Saturday 18th July Chairman's Garden Party

This was held in the Chairman's back garden in Harlington on a nice sunny, but not too hot day.
28 members attended bring a variety of cakes & nibbles. These were shared out with plenty to go round.
Many cups of tea & coffee were provided. Some members brought other drinks. 

Much chatting was done & everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. 
Unfortunately many members sent their apologies as they were unable to attend due to other commitments.

Thursday 16th July MK walk of 4 miles led by Beryl & Tony R

This was a very special walk as it was decided to take Yvonne, our programme secretery on a 4 mile walk. Yvonne, who although organises most walks, is not able to participitate due to her walking ability. Therefore  we took a wheelchair on the walk & Yvonne was able to either push it or ride in the chair.
We started offf from Manor Farm Court at 11pm. There were 9 of us including Yvonne, however Penny felt that the distance may be too long for her at present & therefore after a short while she reurned to her car leaving 8 of us on the walk. Yvonne started by pushing the wheelchair passing along a tarmaced path through several gates. 

Anna, Beryl, Tony R, Yvonne, Debbie, Brenda & Tony P

When the path became rougher she sat in the chair & was pushed along a difficult section to meet the Grand Union canal. Yvonne the returned to pushing until a leaving the canal via a fairly steep section where Tony P pushed her up to Old Wolverton Road & the bridge crossing the canal. we passed the Galleon pub before leaving the road on the path to Old Wolverton church. The church was closed but several members found bench in the shade for their coffee stop. With difficulty Tony R pushed Yvonne downhill past the remains of Old Wolverton castle now sadly almost non existent. We continued crossing a dried up water course before waiting for the others to arrive. Here we had another coffee break before reaching the path alongside the Great Ouse river. We followed the river until we came to the tunnel under the canal, here yvonne had the walk through the tunnel as the wheelchair had to be squashed to pass through the narrow tunnel. Yvonne continued walking downhill using the handrail to rejoin the river path. 
Several members then took it inturns pushing Yvonne until crossed a brdge & turned away from the river. We then followed a path, though several gates back to the car park. A good day & well worthwhile giving Yvonne a day out in lovely weather & nice countryside. A particular thank you to Tony P for pushing in the difficult places.

Thursday 2nd July Tingrith Walk led by Tony R

As some of the club were away on the annual UK holiday the chairman decided to offer other members a local walk. 5 members met at Tingrith church. We followed the track north, went through a kissing gate into a field which had recently been cut for hay. We followed the field boundary to enter a field of sheep mainly sheltering from the sun. Then then came to a road which we crossed on to a new footpath which we followed alongside a wheat field. After a while we turned right across a footbridge to enter Basil's Wood, noting the recently installed fence stopping dogs etc from entering an area reserved for ground nesting birds. We continued on until we came to Higher Rads End where we turned left passing some large houses. We left the road to cross another field of hay before passing through a kissing gate onto a farm track. We left this and followed a footpath to rejoin the original path along the wheat field further southwest. Another kissing gate led to Castle Farm Lane  which we followed for a short distance before turning left through a kissing gate into a sheep field with Washer's Wood on our left. Another kissing gate led us into a wood where we stopped for our coffee break. 

Joy, Jean, Debbie & Tony P at our coffee stop

On leaving the wood we entered a field of oilseed rape which we struggled through the first section before walking along the field edge to avoid the worst of the crop. At the field corner we turned right & carried on until the path turned left. After a while we realised that we had missed the stile through the hedge into the adjacent field. As we didn't wish to retrace our steps we carried on passing Herne Green Farm & eventually rejoining or original route. Unfortunately this led through some more oilseed rape crop making walking difficult. After passing Lodge Farm we diced against crossing another field of oilseed rape so we continued along the farm trach to reach Long Lane. Here we turned left & followed the lane until we found a footpath on our right leading to Tingrith. With difficult due to overgrown bushes we reached the famous red telephone box in Tingrith. We the made our way up Church Road the reach our cars. We found the the distance that we had walk was just over 6 miles instead of the palled 5 miles due to missing a stile. 

 

Track of walk, walked in anti-clockwise direction

 

Toddington Ramblers Club Group Holiday- Abingworth 29th June- 3rd July

 

18 members car shared down to HF Abingworth on the edge of Thakeham, near Storrington   on the Monday 29th June and checked in in time for the obligatory "Cream Tea" to start our annual holiday break. Abingworth is a small hotel venue and together with our 18 members , there were another group of 14 from Abingdon, near Oxford and a few couples selfguiding.

View of Abingworth House

View from the House of the lake nearby

 

Once again we had opted for Gentle guided walking, being offered three levels of walks each day , roughly 4, 7 or 9 miles in scope.  The options were  explains for each day on the evening of the previous day before Dinner. The meals as usual were excellent as were the breakfasts and packed lunches to order.

Day 2  ( first day of walking) walk started with a coach trip that dropped the groups of at various stages , all aiming to arrive in the afternoon at Petworth. Those on the shorter walk had plenty of time to explore the National Trust property at leisure. All groups approached the Petworth house through the 700 acre Deer park with stunning views of the house on approach.

 

Day 2:Group 1 on route

   

Day 2 Some of group 1 traversing the Petworth Estate deer park

 

 

Day2:Group 1 approaching Petworth House

 

Some of our group at a Petworth cafe!

Day 3, our second day of walking started with each group doing a circular walk of varying size, starting from Abingworth house, visiting Thakeham and Storrington before returning, That evening after dinner, we all had the chance to participate in the HF  countrywide quiz, Unfortunately no big winners but we all enjoyed the atmosphere.

 

Mark and Flora: Two of our guided walks leaders

Relaxing in the lounge after a walk

Lovely to see Joan ....

  and Anna able to get on holiday with us!

 

Day 4 walks  once again started out with a coach trip to drop us off as the various start points and all passed through Singleton on our way to end at the Gardens of West Dean with a fine cafe to finish. 

Day 4 Walk2 , a sighting of Group 3 in the distance!

Day4 Walk2 uphill in the heat 

Day4 Walk2 The rolling hills

Day4 Walk2 View of Goodwood Race course

Day4 Walk2 At trig point on way to Singleton

Day4 walk2 A well earned rest form the heat

Day4 Walk2 Lovely house on way to West Dean!

That evening, after dinner we all participated in a charity Bingo session and the winner of a mug was Sue!

 A mug shot of the Bingo winner

 

 

Day 5 , we concluded with a fine extensive breakfast and all checked out to make our way back home.