Saturday 3rd August ‘24. DH, TO, Sully & Maisie
With a earlier start of 0830 and some cooler weather again, I felt it was a good opportunity for Sully to get out for a Saturday walk again and to meet the newest dog on the scene for the first time. He was clearly very surprised when after finishing his breakfast I opened the gate and loaded him into the car for the short journey to Yarlington. When we arrived Trevor and Maisie were already waiting and a soon as I popped the boot open Maisie came to investigate who was joking them today. I think she was a bit shocked to see a large bundle of blonde fur looking back at her and even more so when he slowly exited the car and stood next to her.
We headed out on a short clockwise loop first walked by Richard and myself on one of our first walks after Covid 1 lockdown restrictions were being slowly released. We passed the empty Stags Head and then the new ‘public toilets’ house before we turned left and into an open field where we were sure the ‘pregnant lambs in field’ sign on the gate was outdated enough to let the dogs off the leads.
Maisie and Sully soon got used to their differences in size as the young pup could hardly reach up to pester the old man and he just went about his walk without too much bother, although with a younger around he did have a bit more spring in his steps at this early stage. The field was quite exposed and a cool breeze was coming straight at us as we headed down to the road, but we were still able to see another ‘farm workers’ NOT cottage under construction just off to our left. We exited the field through a gateway and immediately sully turned left as he could sense there was water nearby, however once he reached the smal bridge over the stream, which only a year or so earlier was part of the floods which headed further downstream, he realised he couldn’t access any and reluctantly followed on.
We made our way along the road and at the bend continued straight on into the sunken lane known as Hicks Lane. This is a popular section as for its entire length it is also part of the Macmillan Way, the Monarchs way and the Leland trail. The step sided banks, full of badger holes and tracks was of great interest to Maisie who had to explore almost every single one, whereas Sully just plodded along without any interest in departing from his intended route. At a track crossroads we turned right again, leaving the heritage trails to continue northwards towards the new bridge over the A359. The new track was certainly not used often by vehicles and the grass was long with several cracks and hollows in the very uneven ground, as we moved along under the ridge, the top of which is now in the hands of Mr Newts ever increasing empire. However it was good to see that he has not encroached along the Yarlington Sleights and there were still birds of prey happily using the area, with both a buzzard and kestrel (or sparrow hawk) being spotted.
The same couldn’t be said of the view in front of us towards Yarlington as a large tower crane protruded above the skyline obviously from a site undergoing some major works. As we approached Manor Farm it was unusually exceptionally quiet as the cow stalls which have always been full of cattle previously were totally empty. As we progressed through the farm there were a couple of bulls in other sheds, but as the farmer told us as he sat on his quad bike in the yard, it was great to get them all out into the fields after such a wet few months.
As we made our final approaches back into the village we met an aged walker heading our direction and were delighted to recognise that is was no other than our former colleague and French teacher and well respected resident of the village, Bill Harris. I have seen him recently as I maintain his IT and mobile phone capability, but he was very pleased to recognise Trevor. We stood for a few minutes discussing old times and also the future prospects of the village pub. Bill also confirmed that the tower crane was indeed carrying out a major refurbishment of Yarlington Lodge and its conversion into more Newt properties. He also mentioned the work on the old blacksmiths cottage and workshop in the corner of the church car park, which he acknowledged is certainly being done to a very high standard.
Although our walk had been shorter than most weeks, it was great to see Sully adad another one to just list and not be out of breath at all. He was however quite happy to climb into the back of the car for a rest as we headed into Wincanton and to the Cale park cafe for a spot of well deserved breakfast. Hopefully although he’s now approaching twelve and a half years old, this won’t be his last time with the group as he still enjoys his Saturday morning walks with the old men!
Comentários