This was the coldest morning for a very long time -4°C at home.  Appropriately layered up we walked from our parking spot to the road that runs up by the church and then turned down the track that runs along the back of the houses.  Turning left at the sewage works we headed to Harbin's Park Farm.  There is a lovley old barn there which demanded a picture.  The farmer very kindly offered to take a group photo for us and we had a good chat with him.  The route from here to the road by Lime Pit Coppice is fairly easy to follow and after a short distance on the road the parallel track back south is well signed.  We spotted an injured buzzard in the wood  but he was still active enough to prevent us getting very close.  Soon after this we stopped for soup, coffee and mince pies.  It was lovely sitting in the quiet of the woods with the sun coming through the trees.
​The trees have now lost many of their leaves and are starting to look quite barebut there is still enough colour here and there and the spindle trees make a real splash of bright pink in the hedgerows.
At Gunville Down we turned left and joined the Jubilee Trail that took us right back into the village.
We drove back to the Coach and Horses in Wimborne for lunch.  This gets a high score because it is such good value for money.  Two meals for under £10 with good sized helpings of gammon, two eggs, chips and peas and all decent quality.  Well done Greene King.
A very pleasant walk with a few fairly muddy stretches that were helped by the frosty ground.  It was otherwise easy walking with no styles and not much in the way of hills.
​

We started off from the Sika Trail car park on a cool but bright morning on a  grassy track that was drier than we might have expected.  This was good news as there had been a lot of rain in the last few days.  In fact we found our way around most of the edge of this section of the forest without any difficulty.
It was a very pleasant almost flat walk with no styles and good ground underfoot.  So good that we kept up a pretty good pace for the whole of the walk.  Having left the car park at 9:50 we were back by 13:20 and in good time to try the Silent Woman for lunch.  We had, of course, stopped for our customary refreshment break, which we took on the edge of the Morden Bog Reserve where Ray shared his mince pies with us.
While most of the items on their menu are quite pricey for a quick lunch their Additional Lunchtime Menu is very reasonable.  Ray and Peter had the Brunch (£8.95) which was excellent in all respects.  The service service was good and friendly and the pub was comfortable with a good atmosphere. 

We are heart broken to have lost such a true friend as Rob and his memory will always be with us especially when we are out walking on a Wednesday.

Rob's was first and foremost a family man and he cared very deeply for every single member of his extended family keeping us up to date on their latest news on a regular basis.  He was clearly very proud of all their abilities and their achievements.

Our regular Wednesday Walks featured high on his list of the important things he enjoyed in life.  In fact he enjoyed these so much that he quite frequently repeated one of his sayings:
                              "Nobody has the right to have this much fun"
or alternatively     "Nobody has the right to enjoy themselves this much"
He had a habit of repeating other statements that also became part of the regular banter:
     "I'm just having a small bowl of consommée for lunch."  This was never actually acted upon!
     "I'm a honed athlete."  
And when "in the barrel" as he so eloquently put it:
     "That's completely destroyed my self confidence.  I was just building it up again but that's really knocked me
     back."
He was also quite fond of asking if pub staff needed a translator so they could understand Ray's Geordie accent.

Over the years we have completed a few hundred walks and covered a few thousand miles on tracks around Dorset and Hampshire.  Sometimes we have had some quite serious discussions.  If the country had been run our way there's no doubt it would have been a much better place today.  Not that we always agreed of course.  On less serious matters the banter flowed freely and it was not always very kind.  Outsiders would not have realised that it was never, ever intended to hurt and was always just part of the fun.  Rob's occasional protestations that he felt deeply wounded always bought a smile.  No doubt the banter will continue but one of the masters of the art will be sorely missed.

So here are a few pictures that record some of the great times we have had together with Rob.  Hopefully they give some idea of the fun and enjoyment we have all had on our weekly walks.

