Date: Location: Walk Leader: Participants: Distance: Parking: Lunch: | 19 July 2017 Wilverley Peter Peter, Ray 6.1 miles Lower car park at Wilverley The Cat and Fiddle, Hinton Admiral ★★★☆☆ |
The Walkers Blog has been rather quiet for the last couple of months as a result of a series of holidays. Unfortunately while on holiday, with the family, Clive had a very serious stroke and has been in hospital(s) ever since. His recovery has been slow and very much an up and down affair. Every day we hope and wait for some positive news.
This Wednesday Ray and I headed off to an area we have walked a few times before. The weather was looking rather uncertain and we were not sure what the ground was going to be like. After four or five weeks of virtually no rain last night it bucketed down.
We have tried on one or two occasions to cross Avon Water but as you can see from the map we failed to make it this time as well. Next time we attempt this we plan to take some good sturdy and deep plastic bags to act as temporary waders - yes - really. We tried with Iceland bags but the water was just too deep!
We had two plans one assumed we could get across and the other we could not so this is the “could not option”.
We were quite surprised to find a man and his daughter with a fishing rod by the Avon Water. We were even more surprised when after a very short time they caught a small brown trout.
We retraced our steps back into Wilverley Inclosure and headed towards the corner where it is possible to leave the Inclosure and walk down to the Tea Rooms. Crossing the road we then continued along the disused railway. This is a very pleasant stroll and as you pass the old platform you can just imagine a train puffing its way along here before the avenue of trees started closing in.
We stopped for a break just before reaching Holmsley Lodge by which time it was becoming slightly misty and there seemed to be rain just hanging in the air. Although not shown on the map there is quite a decent path along the outside of Holmsley Inclosure at this point.
We decided to turn left off the road and back down the hill leaving the Inclosure at north east edge. This is another easy path that crosses three bridges in quick succession towards the end. A great place for posing.
We arrived back at the car at the surprisingly early time of 13:30 and drove to the Cat and Fiddle where we enjoyed a half rack of ribs. They were tasty and tender but the portions were somewhat small. Nevertheless with some chips, a slice of grilled pineapple and large bowls of salad it was a very pleasant lunch.