We welcomed Martine who joined us for the first time and brought today’s walkers to eighteen. We tried a new route combining stretches of our regular walks. First we crossed the field next to the pavilion to emerge on second crossing. The weather was clear and sunny for most of the walk as we reached the Charlton Road and then Rainsborough camp. We overtook the medium walkers on the way but did not get too mixed up. From there we took the diagonal path down to Lower Walton Grounds, cut across behind the farm buildings and continued along the cherry tree lane to the lay-by on the B4100. We stopped briefly for everyone to catch up and catch breath, but had to move for a dumper truck from the Blacksmiths Hill road works to deposit his load. We crossed to the bridleway up to Station Road and crossed again into Millers Lane. From there we avoided the ford but took the little used path along the stone wall, crossed the mill stream by the footbridge and climbed up to the track and on into Souldern. By this time the weather was changing, but we crossed the fields to the Portway path before the clouds had completely taken over. It was still mild enough to sit outside for our coffee and cake at the pavilion. we had covered 6.5 miles in just over two hours.
