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Rain was forecast but we escaped the rain until we were quite close to the the Fox and Pelican in Grayshott. There was still rain around as we went back via Waggoners Wells, but nothing too wet! The walk was 7 miles in total and we still didn't need a ride on the pony and cart we saw trotting over the common. Waggoners Wells are a series of man made ponds built in the 17th Century, supposedly to be used as hammer ponds for iron making, although this never actually happened. Possibly they were completed just as iron making started declining in the south of England - the availability of coke and coal up north was too much competition for the wood of southern England. We also saw plenty of moss and lichen - apparently the area has at least 90 varieties.
The weather stayed dry but a bit on the cold side. We walked to St Hubert's Church at Idsworth which sits in the middle of a field and admired the wall paintings, dating back to 1330. However, later in that same century the entire village was wiped out by successive episodes of the Plague and all signs of the original Anglo Saxon village have long since been ploughed over. The hill afterwards took us up towards Compton Down and then via a strangely guided route back down to a well earned lunch in The George. It was a bit surprising to find about 20 sailors on top of the hill. It turned out they were on a day out from submariner training at HMS Sultan in Gosport.
Very wisely, Denis chose a nearby walk as conditions were not good for the proposed descent of Windmill Hill. Starting from Rogate we followed the paths up to Tullecombe and took the Serpent Trail along Combe Hill to get to The Jolly Drover in Hillbrow for an excellent lunch stop. We returned via Rogate Common and then the one and only muddy field to get back to Rogate. Thank you Denis and Jane for additional photos.
We had 11 brave walkers assembled on Cocking Hill in sub-zero temperatures to partake in Paul's walk to Singleton. Visibility was very poor and there was a hoar frost in the hedgerows. However after getting near the top of Heyshott Down on the South Downs Way, the mist cleared, the sun shone and there were patches of blue in the sky. We saw no more mist and no frost could be seen even as we went back down to Singleton. We did a small diversion to have a look at the Singleton Oilfield, which is currently producing 500 barrels of oil a day. Excellent food at The Partridge. Distance just above 4.1/4 miles
Walkers and friends had a great night in The Barley Mow in Walderton. Luckily the food was on a much higher level than our bowling! Despite our best efforts, no-one succeeded in knocking over 9 pins with 3 balls, so we're unlikely to be asked to bowl for England. Geoff from Milford was the highest individual scorer and his team also won the team prize. The bottle raffle was well supported with almost too many prizes. Walkers kindly supplied leftover bottles and there were some very interesting bottles on display. Thanks Marian for photos and raffling!