Date: Location: Walk Leader: Participants: Distance: Parking: Lunch: | 12th October 2016 Clayhill Heath Ray Ray, Peter 7.4 miles Clayhill Cat and Fiddle ★★★☆☆ |
We have walked in this area before, when the weather was poor and we wanted to stick too the cycle tracks. For this walk we made a great effort to keep off the cycle tracks and follow other tracks. Not long after we started it became apparent that we were going to be checking our position fairly frequently on the iPad. The tracks that started out looking obvious soon became rather nebulous and at times seemed to vanish only to appear again later. There were lots of fallen trees some in quite advanced stages of decay and some right across the paths. This produced a very interesting and varied walk and we only saw a very few people when we were forced onto the cycle tracks and at the car park. We also found quite a good selection of fungi starting to appear. |
We were quite intrigued by a tree that had obviously been acting as a rubbing post which had resulted in it coming almost like a work of art. A very strange looking caterpillar caught our eye too. It was just sitting in the middle of the path looking like something that it would be really unwise to pick up. |
We stopped at the Cat and Fiddle, a Harvester establishment, for our lunch and we were pleasantly surprised. The Early Bird menu included Gammon egg, tomato, mushroom and chips for £5.99, an extra egg for 49p. The endless supply of tea for £2.49 is a nice idea but it was not as hot as it should have been. The waitress tried her best but the urn is temperature controlled apparently. There is also, of course, the free unlimited salad. Real value for money and the gammon was pretty good quality especially for the price.