Thursday 28th November 2019 

Campbell Park and Willen Lake walk - 6.5 miles

The walk commenced at the same car park as the last walk, near the canal at the bottom of Campbell Park. There were 19 walkers, but fortunately 4 decided not to stay for lunch as I had only booked for 15 at the cafe
We started by walking along the western edge of Campbell Park up to the Rose where numerous pillars mark every event or day one can think of.
We then walked up the the viewpoint where we had our photo taken.

Unfortunately the weather was misty so there were no great views. We then walked down to the canal where we passed the new Campbell Wharf marina with its 111 spaces, nearly all of which were full. At bridge 85 over the canal we left the canal which was fortunate as logging was happening further along. This path led past a small children's playground where we stopped for our coffee break.
After this we soon reached the river Ouzel and followed this north until Willen Lake was reached. We skirted the western side of the lake calling into the pub for a much needed comfort stop.
We crossed a bridge and went across the peninsular  which divides the lake into two and so we arrived on the eastern side. We the followed the lakeside north past Willen hospice to reach the slopes near the maze. We skirted the maze and climbed the hill above the Japanese pagoda. At the top of the hill we descended many steps to cross a main road before arriving at our lunch stop at Camp Hill. Here the 4 who were not stoping left us to make their 3/4 mile walk back to their car.

On entering the cafe we were greeted by the manageress who showed us to our reserved table in a large alcove.
After perusing the menu everyone appeared to want lasagne, but as there were only 9 portions available some were disappointed and had to have another dish. However everyone seemed to enjoy their food as shown below.

After our meal most walkers decided to visit the Camp Hill shop where a variety of goods were purchased. We then walked the last portion of the walk by going over the canal and turning left the reach our cars. Unfortunately one car had a puncture but this was quickly attended to by fitting the spare wheel.
The trace of the walk is shown below with the dot showing the start and finish point. We walked in an anti-clockwise direction

November 23th 2019, Saturday 10 miles, led by Bob and Celia
Six ramblers met at the Canal car park at Cambell Park, Milton Keynes on what promised to be a grey wet day. We set off at a brisk pace to the North of Willen lake and followed the river past Alders and Willow trees to the Windmill (Caldecote) pub where we had a good sized meal - lots of sour dough! The last hour had been light fine drizzle which turned to rain just as we got inside - and conveniently stopped as we ventured outside again. The return trip followed the canal, and a firmer path between an avenue of poplar trees where the tow path became damp. We were back at  the cars very quickly, the whole journey including breaks only taking 4hrs 45minutes!

Woburn and eversholt

Many thanks to Wendy and Debbie for lovely walk on 21/11/19.

Kind regards

Malcolm

21st November 2019 Woburn to Eversolt 7 miles, led by Wendy and Debbie

What a huge turn-out! 28 ramblers met at the Woburn car park drawn out by the close location promising grassland, the easy parking - and the dry weather forecast! We kept a brisk pace up as we walked through the deer park, past large herds of deer, some statue-like stags, hers of running deer with wide antlers and groups of does peacefully grazing. We thern walked aroung the back of the Scout camp to Milton Bryan where we had our coffee break then through washers wood to Eversholt - the only muddy bit of the whole walk. The last part passed along the gravel path past the abbey and out by the fire station. A really successful walk.

AGM 2019 was on the 15th November at 7.30am in Toddington Village Hall. After the meeting, there was a cheese and wine party and plenty of time to socialise. Yvonne had her new walks chart ready - the next programme will be out soon with about three dozen walks!!

Map showing the 12 London Bridges that we crossed

London bridges

Seventeen of us turned up at Sloane Square station ready to criss-cross the river Thames over 12 bridges, a total of 10 miles. It started off fine, we had our lunch in the dry and then the forecast drizzle set in by about 1.30 - at which point Ruth lost the group and spent the next 2 hours trying to find them again! All were reunited at Weatherspoons!  We saw a very different view of Lonond, passing several areas which we had not vistited before.

Short break near Berkley, Gloucestershire

Lilley and Telegraph Hill Led by Lynn, 5 ramblers.

It was pouring with rain at 9.30 and gusty wind as well. The five that braved the conditions are to be highly commended.