Report on Sunday 7th January walk

Six of us gathered at 10.30am in the centre of Bolsterstone, newish member Mark and five ‘old’ stalwarts – Kathy, Hazel, J. B. and Chris Kell [much to the relief of this meet leader, who had wondered whether she would have any company at all today, this being the fourth Castle walk in a week]. Heading confidently north towards the outskirts of Stockbridge, assuming that the way would be well-remembered and obvious, having led the same walk in January 2021, we ended up inadvertently ‘exploring’ a housing estate, trying to locate the exit path, and being very grateful [not for the only time on today’s walk] for the GPS and map on Kathy’s phone. Then followed a straight-forward path through water-logged fields and a quiet minor road, before descending Green Lane to arrive at Underbank Reservoir with its surprisingly huge outflow. We stopped for coffee at a convenient table with benches near the currently closed Outdoor Activity Centre, with its climbing wall and high aerial wire, before heading up a road and path away from the reservoir [both wrong!] Kathy’s phone map came to the rescue once again, and after following a very zig-zag route to get us back on track, it was time to stop for lunch on Wind Hill Knoll. After checking that everyone’s energy, joints and healing ankle fracture were OK to continue on the planned route, rather than the direct short-cut back to Bolsterstone, we descended the road and up the other side to gain the waymarked path on the ridge with views over the Ewden valley and Broomhead Reservoir, followed eventually [after the highest wall and stile today] by easy walking on the tarmacked Heads Lane, then through the church yard back to our cars.
Thank you everyone for coming along and for your excellent company.
Vanda Boyd