Blashford Lakes

18/10/2017

Date:
Location:
Distance:
Parking:
Lunch:

18 October 2017
Blashford Lakes
5.8 miles
Moyles Court, by the ford
TableTable Lynton Court ★★★★☆

The forecast did not look too promising but we hoped for the best and drove to Moyles Court where we parked just by the ford.

Spinnaker Sailing

We walked a short distance down the road before taking the path on the right that runs beside the lake and parallel with the lane. It is just past the house on the corner of the lane. We were quite surprised at just how large the lake is. We were also impressed by the Spinnaker Sailing Club (http://spinnakerclub.co.uk/about-the-club/) which looked to be a great venue for anyone wanting to sail on a good sized lake.

The intention was to take the path to the south of Linbrook Lake but we got ahead of ourselves and turned left to follow the track between Blashford and Linbrook Lakes. This turned out to be a very interesting route as we had the opportunity of seeing some very impressive properties on our way to Highwood. We also saw a huge tree that had fallen across the track. It had been cut into reasonable sized lengths until the girth became too much and the firmly wedged section of a chain saw blade gave evidence of the difficulty of the work.

We found a decent spot to sit on some felled silver birches just before Waterslade, where I am almost but not quite ashamed to say, we sat for the best part of half an hour.

Sitting Pretty

Appleslade

The scenery changed quite markedly as we left the wooded area and headed onto Rockford Common and Red Shoot Plain. We dropped down through Appleslade Inclosure which may not have been the best idea as it meant we then had to climb back to the top again but it was a nice gentle slope with misty views from the top.

It wasn’t always immediately obvious which track to take as we made our way across the common but the digital assistant kept us on the right path.

Just before we reached the quite steep slope back to the car we met a man with three beagles and stopped for a chat. It was very enlightening as neither of us had heard of beagle hunting before and we were treated to a most interesting explanation by a real enthusiast.

We arrived back at the car having had only two short spells of the very slightest drizzle. Weren’t we lucky?

It may be getting a bit repetitive but lunch was once again at TableTable back at the Lynton Hotel and very good it was too. Half a rack of ribs and a chicken breast for under £7 - keep those vouchers coming!