Date: Location: Distance: Parking: Lunch: | 20 December 2018 Longham 6.9 miles Bridge House Hotel Bridge House Hotel |
We started from the car park at the Bridge House Hotel where we planned to have their excellent cavern for our lunch.
Turning right outside the hotel we took the Ferndown Stour and Forest Trail along the edge of the Stour but not for long. After about a third of a mile the path was underwater and there was no way we could go any further.
We turned back and took the same trail this time leading north beside the Longham Lakes Reservoir. Looking over what should have been farm land to the west the extent of the flooding could be plainly seen.
This time we thought we would take the bridleway across to Knoll Gardens but we were faced with another submerged path that was impossible to bypass. We had to turn back for a third time. We have never before been forced to turn back three times on one walk. In fact we have hardly ever turned back at all!
Eventually we found a reasonable route back and happily reached the Bridge House at 13:30 in good time for lunch. It was a very nice lunch for a very nice price.