County Walk Reports

County Walking Weekend 30-31st August

On the 30th August (the hottest day this summer) we had 11 people join Jean on the County Walking Weekend.  We met at a carpark near Gills Lap in Ashdown Forest.  We split into two groups one group completing 10.75km and the other group doing 17.5km.  Both hopefully meeting up around the same time. 

The walk was undulating and interesting and we even went to Pooh Bridge and played 'Pooh Sticks' (see pictures).  We all arrived at the carpark at around 5.30pm and made our way to Blackboys Youth Hostel for our overnight stay.

Fun was had at the Youth Hostel as we found there were two showers but you could only use one at a time!  So we took turns and were eventually all ready to travel to a local pub for our evening meal.  After a very pleasant meal we all returned to Blackboys where we retired and fell into an exhausted sleep.

As we all woke, Jean (our County Walking Advisor) had brought all the ingredients for a wonderful breakfast, cereal, bacon, eggs, tomatoes (grown in her greenhouse) toast and cereal.  We all split into groups to lay tables, cook and wash up.  In no time at all we were ready to brave the rain that had appeared.  All togged up in waterproofs off we set (very warm even though wet) for a 11km walk.  It eventually stopped raining and we divested of some waterproofs, only to find it started spitting again, but as it was so warm we all stayed as we were.  We stopped at a pub for coffee, very accommodating.  We sat outside under the most enormous umbrella, what a good job too as the heavens opened and it poured with rain!  So there we stayed drinking tea and coffee and surreptitiously eating our packed lunches.  By the time we had finished and had a comfort stop the rain had eased and on we went.  We got back to the hostel at around 2.30pm to travel back home.

We all had a wonderful time, thank you Jean for organising the weekend and the walking routes.  Don't forget to book for next year as we are walking in the New Forest and staying at Foxlease.

Would you like to join us?  We walk at least once a month, check the Future Events page of the website.  We walk at a gentle pace and if you wish to learn map reading, ticking off, pacing etc then contact Jean, our County Walking Advisor (County Address Book page 12)