| Date: Location: Walk Leader: Participants: Distance: Parking: Lunch: | 15 March 2017 Melbourne St Andrew Peter Peter, Clive, Ray 7.3 miles The Royal Oak The Royal Oak ★★★★☆ |
| We were pleased to find that The Royal Oak serves meals from midday until well into the evening and that they were quite happy for us to use their car park while we went on our walk. The road leading towards Coles Farm was very quiet and there is a nicely planted area where the path on the right leads towards Frogmore Farm. We took this path in 2004 and in 2010 and on both occasions decided it was less than wonderful. The daffodils at the junction were however lovely. |  Spring Is Really Here |
We only met about three vehicles before turning left along the side of Melbourne Wood. It looked as if a lot of coppicing had taken place along here and there were a few spring wild flowers such as primrose and wood anemone scattered among the hazels. After crossing the road the land opened out and we were walking along the edges of newly ploughed fields. There is not a lot of photogenic scenery along here but the views are pleasant and it is reasonably easy flat walking.
 Primrose |  Wood Anemone |  Dare I Move My Tractor? |
| We then climbed the slope up to Weatherby Castle, a multivallate Iron Age hillfort (multivallate apparently meaning "surrounded by two or more ramparts forming multiple lines of defence"). My goodness what you can learn from a walk! Whatever its original purpose it was a great place to sit and have a drink and take a picture of three happy souls munching Fry's peppermint cream bars. |  Defending The Ramparts? |
There is a large obelisk built in 1761 hidden in the woods which are quite overgrown. We wandered around the edge and down to the road. The paths are very indistinct but it was easy enough to spot the style in the corner of the field. This stretch of road was surprisingly busy and we had to stop in passing places three times to let vehicle by, including a very large tractor.
Passing Foxhound the footpath appears to go into the corner of the field and then onto the far side of the fence. This is not accurate and the footpath is actually on the south side of the fence at this point and there was no need to cross that field diagonally. Never mind we did not want to make the walk too short!
Lunch at the Royal Oak was very good. The steak and ale pie was big enough for two and filled with meat. Ray and Peter both struggled manfully through though while Clive tucked into what looked like the best filled ham sandwich I have ever seen. The service was excellent too.
Passing Foxhound the footpath appears to go into the corner of the field and then onto the far side of the fence. This is not accurate and the footpath is actually on the south side of the fence at this point and there was no need to cross that field diagonally. Never mind we did not want to make the walk too short!
Lunch at the Royal Oak was very good. The steak and ale pie was big enough for two and filled with meat. Ray and Peter both struggled manfully through though while Clive tucked into what looked like the best filled ham sandwich I have ever seen. The service was excellent too.
RSS Feed