Near Monkton Wyld

[puddleshark]

On Tuesday the sky was blue, and the east wind was cold. I stopped off on my way back from Devon to make a circular walk from Wootton Hill: through the woods, across short-grazed fields where hairy ponies were basking in the warm April sunshine, across damp rushy meadows where the Lady's Smock is in flower.



Left the car in the Forestry Commission car park on Wootton Hill.


Followed the lane through the woods.


At Champernhayes, onto a bridleway that winds down into the valley.



After a few turnings, I lost the footpath. Eventually found an unmarked stile, hiding in a thicket by a stream.




Uphill, through a field of sunbathing ponies.

Then through a gate into some deep dark woods. Not precisely lost - I knew which direction I needed to take - but I couldn't quite manage to find the footpath. So I followed a narrow trail made by deer or local dog-walkers, through the woods until I came to a proper gravel track.


Hazy views down the valley. I was shooting into the sun for most of the walk, so the pictures didn't come out well.

The gravel track came out where I expected, at Higher Pound Farm. Still no footpath markers anywhere. But a woman in an all-terrain vehicle said yes, there was a right of way through the farmyard to the lane.


Down the lane a short distance, then left onto a byway.

I met the woman with the ATV again, jolting down the byway on her way to feed horses. She warned me that the byway was very wet at the bottom. She wasn't exaggerating.


The upper reaches of the byway.


Halfway down, where the byway starts to become a stream. Right at the bottom, the byway narrows to a footpath which is a stream. You have to walk on the stony streambed.


From the byway onto Monkton Wyld Lane.


From the lane, a shortcut across some very damp meadows, back to the lane that leads up onto Wootton Hill.


Stinging Nettles lurking by the stile, waiting for someone wearing sandals.


The long slow climb back up to the car park on Wootton Hill.

I had set out on my walk wearing both coat and sweater. By the time I climbed the first hill, my coat was tied around my waist. By the time I climbed back up Wootton Hill, both my coat and my sweater were tied around my waist. In the matter of Sun versus East Wind, Sun was victorious.

Comments

[heleninwales]

We encountered a very muddy track on a recent walk. It's not normally muddy, but Storm Noa had brought a lot of rain. Partly due to that, I succumbed to an advert on Facebook and bought a Boot Buddy for washing mud off boots before we get back into the car or when we return home. I haven't used it in earnest yet, but a quick trial indicates it works.

[puddleshark]

What a handy device! I tend to shove my walking boots into a plastic bag when I get back to the car, but then I still have to hose them off when I get home.

[heleninwales]

I tried out the Boot Buddy in the field this morning. It worked well. Admittedly our boots weren't really muddy, but it should stop my husband treading grit into the front hall. I can't drive in boots, so change my shoes when I return to the car, but both pairs of boots now have nice clean soles.

Actually the thing that convinced G that it wasn't a stupid idea was when I mentioned biosecurity. We do have some areas of a larch disease and at least we know if we wash our boots after a walk that we're not contributing to any spread.