A special day today Clive's first walk since 5th November 2014.  It's always good to take it easy after a long break so Clive planned a six mile stroll.  Unfortunately it became a little  s t r e t c h e d  and ended up at 7.75 miles.  The great news is that he survived and so did the rest of us!
There are a few parking spots along the road near to Scotland Farm and it is worthwhile going and having a look at the old wagons that are being restored there.
The paths are fairly well marked (not very punny) but were pretty wet around the Sharford Bridge area.  We took a little diversion along the road to have a closer look at the nodding donkeys and then very briefly considered the path across Wytch Moor.  One look was enough to see that it was almost under water.  The route across Regpstone Heath was much better although we did take to the woods to avoid one particularly wet patch.  We stopped for the morning break and then took another little side trip, this one being unintentional and quite short but all helping to add to the mileage.  The wind had built up quite a bit and the pines were really blowing around  by now.  A kilometre or so further on we came across two guys operating Tree Harvesters.  According to the Forestry Commission  "A single machine is capable of harvesting up to 60,000 tonnes of timber per year.  It would take 24 chainsaw operators to match this output."
We then turned along the dismantled tramway, a very pleasant gorse lined path leading to the road near Bushey Farm.  A bit of care is needed after leaving the road and heading back to the start point as the path is not that clearly marked.  We managed to include a couple more short deviations in this section but nothing too onerous.
Although Ray and Rob had both walked at least some of this route before it was completely new to me apart from the short section of road at the beginning.  So well done Clive, a new violet coloured route on the master map.
For those who have never noticed Clive is Violet, Peter is Purple, Ray is Red and Rob is Blue.  Except where there is an error!
It is remarkable how The Haymoor manages to produce good food for such a low price.  Gammon egg and chips on special offer for £2.99!

This weeks quiz question:  Are the captions beneath the correct pictures?

When we arrived at Wareham it was raining really hard so we sat in the car for about half an hour.  We were convinced it would soon stop but it did not so we went into the club house and had a coffee.  Finally at 11:45 it had reduced to a light drizzle so we set off.  After a few minutes even the drizzle stopped and it never rained again all the way round.
We did not follow the original plan taking in the Wareham Forest Way as it would have probably been under water and we had forgotten our swimming gear!
As you can see from the map after a short walk through the golf course we went into Northport Heath and then folowed the cycle tracks.  There was a lot of water everywhere and the sky was an unremitting steely grey for most of the day.  We did however manage to spot a small patch of blue just before we got back to the car park.
It was actually a very pleasant walk considering the conditions and we managed to cover 6 miles by 14:15.  
The timing was excellent as we had an arrangement for a free lunch at the Bakers Arms booked for 15:00.  This was such an attractive offer that Clive managed to join us for the first time in quite a few weeks - just for the lunch that is though his spirit was with us all the time.  The fish and chips were much better than on two previous occasions and our only criticisms were that the mushy peas were luke warm and the plates felt as if they had never been heated.  We will however go back and pay for a meal next time.

The first outing for Rob's iPad mini complete with OS MapFinder.

Todays walk in the New Forest was a bit different from most of our recents efforts in this area - apart from Rob's new technology.  It did not start on a cycle track.  In fact it did not touch a cycle track until we were about a third of the way round.
That added to the excitement, the sense of adventure and the distance we walked.
It was almost impossible to walk in a straight line and we zigged and zagged all over the place trying to keep our feet dry.  The picture below the map is by far the most extreme example.  It seemed like a fine idea to cross Elkhams Grave (an ancient Barrow) and head for the footbridge across Avon Water.  The problem only became apparent when we were about 80 yards or so from the bridge.  There was not just one stream but a multitude of smaller streams which were all just too wide to walk across.  The picture below the map is a GPS track of our actual route. An 80 yard walk turned into nearly half a mile!  We were persistent and we did get across but we still had to jump.
Turning to the north just after the bridge the path was still fairly wet but not that bad. Eventually we turned into the Inclosure and joined the cycle track and the walking became a lot easier but not as much fun!  We were quite surprised to see a fair number of people camping in the Setthorns camp site.  This is a lovely quiet site but has no toilet or shower facilities.  The path was dry from here back to the Rising Sun but as the last photograph, taken from the disused railway, shows the forest below was saturated.
We had one last little section "off piste" when we got bored with the cycle track at the north westerly part of our stroll through Wootton Coppice Inclosure and so took to the woods.
The remainder of the walk back to the Rising Sun was uneventful but by now the sun was fading fast and the grey clouds were coming in.
We had a pleasant lunch at the Rising Sun.  Liver and bacon casserole with roast vegetables and chips and three sensibly sized pots of tea each with extra water went down very nicely.

Our first walk in 2015 and we were all pleased to get back into the countryside.  Our last walk was on 17th December so we had had a three week break and it soon showed.  This walk was a bit shorter than some of those towards the end of last year and we all felt grateful for this.  

This was the first outing for Rob's new boots.  (We think he has been keeping them at home for the last year trying to see if they would breed.)  This was another good excuse to keep the distance down.

We parked beside the pond at Ashmore which is a nice quiet spot that we have used before.  We set off along the road and into Halfpenny lane.  The wind was whistling up the hill straight at us and it felt a lot colder than we had expected.  We looked forward to reaching the woods!  Once we had achieved that the wind ceased to be an issue.  Unfortunately the ground was pretty wet and muddy for a large part of this walk.  That made it a little bit harder going and gave us another reason to be pleased it wasn't too long.

After Hanging Coppice we started the seemingly endless climb up the Wessex Ridgeway.  Luckily it was time for a morning break when we reached the top.  We found three nice tree stumps to sit on and a third which made a handy table.

On reaching the Gallops we walked along the side of the gallops themselves as the ground was much better than the very muddy footpath.  It was interesting to see how the stands of corn had been left as cover for the birds but the now grassy straw mounds were a bit of a mystery.  Until one of the residents came to spy on us and find out what we were up to.  

After another uphill stretch that made us all happy to know that the end was near we admired a few of the local properties before arriving back at the pond.