On Sunday 27th May, five people ignored the off-putting weather forecast (thunderstorms and heavy downpours!) and met at Wellesley Woodlands car park near Farnborough for a walk of around 9 miles. The group included four regular walkers and one person on her first walk with the Ramblers.
The walk began through the Long Valley army vehicle testing area where we came across various obstacles used to test the capabilities of the vehicles, including a short section of railway line! We could hear some vehicle noise but concluded this was coming from a race meeting at the nearby Rushmoor Arena and we didn't encounter any army vehicles...
The next section of the walk was the climb to Caesars Camp where we stopped for an early lunch and to admire the view across the Farnborough airfield, Fleet and Aldershot. Unfortunately due to high air humidity it was misty in the distance and not possible to see any of the London landmarks.
After lunch we descended past some lakes then back into the vehicle testing area, this time on the western side.
Our route took us past Tweseldown Racecourse and back across the A323 to The Foresters, where we stopped for a rest and some very welcome cold drinks!
The final part of the walk took us along the Basingstoke Canal towpath to Eelmoor Bridge, close to the airfield. We then crossed to the other side of the canal to return to the car park through Wellesley Woodlands. See our approximate route on Google Maps. The whole walk was free of any rain, a few clouds but fortunately no sign of the predicted storms!
Thank you to Denise for leading the walk and for writing it up.
Return to volume index