Frome Valley Trail - Part 3 - Dorchester to Wool 27th August 2018

After a day of heavy rain, which we spent largely indoors, we were raring to go again for part 3 of our adventure.Had we known what lay in store, we might have been a bit more hesitant. I knew this was going to be at least equal in length to the final stage of the walk which we were putting off for the time being, having run out of time.

We parked in Dorchester and I insisted on starting where we'd left off on Saturday, which meant a bit more of a walk and we should probably have parked closer to the start. Oh well, so what if you've walked two miles and you're not even out of Dorchester?

River Frome at St John's Pond, Dorchester - SY6891

 This is probably the most walked part of the River Frome, and it is rather attractive and I was encouraged to see a local nature reserve here, as well as something I've never seen before - some hedgehog spotting descriptions. There are obviously some very keen hedgehog spotters round here!

Nature Reserve in Dorchester - SY6990

Hedgehog Spotting in Dorchester - SY6990

We'd walked nearly two miles and we were still in Dorchester! I daren't tell Paul so I kept quiet and hoped he wouldn't ask. Meanwhile we approached another bridge reminiscent of a bygone era. It carried a warning about weight restrictions from Mr Frooks.

Sign on bridge over River Frome, Dorchester - SY6990

We were able to walk right by the river as we continued our attempt to get out of Dorchester. at least we were in another gridsquare now.

River Frome and Mallards east of Dorchester - SY7090

We were following a right of way now through an industrial estate and then past the town's sewage works. I held my nose as we passed and was glad to get onto a greener and less smelly lane.

Bridleway near sewage works, Dorchester - SY7190

 I was very glad to see the stone which served as a boundary between the parish of Dorchester and that of West Stafford which we were now entering. Now obsolete, these stones were no doubt important in their time. Josiah Ober states that boundary markers are  "a way of imposing human, cultural, social meanings upon a once-undifferentiated natural environment." (Methods in the Mediterranean: Historical and Archaeological Views of Texts and Archaeology.) I suppose that's stating the obvious really, but for us it was an indication that we were finally out of Dorchester only an hour and 2 and a half miles since starting our walk!

Boundary marker between the parishes of Dorchester and West Stafford - SY7190

As well as following the River Frome, we were also following the railway line and watched as a train passed by quite close. I didn't quite manage a photograph in time for that gridsquare so had to be content with a boring field photograph instead.

Bridleway near Frome Farm - SY7189

 A Grey Heron was patrolling the River just before we arrived in West Stafford.

Grey Heron on River Frome near West Stafford - SY7289

I'm always pleased when I discover something interesting about a place; something I hadn't known beforehand; some nugget of information to ruminate on for at least the duration of the walk and perhaps to investigate further when I get home. In fact an outing or a walk is not really worth its length in miles if I haven't come back with at least one such nugget. Though I have to admit some walks are a challenge in that respect.

Not so this one; we stopped for a well-deserved and long-awaited cup of tea in St Andrew's  churchyard at West Stafford, having first popped in to find out a little more about its history. I'm not so much interested in the dry details of the church's construction as in its more literary and local connections. Apparently in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d' Urbervilles, this was the church where the bells were rung at Tess's wedding, though he refers to West Stafford as Talbothayes which is actually a mile further east.

There is also allegedly a smuggling association with this church (don't you just love these sorts of facts?!) in the form of a former rector nonetheless - Dr William England.

St Andrew's Church, West Stafford - SY7289

Feeling refreshed we left this rather delightful little village and walked along the road for a bit until we turned slightly down the drive to the Manor House which was just out of view. Here we joined a footpath which would take us back to the River and spoke briefly to two horse riders just setting off for their morning ride. We walked across a field of stubble to Lewell Mill Farm.

Field of stubble near Lewell Mill Farm - SY7389

At Lewell Mill Farm we joined a minor road which turned out to be a designated cycle route and several cyclists passed us on this stretch. We whiled away the monotony by picking roadside blackberries; there seems to be a good harvest this year.  Fortunately, other than cyclists, the road was not busy so we didn't have to keep darting out of the way of traffic.

We passed an interesting old brick building, rather like a Nissen hut used no doubt for storage and then we were at Lewell Corner.

