This was quite a short walk as we were looking forward to a Christmas Lunch at the Queens Head.  Following a lot of rain the cycle tracks in the forest looked like a good choice and we followed them for some time.  Eventually we decided to try a few other  paths including some fire breaks but these were very muddy.  In fact we ended up in the woods beside them where the ground was far better.  Anyway it's always pleasant to wander through the woods.
After our refreshment break in Anderwood Inclosure we headed into Dames Slough Inclosure and it started to become very wet underfoot.  We soon reached a little tributary of Black Water but it was not little enough for us to cross and it was very deep. We decided to follow the edge of this stream but that wasn't so easy either as it had numerous loops.  Crossing in the wrong place left you on an island!  After some extensive peregrinations over some rather lumpy ground we managed to reach Dogkennel Bridge.
The path back to the car was quite reasonable but still pretty wet.  Fortunately for us it did not rain for the whole of the walk.
Ray and Peter tucked into the full Christmas lunch at the pub while Clive was a little more reserved.
The Christmas lunch was very good value and more than sufficient in quantity. 

As an HPB member I thought it would be OK if I used their car park.  There is however another public car park just a couple of hundred yards past Langton House.
It was a lovely morning ideal for walking as we set off at about 10:15.  There are some signed paths that are not shown on the OS maps that cut off the corner as we approached the coastline and this saves dropping too far down the quite steep hill.  

Close to the old visitor centre we found some nice picnic tables where we sat and ate too much.  Orange and almond cake supplied by Peter,  mince pies from Clive and miniature Xmas puddings from Ray made for a substantial meal.
It was quite wet under foot moving across the fields to South Barn but the path from there was a lot better.  Through the Townsend Nature Reserve the path seemed to become very vague but we found our way to the edge of the Holiday Park.  Here the entrance is not where it is shown on the OS Maps and we had to hunt around to find it.  In the Park it is almost impossible to find an easy way through.  It is very poorly signed and we ended up in several cul-de-sacs.  Considering that this is part of the Priests Way it could do with some improvement.  There was a fair bit more mud walking across the fields back to the car and we would probably have been better off sticking to the Priests Way instead of turning off at Belle Vue Farm.
This was a good varied walk but the mud made it seem much further than it really was.
Lunch was at the Kings Arms.  This is a very pleasant old fashioned pub with friendly locals, friendly staff and good food at reasonable prices.  Peter and Ray had steak and kidney pudding with chips and veg for £9.50.  One drawback was that they don't serve soup so Clive had to have a sandwich!

We were then having such an interesting discussion that we deviated from the footpath at Cutler's Farm inadvertently taking the main track down to the road.  It was only a short walk past the school and then onto the clearly marked footpath leading up someone's drive.  Alas the path then came to an abrupt end where the style was completely overgrown.  ​

As Clive and Ray had both brought mince pies we were forced to eat two each!  From here the paths were much easier to find.  The seating arrangements around Uppington Farm deserve special mention as they provide excellent views across the valley and Hinton Martell.  They may prove very welcome as it is a bit of a climb before reaching the attractive All Saints' Church at Chalbury.  We then had a fairly easy walk back to the car though the path across the field and just west of the pond before reaching the eastern edge of Dukes Copse does not seem to be marked anywhere.
​It was a good walking day, dry and just the right temperature.  Clive did rather well to find several tracks that we had never been on before.  In fact 3.6 miles of the 6.8 were on new territory.