A sting in the tale

Sat 8th August '26 DH, DL, JB, Tilly & Ralph

Yet another warm day forecast (when will this summer end?) and with two grandchildren picked for selection this week, I opted for a shortish river side walk and a first ever Walking Dead visit to Sturminster Mill. We travelled down in the just the one car and parked in our usual spot in the old station carpark. Heading through town we west along the narrow lane of old cottages called The Row, and at the end headed down the steep slope towards the river.

Standing on the 185 year old Colber bridge we were all surprised to see the water level as high as it was, as I for one was expecting it to be a lot lower after these last few dry months. Looking north across the Stour we could see the remnants of the old S & D railway bridge, under which we have previously walked when following the river up stream, but today we were heading west out of town and into the dry and very beige farmland. Passing through a gate into a path with brambles on both side, we momenterily lost Ralph as he stopped to taste a few of the plump looking blackberries. He has become quite an expert in their taste and generally reckons those that have been in the sun taste far better than those grown in the shade.

We had to cross a couple of dodgy stiles and barbed wire fences as we crested a small ridge and dropped down to a large concrete bridge over a small stream. The stream turned out to be the River Divilish which was flowing north from the hills around Bulbarrow Hill, to join the Stour just south west of Hinton St Mary. The water level was more like what was expected as on the upstream side we spotted a narrow pedestrian bridge that was unfortunately blocked off by a fallen tree.

Turning off of the main track we disturbed this weeks hare as we took a shortcut across the corner of the next field to a well hidden stile. where we turned southwards into another open field before at the next boundary we had to negotiate our way over a small stream and more barbed wire as we all found our own 'best' route through the corner of the field. It was a case of crawling on hands and knees at one point , which with my lack of flexibility is never an easy option. Back onto our feet we started off again only to be stopped abruptly as the shout of 'Deer' rang out. Ahead of us two young deer, just as startled as us, took off running to our left. We watched them for a good forty seconds as they made their way round to a suitable crossing through the hedgerow. We too had to find the next point through the hedge which according to the map should take us right to the rivers edge, where we could then follow the stream for a short distance. On my map (OS provided through megalithic.co.uk) there was a path showing across the other side of river, but no bridge. So although we didn't need to cross the water, it was worth a quick check to settle my own curiosity. Low and behold, there was indeed a wooden footbridge, which of course Ralph had to test out. Tilly not to be outdone then found her own useless stile to pose on top of.

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(For those interested in maps - I use this one most weeks, which gives coverage across all of the UK and allows you to drill in to better than 1:10,000. It uses the familiar OS 50,000 symbols that we are know so well. To the best of my knowledge, the map is always up to date with new roads, buildings etc. However I also use their Leaflet View occasionally, (which I hadn't checked before this walk) , but does actually show the bridge and the path not so close to the river, as we eventually discovered). I will be keeping an eye on both versions in future to see which is the most accurate. This same discrepancy could also account for the lack of stiles on our Gillingham north walk the other week, as the path we wanted is not actually marked on the Leaflet view of the area!

For todays walk it didn't rally matter about the bridge as we followed the line of the river and looped around the field until we were heading north again. At the corner of the field, where the deer escaped through earlier, we turned right over another concrete bridge and headed up by a very large empty and disused looking barn to an equally looking bungalow, with around half a dozen disused and abandoned cars littering the drive way and area. Thankfully most of it was hidden by overgrown trees or it would be yet another blot on the countryside landscape. We continued along the track, with ever increasing views across to the town and made our way onto Stalbridge Lane where we turned right and headed towards Sturminster Mill.

The approach to the mill was past a couple of refurbished properties, with large feature windows giving amazing views over the mill and river and then down a small path to the rear of the building. There is plenty of information about the mill on the towns website here , so i wont repeat any of it today.

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We all made our way onto the first small white bridge over the water and stood for a few moments to watch the water flowing by. John and maybe Ralph were even lucky enough to catch site of a large pike catch a smaller fish in the bubbles and confusion of the water at the base of the weir. At the far bridge we stopped to take this weeks groupie, with the mill and bridges as a perfect backdrop.

As we continued alongside the river it was hard to comprehend with the acres of scorched grass and multiple large cracks in the ground, that the field we were now walking in part of the towns flood plain, which in most winters is well under water as the flooded river surges past the mill. The sun was now beating down as we made our way towards the edge of the town, and for our route by the school and into the High Street, however before we got that far, there was indeed a sting in the tail of todays walk.

Unbeknown to Tilly, but whilst she was walking along the riverbank, an unidentified insect had landed on her and crawled behind the arm of her sunglasses. Upon feeling something on her face, Tilly had natuarlly reached up to stroke it away, only for said insect to feel threatened and in so doing pulled outs its natural defense. the first we hearsd about it was the cry of 'Grandad, Ive been stung' as Tilly made her way to me quickly. I could see straight away that the sting was still in the area behind her right eye, so quickly managed to extract it just using my finger nails as tweezers. Thankfully I didnt touch the poison sac or it might have relaeased more into her. She was certainly in pain with a few tears in her eyes as we called out to JB who reached for his First Aid pack and some soothing skin wipes.

I still had the sting attached to my thumb at this point and so as she was unable to indentify the offending insect, Tilly took a good photo of it, just in case she had any reaction to the sting, as this was actually her first experience of being stung. She quickly calmed down, although the mark soon became very red, as we made our way across the field by the school and then through town to the Stur of the Moment cafe, for our breakfasts, arriving after a walk of three miles in 100 minutes.

We were shown to our table by the window by a young trainee on her first days work and quickly decided on our orders. As we waited the novelty of the typewriter aroused Tillys interest although unfortunately no form of distraction was going to take away her pain. Our drinks and food was soon served and apart from Ralph, who was tired from a busy week, it was clean plates all round. With Ralphs uneaten half of sausage sandwich wrapped up we paid up and headed for the cars and home, to let the expert care of Nanny comfort Tilly as slowly the sting eased. Within 24hrs I'm pleased to say she was totally out of pain and back to her usual self.