The following four pictures follow a sequence.  We were walking back from Egmont Bight to Kimmeridge Bay when an elderly couple were spotted sitting in the grass some way ahead of us.  Ray's imagination got the better of him and he  developed a little fantasy about their activities.  No I am not going to provide details!  Rob found this so funny that he couldn't stay on his feet and he collapsed on the ground rolling around in hysterics.  It took him quite a while to even manage to struggle to his knees.
​You really can't enjoy yourself much more than that when out for a walk with your mates.

This was a very good walk on a bright and pleasant day even though we were all feeling very heavyhearted as a result of Rob's death.  The next post will be a reflection of the happy times we had with a really true friend.
We had hoped to get back to the Black Dog in time for lunch but they stop serving at 2:30 and we were too late!  There car park was however very large and in just the right place
After a short walk along the surprisingly busy road we turned south and out across the fields.  Clive said the first half was the more hilly part of this walk and he was quite right.  

The weather was kind.  It was a lovely bright day and not too warm so we managed pretty well.  It was good to see that from the park at Powell the route dropped down to Moigns Barn Down.  Though this is a rather wet area with some tumbledown buildings.
As with last week it seemed that appropriate seating was in very short supply but we eventually found an open barn with a well placed straw bale where we could have a well earned rest.
The path around Misery Farm no longer crosses in from of the property but goes around to the west of the small lake.  This is a very pleasant spot and why anyone would give it such a name is a bit of a mystery.  It seems to have now had a name change and is known as Lower Watercombe Farm, but not on the OS map.  It sleeps 14  and is available to rent by the week http://www.classic.co.uk/holiday-cottage/desc-3001.html.  It's worth taking a look.
Shortly after reaching the end of the road from Misery Farm we joined the Jubilee Trail for a short time, leaving it at Fryer Mayne Wood.  By now the wind had started to strengthen quite considerably bringing the leaves down from the trees.  Just before this track joins the A352 into Broadmayne there is another little mystery and abandoned corrugated iron building that may have been an old methodist chapel, but possibly not.  There is nothing to give away its original use.
Lunch at the Red Lion, another all day food pub, was all right but it will not become a favourite.

Just after we had parked by a local residents wall a lady appeared to speak with us.  We thought naturally that we were in trouble but just the opposite she invited us to the village soup lunch at the village hall.  We received a second invitation only minutes later.  It restores your faith in human nature.
We have had a few walks around Ashmore but Ray did a fine job discovering some tracks that we had neglected in the past.  It was not always easy to find the track we wanted but with the help of the trusty MapFinder all went well.
We stopped in Ashmore Wood for our break just after the Wessex Ridgeway turns north towards Upper Broadridge Coppice.  We had struggled for ages to find a decent fallen tree, or any other suitable object that would provide a seat.  It was quite a climb up from Stubhampton Bottom and we were all ready for hot drinks.
The path around Ashmore farm has been changed and is signed where we walked rather than the route shown on this rather old version of the map.
Unfortunately we were told the soup had finished when we reached the village hall.  The very pleasant lady who had first invited us found us taking our boots off back at the car and invited us into her house for some.  We felt this would be too much of an imposition especially as we were all more than a little muddy.
An excellent walk on a very pleasant day.  The only problem was the muddy terrain in a few places.

Lunch at the Coach and Horses in Wimborne was even better than before.  Two really good gammon steaks for £9.95 and free tea.  When we pointed out it wasn't on the bill we were told not to worry! 

The second highlighted stretch was however very poor.  It started off along a very narrow path fenced on both sides.  At one point the owner of one of the gardens had piled waste so high along the fence that it had collapsed and all but blocked the path.  Rucksacks had to be removed so as to squeeze by.  Then there were nettles and overgrown shrubs to cope with. Crossing what looks to be a main path our track vanished.  We eventually, again on the third attempt, managed to find where it was supposed to go but this required some help from a local attending her horse.
The only other snag worth mentioning is the very large number of styles.  At a guess around twenty.
It would have been a really good walk if it had not been for these irritants.

Lunch at the Coffee Club was very good but they lost a star for the price of lime and soda which at nearly £3 is way over the top!  A large coffee is cheaper.