Saturday 16th October 21
DH, RW, BFS, TO, PCL, Sully, Scrumpy & Bill
Disclaimer - any mention of anatomical parts are purely to enhance the tale. No balls were hurt in the process. Do not try this at home!
A Misty morning, but still very mild, as 5 of us met at this weeks RV on Druley Hill, the upper part of the Brewham to Maiden Bradley road. The chosen RV was a wide gateway to a forest track, but unseen on the Google street view recce, a sign requesting no parking due to large vehicular access had us reaching for our Country Code, and been totally respectful, we decided to move on to a gateway seen further up the hill. This entrance way looked totally unused and with a wide track, although not marked on the map as a public right of way, looked like we should be able to access the woods and work our way down to the intended morning route. So with boots and dogs at the ready, off we set. The track was easy going as we started to hear the tales of golden balls, or was that flaming balls! With little left to the imagination, Trevor took centre stage as he retold his tale of his recent UTI and localised swelling and tenderness, all suitably relieved by a delicately placed bag of frozen peas! Totally engrossed, or was that just grossed, by the revelations, we were soon rounding a bend on the track when a rather substantial property came into view which took us all by surprise, especially seeing a vehicle parked outside as the track had looked unused up until this point. Sully of course went to investigate, but before we disturbed anyone we made a hasty retreat and unable to find a suitable way around, without passing the front of the property, we decided to abandon this phase of the walk and find a more suitable parking space further down the road. A bad decision on my part and another load of b*llocks.
200 metres down the road we found a suitable area of firm ground that was wide enough for 2 vehicles and after Trevor and crew had driven up and down the road a couple of times, we were all back on foot again and happy to be able to commence this mornings walk in the right direction.
The walk today was to take us through Kings Wood Warren initially along a section of the Macmillan Way, the 290 mile long national footpath linking Boston on the Lincolnshire east coast with Abbotsbury on the south coast, devised to assist with awareness and fund raising for Macmillan Cancer Research. And of course all founded by a former pupil of Sexey’s School!
Only a couple of hundred metres into the walk, we stopped at a “water feature” on the side of the track. Obviously not just any old water feature but one which must have more significance by its construction and looking more closely at the stone laying to the side with a visible inscription of H.R.H 1841 it was clearly quite old. The inscription certainly had us guessing it may be related to Henry Hoare of Stourhead fame, but why here? A wild suggestion that it might the the recognised source of the River Brue met with nods all round, and with a suitable answer we set off once more. The track wove a steady course through the woods as the mist was slowly being burnt off and blue skies broke through. Looking up to our left the ridge line from which we would have had to have descended from on the aborted first walk was some way above us as we contoured around heading across the Alfreds Tower. The banter continued and I’m sure anyone listening in would have been shocked at the ball related discussion and tales that were told this morning. The poor lad, a former pupil of Trevor’s if my memory serves me right, who straddled the old style goalpost at school only to tumble down leaving half of his Crown Jewels behind brought a tear to most eyes. Never again would there be a shortage of a ball to play with at break time!
As we approached the southern side of the Warren, opportunities to cut the walk shorter were offered but ignored, so after catching a glimpse of the tower through the trees and mist, but deciding not to lengthen the walk anymore to go to the tower, we started heading back north on a track above the earlier route as we gently undulated upwards to our highest point. A bit of an issue finding the pathway back down again, hidden by the bracken initially, we were soon descending a sunken pathway to rejoin then cross directly over our earlier route. It was all downhill from here, well almost!
With only 30 minutes to go until our breakfast would be ready in the Old Red Lion, the pace quickened as we dropped down onto the lower track and the return north to the cars. A few twists and turns, some up and down and before we knew it we were back at the water feature, where we posed for this weeks selfie before the short walk back out of the woods. Imagine our dismay at seeing a car parked in the track entrance in total disregard of the polite ‘ no parking’ sign. Sometimes you just wonder if you should just ignore everything as most others do. 4.4 miles walked, close to 200m of climb, all completed in just over 1hr 45 minutes. Perfect timing had it not been for the false start - sorry!
A 5 minute drive and a few minutes late, we were parked up at the ORL with a wonderful view back up to the wood line through which we had just walked. Heading inside to the old bar to await what has been described by those who been before as one of the best breakfasts on the circuit, Bill decided to spice up the morning by taking the opportunity to get to know Scrumpy a bit more intimately under the table whilst Sully lay there panting as if he’d run the whole way this morning. Having had our breakfasts preordered by the absent Pete, the pot of tea was soon on the table where it stood for its obligatory 8 mins, although without milk it stood brewing or mashing for a bit longer in reality. Large plates full of tasty bacon, sausage, eggs and mushrooms (no beans or black pudding to fight over this week) were soon being tucked into, another first class breakfast with little going spare for the brown eyed dogs who looked on with hope. Extra toast and marmalade and a top up of tea certainly left none of the adults hungry for sure.
Having failed to collect in scores, I have decided a fair average would be in the region of 8.8.
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Following a bit of research on the interweb it is confirmed that the water feature is indeed the recognised source of the River Brue. Rising in the woods above Brewham the river winds a 30 mile route through Somerset before reaching the coast at Burham on sea.
Further information about King Alfred’s Tower and the surrounding area, with some good old photographs can be found on this rather old website here
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