It was a beautiful morning the best weather so far this year.
As there were only the two of us we decided to take the bus to Bear Cross and walk around the lakes.
It is a bit noisy at first as the walk is along the edge of the road but there is a perfectly safe path.
The noise vanishes almost magically as the path goes off the road to the lakes.

We took the new path around southern end of the lake.  There was lovely bird song all the away around and a notable absence of fisherman in fact we saw only one elderly bird watcher.

Part of the walk runs along the Ferndown Stour and Forest Trail where there are some escaped plants in small stream.  We have seen these before when they were in full flower and most impressive.

Just before Knoll gardens we found a very comfortable log and so we stopped for coffee.

It would be easy to miss the turn almost back on yourself by Knoll gardens.  It looks a bit like a drive to a private house.  A good landmark is the garage with an old petrol pump on your left.

Some care is also needed in Belle Vue Plantation - it looks easy but paths are not as shown on the map - the nice new wheelchair friendly ones take you off in wryng direction for this walk.

Near Longham Bridge we kept close to the fence rather than following the made up path around the edge as we were beginning to get weary.

We were about to have a nasty surprise.  Arriving back at Bear Cross in good time for the bus  we could not see the bus stop.  We have done variants of this walk in 2010 and 2011 and it was there then!  In a state of mild agitation (we never get overwrought!) we headed up the road to find the next stop which seemed to be miles away.  Eventually the bus arrived and the driver told us that someone had knocked down the old shelter at Bear Cross and it had never been replaced.  When we pointed out that there was no sign he told us it was written on the road.  We were not impressed.

Over the last few weeks we have gradually started to see the countryside coming to life.  As we started out on this walk there was a strong sent of Hawthorne. It's easy to smell why it's nicknamed May!
The weather was changeable,  warm in the sun,  cool in the breeze and wet in the rain.  We only had a couple of fairly heavy showers and they did nothing to dampen our enjoyment of the day.
There were numerous rape fields some in full bloom already.  The contract of the sun on the fields and a dark sky made for some interesting sights particularly across Hinton Down.  Just past here we spotted quite a few bluebells in the woods.
St Mary's church at Tarrant Gunville, which dates back to Norman times, has a very nice little porch which provided a handy spot to sit and have our morning break out of the wind.  It also has a quite intriguing grave stone in memory of W h Hitchcock once the rector who gifted the organ to the church.
There are some wonderful old beech trees along the northern edge of Eastbury Park.  Turning south and past Little Wood there are lots more bluebells and vast numbers of Ransomes.
Approaching Chettle house we saw quite a number of caravans in the site that is close to the house.  It looks very basic!
We then meandered our way, mostly along pleasant field edges, back to Tarrant Hinton.
We stopped off for lunch on our way home at The Lambs Green Inn  she, as usual for a Wednesday, it was pie day.  We went for the steak and kidney pudding with chips and vegetables for £9.95.

Clive, Peter, Ray.

Parked at The Chequers near Lower Pennington after TomTom took us down the wrong road!

It was quite misty but not too cold at first.  Clive took off his jacket but as soon as we turned the corner at Eight Acre Pond it was time to put it back on again.

Just past Woodside Farm we tried to turn left to take the track across the Marshes but it was invisible and the ground was very wet so we gave that idea up and returned to the made up path.

As we neared Keyhaven we came across several bird watchers.  One of them seemed to get quite a start when he heard an Arctic Tern. The British Birds App for iPhone is very realistic!

We then spent a few very enjoyable minutes sitting on a wooden seat watching the sailors and having our morning break.

They day cleared up considerably after we started on the return leg along the Solent Way.  The mist lifted, the clouds cleared and the sun came out.

We had a pleasant stroll back to the Chequers where we had a good lunch.  Although the walk was 6.8 miles we got around and back to the pub in good time for lunch.  This was helped by the fairly even ground and the fact that the walk was almost entirely flat.

Haddock and Chips cost £9.50.  It was very good and the service was nice and friendly.