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New Forest Walking Festival – Churchplace Inclosure and Ashurst Woods – 17th October 2018
We ran this ramble on behalf of Disabled Ramblers for the New Forest Walking Festival and we had 9 proposed attendees, however – it rained! Even so, we still had 7 scooterists turn up which was really rewarding and the rain was intermittent and not very heavy, and with proper togs on it isn’t really too bad. Through our FB we now have 2 more potential new members so it is working for us.
We left the Happy Cheese car park and headed into Churchplace Inclosure through the ever more colourful tracks and up onto the open forest so that we could show our new people the lovely view and the magical feel of the New Forest that we all enjoy so much. We did a little detour over the railway bridge and down to the river so that the dogs could have a swim, which they did and with great enjoyment! However, just as we were going down to the river Paul, one of our new guests, had a puncture on his back wheel – Bob tried injecting foam sealant and pumping it up, which did work for a while but it did go down again, so on our return to the track to take us onward for the rest of the ramble, the tyre was pumped as hard as it would safely go and Paul took the track to lead him back to the car park as fast as possible before the tyre went down again. He made it too, and in spite of this setback he said he had a fantastic time and hopes to get a more suitable scooter so he can come out with us more often without worry. We were pleased that we had the equipment – the foam sealant and an electric pump that plugs into my Tramper, gives us a little more confidence when out in the wilds.
We then progressed through Ashurst woods and the empty campsite which I had hoped to explore a little more, but due to the rain we just did a quick route through and back up to the Happy Cheese pub to warm up and have a meal. 6 of us went in and it was lovely to get warm and have a chat. As ever, there were more problems! Brian had been on the famous Dora as his TWS is having battery trouble, and sadly Dora wouldn’t budge – the rain had crept into the electrics and as I write Bob has the hair dryer on it hoping it’ll dry it out. Poor old Dora, she does go through the wars lately! Bob towed Brian & Dora nearly 2 miles back to my house with me behind with hazards on, a sad little convoy, but we made it safely.
The ramble was very successful and we all enjoyed it in spite of the damp conditions. Of course, today is beautiful with blue skies and quite warm. Oh well, the joys of rambling! Onwards to the next one and fingers crossed for good weather this time of year. Never daunted.
PS!!!!! Dora is OK, Bob’s physio and hydrotherapy treatment with the hair dryer has been successful!! Thank goodness for that.
