Tuesday, January 6, 2009

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Rambling - January 2006 Report

January 8th. Not the warmest day on the books, but at least it started dry. By “started” I meant at 9 am. By 1 in the afternoon there was a fine drizzle which succeeded in increasing the entire time that we walked. By the time we finished, it was raining steadily and the 16 of us were thoroughly soaked.

We started by taking Main Road as far as Parsonage Path and then south to the fields and straight down to Blewbury. Paths that had been hard, dry mud on Saturday were now a slippery (and sometimes gooey) mess. Our destination was the site noted on our local topographic maps as “New Buildings”. (One wonders how old they must become before being blessed with a more descriptive nomenclature – they are somewhere between 30- and 50-years old, already!) These building rest on a knoll a good 260’ above Didcot which means that their location should provide excellent views to the north. It was not to be: not only did we have rain, but we also had low clouds. All views were SHUT.

We soldiered on, due west, to pick up the bridleway that connects the Alden Farm with Upton and we turned downhill to Upton. It was on this stretch that we noticed the water running down the road so vigorously that it formed a pattern of standing waves. Once in Upton we cut across the football field to reach the access ramp to the dismantled railway. From there, the route home was via the railway and School Path.

This trek was 5-miles, done in just under two hours. There was no point in hanging about! However, the walk is surprisingly rural and all agreed that we should try it again on a sunny day when the views had reopened. The weather is bound to be better in February so please join us as we start searching for signs of spring.

NEXT RAMBLE
John Jones
Sunday, February 12th
1:30 p.m.
Phone: 813326
Meet at the East Hagbourne Upper Cross