DH, RW, TO, PCL, PC, Sully, Bill, Scrumpy
Well we learned something that day which no doubt generals from Julius Caesar to Wellington could have taught us – when it has poured with rain all week stay on the high, dry ground. Mind you, Wellington would not have sold many of his boots in a desert. We were walking in the Gillingham area, close to the banks of the river Lodden so pretty low lying and in an area once famous for brick making as the local geology produces a lot of clay. Lots of clues then as to what conditions under foot were likely to be.
We started by walking through Kings Court Palace. All that remains here is a substantial earthwork marking what was once a royal hunting lodge for Norman Kings. The area had been a royal forest presumably full of deer , wild boar and other game. Not today it wasn’t as Sully , Scrumpy and Bill roamed around without catching as much as a fieldmouse.
We crossed the railway by a site which probably features in public service shorts about danger on the line and splodged our way to Woodwater Farm…again you cant say we were lacking in advice from the location. By now the drizzle was setting in and we waded through some of that murky stuff that leaches out of farmyards – nearly always coincidentally where footpaths pass through.
The fields were sodden and we made our way across a water course , nearly losing Adrian as he drifted off on his own chosen path. At a particularly clarty gateway I remember Trevor encouraging me to go first and sacrifice myself for the group…don’t think he backed it up with an offer to drag me out if I got stuck. Morale was sinking almost as fast as our boots into the mud and a decision had to be made about the route forward. To reach a second crossing point on the railway meant continuing on into the now steadily driving rain. Potentially this put our breakfast booking in doubt. Dave displayed his instinct for leadership at this point by making a strategic withdrawal worthy of Napoleon after Moscow but without the catastrophic losses. Back to the cars for breakfast.
We arrived at Thorngrove Garden Centre and were shown to our table under a drafty awning outside. It had rained so heavily that a very large puddle had built up in the canvass pocket overhead but no one fancied singing in the rain. A very substantial breakfast was served which was good value and cheered everyone up after what had been our wettest walk to date.
Another trip back across to Dorset. The planned route
Sully’s attempt at chasing 3 deer, a non starter today.
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