Twelve of us set off today in bright sunshine but a cold East wind. Green Lane was very wet and the deep tracks made keeping balance quite difficult. SNC say the lane is closed but have confirmed we can walk down it at our own risk. In the valley we walked through the yard and onto the footbridge over a fast flowing stream and followed the track round to the estate road through to Kings Sutton. Once sheltered from the wind the sun was delightfully warm. We took the field footpath and were soon climbing the ridge but as we passed through the spinney into the next field we realised it had recently been ploughed. There was no sign of the footpath. The only option was to follow the field edge instead. We had a friendly wave from a digger driver who was working on the ditch. We crossed a field that had been harrowed but otherwise followed the field edge all the way to Charlton and came into the village through the lane that meets the road near the bottom of the village. From there we followed the road down the hill and took the footpath through to Rainsborough Camp and on along the ridge back to Green Lane and on to the pavilion for the usual coffee, cake and chat. We covered 5.2 miles in just under two hours.
 |
 |