Saturday 23rd October 2021
DH, RW, BFS, TO, DL Sully, Scumpy & Bill
Another trip to the hilltop town of Shaftesbury this week for a walk around the area surrounding the old private girls only St Mary’s School, now being run by Dorset County Council as its Special Needs hub and redesignated the Dorset Centre of Excellence. A grey but mild morning as the five of us free from other duties today, met outside the Spar on the edge of what seems like an ever expanding residential area of the town. With no time for Trevor to pop in for a sneaky sausage roll we were soon heading off into the countryside, although passing through the first farmyard with great big ‘ dogs worrying livestock will be shot’ warning signs, it didn’t appear to be too friendly a location. Maybe the move across the border into Wiltshire might see it improve quickly.
For the first time on our many walks, we joined a section of a new long distance path today. The Hardy Way is a 217 mile circular pathway starting and ending to the north of Dorchester and passes through much of Hardy’s countryside as it winds it way around Dorset and the many villages associated with the author. We only completed about 1 mile along it today on its most northern section between Shaftesbury and Win Green, maybe we will have the opportunity to walk other sections of the path another day?
Dropping quickly down hill we entered the top of a beautiful grassy Coombe with mature tree lined sides and walked on down through the middle enjoying the beautiful silence at a good pace. By the time we reached the far end we had completed our first mile in around 20 minutes and dropped around 200 feet. The peaceful morning was soon interrupted as Sully & Scrumpy took the opportunity to chase half a dozen Guinea fowl, who were up to that point enjoying a morning mooch around the long grass. A lot of noise whilst easily avoiding the frantic pair of four legged would be attackers, the birds took flight and perched themselves out of reach in the lower branches of the nearby tree as they looked down at the 2 bundles of fur chasing around wondering where their prey had gone. Continuing along the track, thankfully the bordering fence was secure enough to hold back the still inquisitive dogs, as behind it were a multitude of feathered animals and the odd pony! Coming out in the little hamlet of Higher Coombe with some lovely hidden properties we were rather taken aback to find growing on the side of the verge a patch of some 20-30 shaggy inkcap mushrooms. Trevor, convinced they were one of the only edible variant of inkcap and not one to turn down a free lunch, bagged himself a few for later. Unfortunately we missed the opportunity for the group today, so the pose by the inkcaps will have to suffice this week.
Walking into the next field we were almost dismayed to see another even larger patch of inkcaps, I for one have never seen such an abundance of fungi in one spot. Heading through the hamlet of Middle Coombe, we crossed open fields before reaching a track onto which we turned left, made a steady climb to the far corner of the route at Windwhistle Corner where with another left turn we were on the top track and heading for home. A break in the trees gave us a great view across to Winscombe Park, through which we walked in July when we got Soaked in Shaftesbury, and at the 5 way junction of tracks, with the route up from Winscombe Park on our right, we headed half left and back across fields to skirt around the top end of the school site. Clearly used for grazing sheep, the fields were well fenced with the usual sheep fencing, but for once the farmer has been considerate and added the most solid dog flap I’ve seen to date. A galvanised sheet of metal in its own frame was under each of the next few styles, which once across the style needed lifting from within the field to allow the dogs through. There was no way sheep would be getting out through them! We only encountered the one field with sheep (Suffolk blackface) in today and with dogs on the lead there was no worry at all about the dogs passing through their area. We did however disturb 3 young deer grazing in the adjoining field, who as soon as our voices carried to them took flight across the field. Sully could sense there was something worth chasing so he pulled hard to set off in pursuit, but still being on the lead failed to get off the start line today. Hoping for better views of the school grounds we passed behind a large red brick wall some 10 foot high and easily 200 metres long. Was it built to keep the neighbourhood young men out, or to keep the young school girls in?
Returning back through the unfriendly farm, whose steel fencing looked far too ornate for a farm boundary, we completed today’s walk of 3.55 miles in 1 hr 50 minutes, at our normal rate of 2 miles an hour.
A short drive through the busy Shaftesbury traffic and we were soon seated in Skevys cafe waiting for our mega, or standard breakfasts to be served. Having delivered the drinks the hostess spotted the well behaved dogs and came back with a bowl full of cut up sausage pieces for them all to share. Thankfully all dogs were on their best behaviour as they took the sausage gently from her. I‘m sure they will all vote to return again at some point soon. No scoring this week so a respectable 7.8 awarded, marked down a bit by the lack of taste to the sausage.
Another successful visit to Shaftesbury and despite the recent heavy rains, relatively dry and mud free. Certainly a good varied and scenic route to be repeated again at some point.
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