We parked at the Vintage Inn at Woolsbridge and walked across the fields towards Potterne Farm.  By the time we reached there we were searching for a spot to stop for refreshments.  We eventually found a well positioned seat towards the south end of the lake.  It was very pleasant sitting here and an ideal place for a team photo.  We then started to pick a route through the numerous tracks within the Moores Valley Country Park.  It was half term and there were loads of people close to the children' play areas but virtually no people in the rest of the Park.
Having found our way down to the road we crossed over towards Ashley Heath.  We were amazed to see an old station sign for "Ashley Heath" which none of us had seen before.  The station was originally opened in 1927 and finally closed as part of the "Beeching Axe" in 1964.
We stayed on the Castlemain Trail for a while but hit a snag.  Rob's plan was to take the track past Little Lions Farm and back to Wools Bridge.  Unfortunately this was gated and a sign clearly said No Access.  We decided to press on leaving the trail at the next Footbridge.  We headed towards the Depot and it became apparent after a while that we were getting into some difficult and very uneven ground.  We stumbled around for a while, starting to feel pretty hot, but eventually found our way out through an area where they were carrying out some major earthworks.
Another good walk on a warm day with some sun and some threatening cloud.  Just a little bit more than we had bargained for. 
We were all quite shattered by the time we got back to the pub but we soon recovered and had a very pleasant lunch.

The first part of this walk was a circuit of the Lakes at Longham which is a little under 3 miles.  It was a lovely bright day and Rob joined Peter and Ray for this section.
We stopped for a short while after starting to chat with a man who had a radio controlled flying boat that was also doing circuits of the lake.  We then had a second stop to chat to a group from Poole Park Model Yacht Club who were racing scale Lasers on the same lake.
As you can see, from the annotation on the map below, the lower lake is not shown on older versions of the OS map, such as the one I used for this screen shot, so I have added it in.
After leaving Rob back at the hotel Peter and Ray head off along the Ferndown Stour and Forest Trail which follows the banks of the Stour towards Dudsbury.  We managed to find a nice shady spot in the Belle Vue Plantation and this was very welcome as the day had become pretty hot by then.
We departed from the main trail crossing over via Coneygar Farm and then rejoining it for a short while before we turned south on the road to Hampreston.  It's hard to believe but on this section of the trail we came across another wasp nest, a large hole right in the middle of the track.  We had a bit of a job finding where the footpath was supposed to be here as the maize had been allowed to grow right up to the cemetery wall and there was a notable absence of signs as far as we could see.  The route was quite straightforward after this but it was getting hotter by the minute.  By the time we got back to the car we were more than a little damp!
A really pleasant walk, apart from the heat, in an area that is really developing as a lovely nature place.  It was good to see Rob walking again too.
Hopefully Clive will be back with an improved back next week and we will have a full team for the first time for a long time.

This walk turned out to be eventful and rather painful but it was most enjoyable before we ventured into uncharted territory in Breamore Wood.  More about that later!
It is worth going to have a look at St Mary's Church said to be one of England's most important Anglo- Saxon Churches. 
See http://greatenglishchurches.co.uk/html/breamore.html for more detailed information.
The easiest route is probably through the church yard but we went into the field and around the edge to join the path into Breamore Park.  It seems to be a rarely used path but is reasonably easy to follow at the start.  Between Yarnfield Pit and Lions Lodge the path vanishes as you can see from the picture below!
Their are fields on each side of the route and there were many opportunities to see crops being harvested  as we made our way along North Chagford Drove.  We stopped for a break in a small shady wood after crossing South Chagford Drove and were pleased to get out of the sun for a while.
We have got used to seeing fields of poppies in Dorset in recent years and came across another one as we approached Manor Farm.  We had decided to take the track around the old fort but had forgotten how long the climb was to the top.  The stud farm and training areas at Whitsbury are always worth a look.  It is a beautifully maintained business.  Unfortunately there were horses in the field we had planned to cross so we had to back track a bit before heading towards Whitsbury Wood.  There are notices saying that horses are dangerous and we were not about to test that out.
It was very pleasant in the woodland and we agreed that it would be nice to cut through Breamore Wood so went off piste.  There were no notices saying that these woods were dangerous.
I am preparing a little video to explain the effects of this decision.
We then had a rather uncomfortable journey back to the car before driving to the Bat and Ball to meet Clive and Rob for lunch.  The food was up to the normal standard but the conversation was somewhat less lively than usual.

This was bit of an unusual walk on several counts; there were only two of us, we were chauffeured to the start point, it was a "one way walk", we had lunch somewhere we had never been on a walk before!
Romy kindly dropped us at Shapwick where we found the road we wanted was closed and quite a few members of East Dorset Ramblers stopped to ask us for directions.  After a short chat with the Ramblers walk leader we strolled past the church and towards the river where we turned east.  It was pretty easy to follow the Stour Valley Way markers though we kept to the field edges as close to the river as we could.  We met very few people on the way one exception being  enny, a friend from the East Dorset Croquet Club.
​It was a very pleasant day with quite a lot of sun but a cool breeze keeping it quite comfortable for walking.
As we were following the river it was mostly an easy flat walk and though there were several styles they were all easy ones.  We may have left it a bit late but we sought a place to sit for our break in vain until we were almost at the car park by Sandy Lane,  a very popular dog walking area.  All Fools Lane (Path) is certainly not a lane in the normal sense just a quite narrow footpath leading up between the trees and bushes and leading into Pamphill.  We passed the small and unusual Vine Inn, resisting the temptation to stop for an ale in the garden, and dropped down back to the river before taking the footbridge across to Netherwood Mead.  There was a sign warning people of the health risks of ingesting any of the river water but that did not seem to deter everyone from swimming in it!
Rob drove past us as we were about 200 yards from the Lambs Green Inn - wonderful timing - and the three of us then drove back to Westbourne where we had an excellent lunch at the Coffee Club.
​A very good day out.