Hambleton peninsula anti-clockwise

Mon, 2013 Nov 25 9:56 AM GMT

Led by me, with Chris and Marion, Norma, Steph and Terry. Dry underfoot - on tracks all the way. Dry weather, cloudy. 6 miles.

I chose this walk because I wanted to avoid the mud wallows. It was very straightforward, with a snack break on a convenient tree trunk at the three and a half mile mark.

We set off down the lane past Hambleton church, and turned left when we reached the lake perimeter path.  We followed this round, crossed the road which leads to the water's edge, and continued round.

When we met the road coming in from Egleton, we walked alongside for a few hundred yards, before turning left when we met the track again - It's the one labelled "No Swimming" and "Authorised vehicles only".  

The track led us round to the lane to the church, and we climbed the short steep hill back to the village.

I have to confess to a foolish virgin moment, when I discovered that my camera battery was not charged, so I may beg, borrow or steal photos from someone else.

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Langham, Ashwell, Whissendine circular

Thu, 2013 Nov 21 9:36 AM GMT

Led by Barry, with Gordon and me. A few muddy sections. We missed any showers, and had glorious sunshine for most of the way, though the wind was cold. Just over 10 miles.

Beautiful sunshine, but a cold wind as we walk through Langham. 

An unusual wall decoration

 We take the road (no unauthorised vehicles) which leads past the sewage works, and carry straight on, along a walkway with anti-motor cycle gates. 

Now, I can appreciate the bit about damage, but wouldn't it be great if they'd put a boot-cleaner nearby. Whose mud is it anyway?

 We walk past a large house (Mickley Lodge, and then turn left and can either walk round a fenced outside some fields,  or follow the path over several stiles through the fields. We go behind Langham Lodge and follow the footpath way markers around the field boundaries.

Are you blocking our path or showing us the way?

We emerge on a narrow hedged path, where we can turn continue ahead, or turn left.  We do ahead and realise that this was not the way when we cross the railway at Great Tambourine Bridge, and arrive at the Oakham to Ashwell Road. About turn!  Retrace footsteps and take the correct route, which brings us out at the road between Langham and Ashwell, which is much quieter. Here we turn right and follow the road into Ashwell.

Some of these people were alive in the reign of Charles II

There is a bench in the churchyard, sheltered and sunny. With just under four miles under our belts, we award ourselves a snack break.

Ashwell church

 We leave the village on the Whissendine Road, crossing the railway again, and after about half a mile our footpath goes off to the right.  

The way is clear enough, but we make the mistake of going round a muddy field instead of across, and add an extra half mile to our walk.  One of those places where the marker is very clear when you look back, but was invisible from our original direction.

No matter, onwards! The path goes up a short hill,  and down and up again, then gently down into Whissendine, past the church, the pump and a couple of pubs.

St Andrews, Whissendine

The village pump

We come to the village green and the sign, and turn left over the bridge, then left again, to find our footpath. (Not the one near the children's playground).  It takes us through a wooded area - it's a little tricky underfoot after the recent rainy weather, but easy to follow. 

This part of the path is quite steep and tricky in parts since it is wet.

 T

Lone hollyhock

 Once we come out of the trees we have to walk through fields, and there's a good view of Whissendine with its windmill as we look back.

View of Whissendine from our path

A

The windmill is still in sight

 After about a mile we reach the road from Whissendine to Langham, at the top of a hill, and walk along this until we meet the main A606.  We follow this for a short distance before turning left along Manor Lane.  We follow this round to Ashwell Lane and back to the car.

Langham church spire

Wildlife - two hares, a few long-tailed tits in a hedgerow, a buzzard.

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Eyebrook

Tue, 2013 Nov 19 12:36 PM GMT

With Harry. Fine cold day, we walked about 5 miles.

Lots of swans and tufted ducks

This tree has declared winter

Turkey oak?

Trees like wind-blown hair

From the bridge

More swans and other waterfowl 

We also saw cormorants, geese, an egret, and at least one lapwing.

Map and details

Cycling from Lyndhurst to Brockenhurst

Wed, 2013 Nov 13 10:03 AM GMT

With Harry. Lovely ride through fairly quiet roads. Had a coffee in Brock and Bruin with Esther, then returned via forest tracks - some excessively muddy. Beautiful day, though chilly. 17 miles.

This is probably the best weather of the week - it reminds us of our first visit to the area, crisply cold with hoar frost on the grass, and bright sunshine, with mist rising from any water.

 We take the bikes from Lyndhurst through Pike Hill, and Emery Down, then up to Bolderwood, with a fairly steep section to test the legs. 

From  the car park we turn left and roll down the Bolderwood Ornamental  Drive, with lovely sun and autumn leaf effects.

  Next we cross the A35, and the road becomes the Rhinefield Ornamental Drive, passes the tall trees, the Knightwood Oak, and the Arboretum before reaching Whitemoor heath and arriving at Brockenhurst.

Esther has come to meet us with Hazel in the buggy, and we walk across the bridge over the (dry) ford, and head for the Brock and Bruin tearoom.  Scones and caffeine oil the wheels - of the brain if not the bike.

