| Date: Location: Walk Leader: Participants: Distance: Parking: Lunch: | 14th May 2014 Bear Cross Peter Peter, Ray 8.7 miles Not required. The Angel ★★ |
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.
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.
 Out for a duck |  Flag Iris |  The Stour |
RSS Feed