Wednesday June 1st Long walk led by Chris Mansfield Just seven walkers, 2 ladies and five men (never been so outnumbered) met in Hambleden in the (now paying) carpark beside the Stag & Huntsman. We set off at 9.30am to climb the long steep hill out of the valley – girls ways ahead while the men dawdled behind chatting! There were lovely views over the valley although it was rather cloudy. We continued on over fields and along a lane before turning off to follow a pretty path through woodland and along the side of the next valley leading to the main road at Danesfield Hotel. We now had a short unpleasant walk beside this main road before gladly turning off at a cottage by a stream. Here we sat on the bridge for a coffee – sadly one of the group accidently dropped his empty cup over the side and great fun ensued as he and later 2 others tried and finally succeeded in fishing it out!
Setting off again we realised we had lost one of the men! We waited, finally one other member went back to look , then another … then they all emerged rather sheepishly. Someone thought he’d lost one of his poles and had gone back to look, even fishing in the stream for it – it turned out he had asked someone else to hold it for him! Last of the Summer Wine?? We continued on through a beautiful buttercup meadow before emerging on a lane leading down to the river, then followed the river path back to Hambleden without further mishap arriving at the pub at 1,10pm. It was surprising busy but we had a table reserved and food and drink came quicker than we expected and was reasonably priced – a very good experience. A lovely walk with very amusing company!
Monday June 13th stroll led by Brendan Larkin
Nine walkers met at the NT car park on Longdown hill on a dry though cloudy morning. WE set off at 10.30am to climb the steep hill up to the Hill Fort – taking it slowly with lots of stops. We then continued on past Chequers and on to BuckmoorEnd farm (closed on Mondays) and then back across fields and through woodland to reach the car park at about 12.15pm . A very pleasant walk enjoyed by all.