LIFETIME of WALKS by DEREK HARWOOD

I parked in Hambleden sports field car park and walked past the Stag & Huntsman Inn public house to St Mary's church. There were too many parked cars in the square to reproduce the photo on the front page of the walk sheet. I passed cottages and a vintage tractor to Hambleden Brook at point '2', where a brand new kissing gate had recently been installed in memory of 'Colin'. It was a short walk along the lane, passing Woolley's buildings to a house at point '4', where the lane ascends towards Great Wood. There were piles of logs adjacent to the lane where the surrounding woods would have recently been 'thinned'. It was a steep ascent towards Great Wood to a 'chalk' field with a pheasant feeding station around the edge. There were good views across Hamble Valley to Pheasant's Hill Village. It was a steady descent to the valley in Great Wood, passing impressive displays of bluebells. I took a sharp turn down the valley looking for a statue of children that I'd spotted on my previous completion of the walk on 1 May 1984. See walk 97 for more information. Finding the statue in such an unlikely environment 'moved' me. Questions and thoughts overwhelmed me, how and why someone would commission such a statue and place it in a huge wood? I would have loved to find the statue again but I couldn't, despite wandering up and down the valley. Perhaps the statue was within one of the game birds hatching pens? I reluctantly continued down the valley passing red kites, partridges and more piles of logs, to the Hambleden Horse Trials. I watched the contestants for a short while then turned right along the track along the edge of Ridge Wood. The walk description was poor at point '12'. I took the ascending footpath to the left where the footpath approached from the field on the right. There were good views across the Thames Valley but as I was studying my route map I inadvertently disturbed a woodpecker. I descended from the ridge to Hambleden village, past a huge splintered tree hanging at a precarious angle. Entering the village I took a quick look inside the church, at the Manor House and paid a short visit to the new cemetery to see W H Smith's Cross. It had been a very enjoyable re-trace of my previous walk, but a shame the weather hadn't been better.

Location Map: - www.streetmap.co.uk
Start & Finish: At Car Park in Hambleden, behind the Stag and Huntsman Inn

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Number 79