On Sunday 19th January, twenty-six of us turned up for this short walk around Waltham St Lawrence. There were plenty of new faces, visitors from other groups and a number of members we hadn't seen recently. Great to see everyone.
The weather gave us a welcome break, providing lovely sunshine for the whole walk, which was a welcome relief from the constant rain we have encountered over recent weeks.
However we knew the ground would be well soaked from previous rainfalls and were prepared for a muddy walk over sodden ground.
We met outside the pretty Bell pub (c 1608) in Waltham St Lawrence and set off south in the direction of West End, proceeding across our first waterlogged field. It wasn't too bad as long as we kept up a zigzag pattern avoiding the major puddles, however more was to come.
We continued south towards Hungerford down lanes and bridleway in the lovely sunshine before hitting a very muddy field, which was made worse after the owner had created a fenced paddock, forcing us down a narrow passage of deep mud. Our walkers performed splendidly using the fence as balance and support. We didn't lose a single boot in the mud!
The remaining path south continued to offer challenges at one stage being completely submerged, but no one succumbed to an early bath.
After reaching Hungerford we turned north to initially better conditions before hitting a challenging bridleway, which tested our ankle flexibility to the full. Thereafter it was fairly plain sailing on the Knowl hill circuit before reaching the pretty area of Shottesbrooke park and associated church.
We finally turned back West crossing pretty woods and fields before arriving back in Waltham where a number of us enjoyed drinks in the courtyard garden of the Bell pub sitting in lovely sunshine.
Thank you to Tim for leading the walk and writing it up, and to Julia for providing the photos.
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