DH, RW, TO, PCl, DL, JB, CH, Tilly, Amy, Scrumpy, Albus & Pippa
The last weekend of August already and with some still enjoying their holidays away, there were seven of us this morning who were joined by Tilly and Amy at Trudoxhill, a return to the area for the first time since the summer of ‘21. Also joining the bunch for only her second time was Pippa, Phil’s mother-in-laws Albus lookalike.
Once all dogs were on leads and with raincoats to the fore, we set of southwards out of the village and over the small brook and at the first opportunity headed into the fields having negotiated the first of what would be a few locked gates today. The stile at the side was easy enough to get everyone over and the dogs through and once in the field they were all let off to run around and get to know each other. Crossing through one of the next open fields it was clear to see the newly refurbished White Horse of Westbury on the top end of Salisbury Plain.
Having had some overnight rain I expected the fields to be pretty damp but thankfully the grass was short and made for easy walking. The fields in this area are probably smaller than many others and as such no sooner had we all crossed one stile and spread out as we formed into small groups, in less than a hundred metres further on we as approached the next we all closed up again into one large group. One of the only benefits of this years summer rains has been an explosion of blackberries and of course their associated brambles. Unfortunately as they grow longer whilst searching for more space, they tend to grow into the gaps in the hedges, ie the gateways and stiles, As such the first man at each stile took a bit of time to move out any long and dangerous brambles to allow safe passage for those behind. This delay though did give us time to sample some of the berries and with over 200 varieties of wild blackberries, we were thankfully in a patch of large, sweat, juicy ones.
Skirting around the back of Millard’s Hill house we entered a field with three large horses happily grazing at the top end, well away from our path across it. However we soon caught their attention and clad in coats and face masks to ward off the pesky horse flies they started to make their way towards us, and no doubt the 3 leashed dogs. We quickly got the girls and dogs over the stile leaving John and Chris with three very inquisitive large horses. Chris took the opportunity to get his camera out and pose for his own selfie and John must have telling some of his Grandad jokes as one of the horses gave one of his cheekiest toothy smiles. Amy tells me it went something like - ‘Don’t I recognise you? I think we might be neigh-bours‘.
Our route took us out onto a minor road alongside another large patch of very tasty blackberries, but it was only a couple of hundred yards before we turned right into another field. Unfortunately it was through another gate we couldn’t open and so some of the best gate climbing skills were demonstrated including some very stylish gate vaults from the two young agile girls. Crossing a stream in the bottom we were now at our lowest point (geographically not emotionally) and it was going to be a good long steady climb ahead of us for the next mile or so. Another short stretch along a minor road towards Witham Friary before we turned right up a large farm track leading towards Barrow Hill equestrian centre. As we reached the end of the drive, a glance behind opened up the view along the tree lined horizon stretching from Gare Hill right round to Alfreds tower. On the right side of the track a crop of sunflowers was still some way off their full height but those sunflower heads that were open were pointing south towards an increasing patch of blue sky, as those wearing coats soon started to take them off as the temperature rose.
John was one of those getting a bit warm but as he also had a hat on, he was not getting his windproof off without first removing the cap. Conveniently Tilly was walking alongside and had the hat plonked on her head for safe keeping. Don’t think it’s really her style, just hope we’ve not done her street cred any harm. Well past the half way point now we stopped at the bottom corner of Postlebury woods almost under the high voltage power lines that cross this area, for our issue of sweeties and for the group selfie. Amy & Tilly very kindly handed Deryck’s bag around before taking one each for themselves. Using the time to check out the next bit of the route, which should have tracked just inside the wood line, I decided to take the easier, quicker and bramble free option around the outside. As we approached the top of the climb, the waymaker was just seen inside the wood line pointing us along the path that would take us right through the middle of Postlebury woods heading North East back towards Trudoxhill.
The pathway was very narrow and slippy underfoot as we climbed a bit more to a point around 250 feet higher than we had been a mile ago, from there on it was all downhill, through tight patches of brambles and through large sticky muddy areas. It was in one of these that Amy parted company with her wellie and took a few steps in stocking feet back to retrieve it. The peril of wellies in the mud! Slipping and sliding further down the path it eventually widened and got a lot easier underfoot. A brief stop at a cross roads, where any attempted mutiny tried to turn left before having the footpath marker pointed out to them, we finally made it to the far side of the woods. It was then just a case of retracing our steps back to the village. Tilly and Amy must be thanked for looking after the dogs exceptionally well throughout the walk and it was good to see all three of the dogs get on well during the walk. Todays walk was just over 3.6 miles, completed in a leisurely 2hours 10 minutes.
It was all back into the cars to take the short drive to Nunney Catch cafe for some well earned breakfast. Having ordered and paid we dragged two tables together and sat as one big group on our usual side, under the rows of hanging mugs. Some slight variations on sizes were evident today whilst the girls opted for eggs, poached and scarmbled on toast. Good to have both beans and tomatoes and the staff were very obliging after I got Amy’s order slightly wrong.
This will be Trevor’s last walk for a few weeks as he takes a well earned sabbatical from us and travels over the channel, visiting the World War 2 beaches and memorials and the Bayaux tapestry as he heads right down through France for a few weeks in Spain. We wish him safe travels, although we are hoping for not too many photos of blue skies and sunny beaches on the WhatsApp group chat. See you again in late October Trev, Adiós, amiga. Espero volverte a ver pronto!
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