On Easter Monday 28th March, ten walkers and a dog gathered at Hambleden, despite the weather forecast. The previous night, Storm Katie had made her presence felt and more was predicted for today. As it turned out, we didn't see a drop of rain until after the walk had finished, and it was only windy in high, open areas.
Leaving Hambleden we walked up the valley through fields to the edge of Skirmet before heading uphill through Hatchet Wood to Hill's Wood. We then left the shelter of the woodland for a breezy open field before descending slightly to Little Frieth.
From there we headed up to Fingest Wood, where we stopped for our picnic lunch at the top of a hill overlooking the village of Fingest and with a view of the windmill atop Turville Hill.
Once the picnic was over, the walk leader handed out some chocolate Easter treats to each of us. This was both unexpected and welcome. Then we descended into Fingest and made our way to the Chequers Inn for a drink.
Suitably refreshed we walked and slid along a very muddy path that led us partway up Turville Hill, then back down into the picturesque village of Turville. Along the way was more evidence of the previous night's storm - fallen trees and a broken telephone cable.
After a brief look around Turville, we headed off on a footpath out of the village, toward Dolesden. Following the road for a short distance, we left via a forestry track through Great Wood, encountering more fallen trees.
We left the forestry track to join Shakespeare's Way through Gussetts Wood. This long-distance path goes from Stratford-upon-Avon to the Globe Theatre in London. Needless to say, we didn't follow it all the way, although we had walked past the Globe Theatre on a walk we did in London earlier in the year.
Following Shakespeare's Way through more woodland, we eventually emerged onto Skirmet Road. It was a matter of following the road for short distance and crossing a field to get back to Hambleden. See our route on Bing Maps.
This ten mile walk had included many inclines and a lot of muddy paths, so we had a good work-out on this unexpectedly fine day.
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