2 groups of 3 and Trevor met up at Gare Hill on a beautiful sunny April morning ready for a walk through the woods this week.
Parked up in a roadside lay-by we headed down the road about 200m before taking the track on the right signposted to Yarnfield. We were soon in the woods and the smell of freshly cut timber along with the aroma of young ferns was heaven scent! The tracks were bone dry but it wasn’t long before Sully managed to find a dirty spot for scrumpy and himself to explore. Both came back onto the track with very dark under bellies but thankfully a quick dip into a nearby pond, possible in chase of some ducks, soon had them clean again, for a bit!
The track undulated along and the conversation turned from bees, (“I once got stung by a bee”!) to bats with Trevor taking and giving some good stick from & to his friends. The end of the woods saw us enter a beautiful Coombe which we headed up to the road. A 800m walk along the road and avoiding cyclists we turned left agin and headed back through another picturesque Coombe before entering the woodland again.
Walking at around 2.5 mph we didn’t see many others, only a couple with a not too friendly border terrier and an elder jogger. There has been a lot of recent felling and stacking in the woods and visibility through was certainly improved, obvious work is still going on as evident by the brew tent standing in a clearing. Was it the quarry blasting or gun fire from Salisbury Plain ranges that kept disturbing the morning quiet?, It was certainly loud enough to appear close by but perhaps despite many good guesses, we’ll never know.
A steep decent down to a clear stream, time for Sully to clean himself up a bit and then a steep climb back through the small hamlet and back to the cars. 4.4 miles completed in 1hr 50mins.
A short drive back to Bruton and into Phil’s garden where Trevor and BIll were well settled in for the morning, having missed the photo opportunity at Brutons riverside seated man. The table was laid ready and before long we were being served our breakfast in home made rolls with endless supplies of tea & coffee by our own Michelin stared waiter. A cracking breakfast with many thanks to Phil, Claire & David.
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