The plan was to park in Charlton Marshall, cross the river and .... well it turned out that although shown clearly on the map as a footpath a boat is needed to cross the river and reach Lophill Farm.  So we drove into Tarrant Keyneston where we found a really good spot to park right beside the footpath.  This enabled us to follow most of the original plan with a few changes as we went on.
The paths were mostly quite dry but there was a lot of water in the Tarrant River and it would have required some courage to try to drive through the ford leading into Tarrant Ruston. The footbridge was however fine.  We found a rather nice spot to sit, in a small copse in the filed looking down towards Ham Corner, where we had our break.
The paths leading across Ashley Wood Golf Club were not well signed.  Quite why golf clubs make it so difficult to follow footpaths across their courses is a bit of a mystery.  Eventually after a few diversions we found our way to the road and crossed over to pass by Buzbury Rings.   We then dropped down into the valley before climbing again to pass Down Barn.  The picture below makes you wonder why this merits a mention on the map!  It was then a short distance back to the car.
We finished the walk quite early and decided that if we were quick we could get to the Charlton Arms in time for lunch.  Arriving there I suddenly remembered I had left my iPad Mini on the roof of the car.  So we turned to Tarrant Keyneston.  We failed to find the iPad but it was returned later that day thanks to a chance meeting with a friend while we were searching.  It's too long a story for all the details....  It does however prove that an iPad mini, in a case, is durable enough to survive hitting the road at speed, being torn out of its case, travelling thirty or so yards down the road and still work perfectly.
Find my iPad is fantastic but only if you can get a signal!
Lunch at the Lambs Green Inn was very good.

We walked along the road to the track that leads down towards Greenlands Farm and then followed the tracks across Newton Heath and Ower Heath right down to the edge of the harbour.  Some of the "tracks" are actually more like roads so we turned off these where possible to enjoy the more wooded paths.  It was quite a pleasant day and it seemed that it would be good to sit and enjoy the view across to Brownsea Island. The snag was that the sun vanished behind the clouds and the wind was strong and bitterly cold.  We were pleased to finish our refreshments and head back onto the heath.
Although the path across the Nature Reserve looks straightforward on the map it is not at all clear where it is on the ground, so we wandered off it a bit as the track shows.  We found a helpful sign at one point.  Or was it a cross?

This isn't actually a walk.  It's just an aside for those who like to understand the complexities of modern life.

There was a time when we just had to rely on a map and a compass and our, sometimes not too accurate, sense of direction.

Nowadays things are different.  Peter started using an iPad mini to record the walks and to follow them using digital maps.  Rob followed suit and now also has an iPad Mini.

Peter and Rob were not aware of Apple's latest invention the Tripad.
This has the great advantage that it is a dual purpose piece of kit that can be used, not only for navigational purposes, but also to keep the sun out of the wearer's eyes.

We only heard about this two weeks ago when Ray enquired at the Bat and Ball about the Tripad Visor.

Rob was so excited that he immediately went out and bought one.

​You can see him wearing it here when we revisited the Bat and Ball on the 2nd March.

​Just click on the image to see a bigger version.

We parked in the same spot as last week but headed off in a completely different direction along the path beside the road towards Golden Cross.  In fact this walk was another completely new one - 100% new territory.  The wind was bitterly cold and straight in our faces but the rain had stopped after we sat in the car for fifteen minutes or so.

We selected our lunches from the main menu at the Bat and Ball and the liver and bacon was excellent with a decent serving of vegetables.  Great value for £8.95.