We return via Balmer Lawn and the gravel tracks, but take a wrong turning, at either the 13 or 14 mile point, and end up in some sticky mud. We extricate ourselves and go back to the A337 main road for the final mile into Lyndhurst, and a much-needed shower for ourselves and the bikes - and my shoes. I guess I'm lucky not to have lost one of them for good.

I'll pinch a few of Harry's photos, since I didn't take my camera!

Map and details here

Lyndhurst Parish circular

Sun, 2013 Nov 10 2:02 PM GMT

With Harry. Some very muddy, squelchy sections. Beautiful day. Just over 8 miles in all. 500 ft of climbing.

A fine sunny day, blue skies and a cool wind encourage us to make an afternoon of this walk, taken from a leaflet.

We start from the Custards,  going through the gate on the field side of Race Course View - quite wet and soggy, as most places are just now. We squelch over to a bridge and turn right to follow a bank of earth alongside the golf course, and through some fine trees.

This takes us to the access road and the main Southampton road - there is an underpass. On the far side of the road we walk uphill and over the top to the Beaulieu road. As we are out of the trees the going is firmer.

There is still plenty of lying water.  We cross the Beualieu Road taking a path between Oak Acre and The Ravens.  The path meets a gate after about a kilometre - we go straight on, and then up the hill behind the Crown and Stirrup.  At the top of the hill we cross the A337, and take a track about 30 metres to the left, following a driveway across a cattle grid.  Just before the gate to High Coxlease we turn left and follow the fence downhill and then to our right for almost 2 kilometres.  We turn left on to a path across a large clearing, then along a track into the woods. In about 200 metres we turn right and walk up a wide track to the gate and the road.
 At the road we turn left, through the village of Bank, with the Oak Inn, where we turn left again and follow the road around Gritnam, circling this hamlet, with houses on our right. At Woodbine Cottage our path leads left through the trees to the road (A35).  Just before the road the path goes left and into an underpass.

After the underpass our path turns right, and goes through the trees to Allum Green. We join the track at Corner Cottage, and turn left.  At Caister Cottage we follow the fence and wall for a good 100 metres,  then take a right fork and head up the hill. We should have turned left and into Emery Down. Instead we continued and emerged close to Swan Green, but turned left towards Emery Down, and then right along Silver Street, and then along a path for a good 600 metres to the road to Pikes Hill. 

The road is very narrow and there are  too many cars, but very soon we reach the Fenwick hospital, where we turn left along a path beside the hospital.  This takes us into a small road of big houses.  There is a turn to the right, leading into a cul de sac, and we take the footpath in the left hand corner, which leads to the Waterloo Arms. From here it is a short walk, across the main Romsey Road and back along Race Course View.

These boots are made for walking

Map and details

Bolderwood circular

Thu, 2013 Nov 7 11:23 AM GMT

With Harry. Dry, cloudy weather. Muddy underfoot in wooded areas. Just over 7 miles.

This walk from Bolderwood comes from a website called Aching Legs which contains lots of walks in the New Forest area.

The original is ten miles long, but we cut it down to seven by omitting part of it, including a section alongside the very busy A31 road.

The instructions given on the website are pretty easy to follow, especially if you have the OS map.

Today's walk was rather boggy in the woodland sections - to be fair it has been a wet autumn.

The promise of sun - not fulfilled

A nice gravel track

crossing Bratley Water for the first time

A fairy pony?

distant view of the Isle of Wight

under the A31

reflections and a hint of blue in the sky?

A tree-trunk to inspire Jackson Pollock?

Map and details

Hollowell circular, via Cottesbrooke and Creaton.

Mon, 2013 Nov 4 9:57 AM GMT

Led by me, with Barry, Maureen and Gordon. Cold day, but sunny. Some mud underfoot. Just over 7 miles. Quite rolling.

A problem to start the walk as planned which was to take in Hollowell Reservoir. One to investigate later?

Instead we start from Hollowell, and walk down to the bus-stop and shelter in the centre, then follow the Creaton Road out of the village until it bends to the right. A bridle path leads straight ahead uphill here.

The bridleway is pretty muddy.  From the top we catch sight of the reservoir. 

 We cross the A5199 and walk across the fields until we meet a sign which directsa is to our right, then into the next field and on our way down the hill into Cottesbrooke - a very picturesque and wealthy-looking village.

 The trees make a colourful, many textured tapestry as we walk down the fields.

 We turn right along the very small road through the village, passing the gates to Cottesbrooke Hall, which is hidden away.

The church is worth visiting - it is open, and contains lots of monuments and a couple of tombs with effigies, including the one below, where the small figures appear to represent the man's daughters.

From Cottesbrook we follow Station Road until we meet the Macmillan Way, opposite a driveway.  This leads us to Creaton, directly if you follow it closely - indirectly if you follow your nose, as we do today.

 At Creaton we find a bench on a playing field - just right for a break.

 These almshouses in Creaton were erected for Victoria's silver jubilee in 1897.

 They face this splendid village green.

 We decide to take the footpath, rather than the road to return to Hollowell - two miles instead of one.

It's been a shortish, but very attractive walk. A beautiful day, though the wind had a sharp edge to it.

Map and details