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Despite days of rain, Tim and Jane were lucky to be able to lead a relatively dry walk around Milland, although there were still some very muddy patches. Starting from The Rising Sun, it was decided some walkers would go the easier route a little way along a road, whilst the rest went on footpaths, with a notoriously high stile to climb. The river was certainly higher than usual but we all survived the paths and the stile. We then met the road walkers before turning down the footpath towards New Barn Farm. The farm has an extensive collection of plants in the nursery, complete with high security fencing but the concrete driveway was at least easy to walk on! A short spell of road work and we then turned up the driveway of Great Trippetts Farm, sometimes a home of a Marquess and Marchioness. However, we weren't invited in, so stopped for our drink in a nearby wood. After walking through the wood, along a drive and a short piece of road work, we turned towards Combeland Farm. The drive led us as far as the house, but we then had a somewhat muddy path to navigate. However we were soon on a decent track past Maysleith Wood, then Maysleith Hanger and finally to the house itself, Maysleith. From local information we learnt it was lived in by Hugh Gaitskell's mother, Hugh Gaitskill being a visitor well known enough to be asked to open the Milland Village Hall in 1948. From here we turned south and took the drive past the Milland Pottery and onto the Roman Road whicht led us directly back to The Rising Sun, where we eventually enjoyed some delicious food. The walk was slighly over 5 miles.
We gathered together in the Iron Hill car park near Hollycombe for Jay's adventure over Lynchmere Common. The recent weather for at least a week had been historically wet but our walk ended up being virtually dry all morning. After welcoming a new walker, we set off through the conifers, following The Serpent Trail and the Sussex Border Path northwards. We eventually turned east, passing Danley Farm, originally the home of the Dimbleby broadcasting family. The area must be a little special as the first rooftop we could see through the trees was the childhood home of Rachel Portman, the first woman ever to win an Oscar for Best Soundtrack. We continued up hill and down dale through to Linchmere Common and The Ridge. After a muddy walk through to Lynchmere village we took a path down to Poison Copse where we had to deal with a couple of stiles, then onto Stanley Common and eventually back to our cars. Road works made it exceptionally difficult to reach the Deers Hut but fortunately the food was worth the effort.
Even with a frosty start there were a good number of eager walkers gathered at the Barley Mow in Walderton for John's 5 mile walk. We were promised a steep climb but had to first pass Watergate. Watergate Park has nothing to do with Richard Nixon or even Watergate Forest near Gateshead - the house is just a rebuild from the latter part of the last century. However the name actually dates back to the 13th Century. The steep climb came shortly afterwards as we had to ascend Watergate Hanger, however we all made it without incident, emerging at the top in bright sunshine. After passing Broadreed Farm we found the ideal spot for a drinks break adjacent to Oak Copse, the Copse having donated a large number of suitable seats. Suitably refreshed we skirted past Lumley Wood before taking a turn east onto the Monarchs Way. This route was an excellent choice as it led us back to The Barley Mow and all the hills were downwards. The new licensees looked after us very well, especially as we had all seemed to have chosen a different meal.
Our first group walk of the year assembled at the Moat Pond Car Park on Elstead Common for a 5 mile walk led by Jay and Lindsay. Because the terrain was flat and we made faster progress than normal, Jay added a detour at the end to make it 5.5 miles. The cloudless blue skies and sunshine had not been able to overcome the recent frosts so there were plenty of puddles to crunch the ice on and even a few ponds for the bravest amongst us to walk on. We walked alongside Pudmore Pond on the Elstead Common heath, through woodland up to Guinea Common where we turned east through more woodland and a pond crossing Royal Common reaching Bagmoor common. A perfectly placed felled tree trunk provided a suitable perch for our coffee break. Our rapid pace past Borough Farm and onto Okley Common allowed Jay to include the boardwalk on Thursley Common around Pudmore Pond. Returning to the car park, we changed and drove to The Three Horseshoes at Thursley for a delicious lunch.
Our last walk before Christmas had a good turn out at the car park on Stedham Common. We took the Serpent Trail across the heath of Stedham Common over Minsted Road towards Woolmer Bridge. At the bridge we stayed on the Serpent Trail over the Severals, crossing the Petersfield Road onto the Woolbeding road and over the stone multi span 16th Century bridge. The footpath on the National Trust land took us across the field but we needed to take a detour up the hill to avoid the footbridge under repair. At the top we stopped for our coffee break before coming back down the hill to Stedham Mill. From there we followed the bank of the River Rother to Iping where we walked up Iping Lane onto Elsted Road back to the car park. We retired to Fratelli’s for our Italian lunch.