lunch at the Globe in Highcliffe.

The Leader
Trudy

Who Turned Up
Congratulations to Trudy who was the only one who turned up for the walk.

The Pub
We had planned on sixteen turning up for our annual Christmas lunch. Thirteen made it to the starting line. Sue was there with her broken arm. Trisha was there on a walking stick. And Beatrice was now walking unaided after her fall. Sadly, Wendy was too ill to come, and Ros and Pete were held back with Pete's recent hospitalisation. The rest of us were in seemingly reasonable health and certainly enjoyed ourselves. Crackers and jokes abounded and plates were emptied. It was a good party to end our year of Dorset walking.

The Future
The Wednesday Walkers blog will now close for three weeks as the blogmaster will be on the high seas to The Caribbean. Look out for details of our next advertised walk, which should be on the 14th January 2009. A very Merry Christmas to you all and a Happy New Year.

The Wednesday Walk 10th December 2008

The Plan
We will meet at Whitecliff for a walk into Poole. Note that the meeting time will be 10.30 for this walk.

The Leader
Wendy

Who Turned Up
Wendy, Trudy, Beatrice, Tony and David.

The Walk
One again, the met men have done us proud. We had another crystal clear day. The air was cold, but invigorating, and the sky was devoid of cloud.

We met at the Whitecliff car park and then walked along the harbour-side path to Poole Quay. We stopped for a photograph at the new Baden Powell memorial statue on the quay. B-P set up the first boy scout camp on nearby Brownsea island, the largest island in Poole Harbour.

A wander up the High Street took us to The Real China restaurant. Beatrice did well for her first walk since her accident, keeping up with the group all the way to the restaurant.

After lunch, we walked through Poole Park on our way back to Whitecliff. Once again, it was sunny and clear, but still a little cold. All-in-all, it was a very pleasant walk: not too demanding, but good for our constitutions.

The Pub

Not a pub, today. We ate at the Real China Restaurant where the offer is: as much as you can eat for £5.95. David did not find a pie but he went back for a second helping so it couldn't ahve been bad. The food here has the look of real Chinese food but it tastes infinitely better.