| Date: Location: Walk Leader: Participants: Distance: Parking: Lunch: | 26th March 2014 Picket Post Peter Peter, Clive, Ray, Rob 7.6 miles Roadside car park Sir Walter Tyrrell ★★★ |
When we got out of the car at Picket Post the first thing we all noticed was that it was much colder than we had expected so we set off at a good pace to warm up.
The plan was to make our way to Ridley wood and come out on the path at the eastern edge that leads to Sir Dudley's Ride. A lack of attention led to us exiting the wood at the southern edge and so we walked along the edge of Mill Lawn Brook and jointed the Ride a little lower down. It was interesting walking along the brook but was also quite wet in places. There is quite a good path across Backley Plain leading to the underpass the only safe way across the very busy A31. Much of the area around the path is covered with heather which is worth coming back to later in the year.
There is a noisy stretch alongside the road to Lazy bushes and then it gets quieter as we turn down to Pinnick Wood. This wood is very old and quite mixed. One its main features is the number of dead old trees lying everywhere. There were many birds singing in the trees in spite of the chilly day and we saw a large herd of deer here. At Akercome Bottom there is quite a sizeable pond that is not marked on the OS map but has obviously been there for some years. As you might expect the area around the Bottom was quite wet but it was reasonably easy to find a way across and into Little Linford Inclosure. We headed through the Inclosure, up Marrow Bones Hill and returned to the car via another underpass at Picket Post. It was intriguing to notice how much cooler it was in the lower lying areas where it remained wet and how much warmer it was as we walked onto the higher levels of the Plain.
We drove to the Sir Walter Tyrrell for lunch where the walk leader was lucky enough to be given the option of the last ham hock for lunch. A very good meal with a generous number of tea bags.
The plan was to make our way to Ridley wood and come out on the path at the eastern edge that leads to Sir Dudley's Ride. A lack of attention led to us exiting the wood at the southern edge and so we walked along the edge of Mill Lawn Brook and jointed the Ride a little lower down. It was interesting walking along the brook but was also quite wet in places. There is quite a good path across Backley Plain leading to the underpass the only safe way across the very busy A31. Much of the area around the path is covered with heather which is worth coming back to later in the year.
There is a noisy stretch alongside the road to Lazy bushes and then it gets quieter as we turn down to Pinnick Wood. This wood is very old and quite mixed. One its main features is the number of dead old trees lying everywhere. There were many birds singing in the trees in spite of the chilly day and we saw a large herd of deer here. At Akercome Bottom there is quite a sizeable pond that is not marked on the OS map but has obviously been there for some years. As you might expect the area around the Bottom was quite wet but it was reasonably easy to find a way across and into Little Linford Inclosure. We headed through the Inclosure, up Marrow Bones Hill and returned to the car via another underpass at Picket Post. It was intriguing to notice how much cooler it was in the lower lying areas where it remained wet and how much warmer it was as we walked onto the higher levels of the Plain.
We drove to the Sir Walter Tyrrell for lunch where the walk leader was lucky enough to be given the option of the last ham hock for lunch. A very good meal with a generous number of tea bags.
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