Nissen Hut near Lewell Corner - SY7489

Lewell Corner - SY7489

We plodded along the road until we reached West Woodsford  where there wasn't a lot to see and I took a photo of the bus stop because I couldn't see the promised castle. But as we rounded the bend at the farm we were face to face with the biggest thatched cottage you've ever seen. "Do you think that could be the castle?" I asked Paul.

Woodsford Castle - SY7590

More like Gulliver's thatched cottage than a castle, the building is reputed to be the oldest inhabited building in Dorset, dating from the 14th century. Apparently it has never been a proper castle in the truest sense of the word, more like a sort of fortified manor house with a few  turrets and towers added for defence, possibly against raids by the French.

Massive though it is, it is owned now by the Landmark Trust and let out as a self-catering property sleeping only eight people on the first floor. The ground floor with its store rooms and service room has not really been touched by the Trust, though apparently you can look up the kitchen chimney through soot and see the sky. One of the current bedrooms has been converted from the old chapel, through which there is a squint to the Queen's Room. There's also a King's Room, but the names are just a pretentious gesture with no claim to fame.

What is another claim to fame about the building though is that at 330 square yards of thatch it is the largest thatched inhabited building in the country.

Thomas Hardy refers to Woodsford as Shadwater, which I think is much less pretty a name than Woodsford.

We discovered quite a lot of this information whilst munching lunch, which we almost shared with an inquisitive and hungry tup, but I have jumped ahead slightly.

Upon approaching this mighty fortress, we noticed a footpath not marked on my old map. Should we take it or not? Were we likely to end up somewhere miles from our original route? Thanks to 4G and google, we did some research and discovered that "Yippee! We can take this path, miss out a bit of road walking and be right by the River Frome!""

Things were looking up. Giggling with joy at our unexpected discovery we crossed the Frome and decided to sit right on its banks with the innocuous sheep and eat our lunch.

River Frome at West Woodsford - SY7590

At first we didn't notice the sheep. Then I began to feel a pair of eyes burning into my back and I turned cautiously to face a ewe eyeing up me and my lunch. "Don't look now, but we're not alone," I warned Paul as the ewe edged closer. usually sheep give us a wide berth, but this lot were brazen as anything. Next thing we knew a tup had approached us and walked boldy right up to my sandwich bag and poked its woolly nose right in there. Paul gave it a bit of a shove. But it was a solid mass. If that butted us we would be right in the river with some very soggy sandwiches. Panicking lest I was going to lose all my lunch I threw the remains of my sandwich in its direction and told it to help itself. It didn't. It lost interest altogether and I'd just wasted half of my lunch. Humph!

Undeterred by our sheepish lunch, we continued to walk along the banks of the Frome eastwards.

River Frome at West Woodsford - SY7590

River Frome at Woodsford - SY7690

I'd originally intended to stop at Woodsford and look at the church, but we were on the other side of the river and could barely see the church from here. I much preferred to be by the river anyway on this occasion as that was the purpose of our walk.

Whilst there was a footpath which wasn't marked on our map, there was also a footpath marked on the map which wasn't actually there, or, if it was, it went straight through a field of maize. We tried to find the path and ended up walking round in a circle - literally. We decided we'd have to walk on the road up to Tincleton, a village which we called Tinseltown and which I'd got high hopes for.

Bridge at White Mead - SY7691

Tincleton was not going to reveal itself easily. We had to fight through bog, briar and blackthorn to reach it, and even then we weren't actually going to visit its centre; we were heading eastwards to the church.

St John the Evangelist Church, Tincleton - SY7791

We were now heading northwards, frustratingly as it was away from the Frome, but, other than walk along the road, we had no option. We followed a field border to Southover Heath.

Approaching Southover Heath - SY7792

Then we were in woodland and walking by Clyffe House. Built in 1842 by architect Benjamin Ferrey, the property has now been converted into one house and three flats. What drew our attention, however, were the huge chimneys.

Clyffe House,Tincleton - SY7892

We followed the waymarkers, some of which were surprisingly marked as being the Frome Way again. This reassured me that I really had chosen the closest rights of way to the River Frome and |I hadn't missed anything. There are loads of shake holes marked on the map in this woodland, some of which were visible from the path. The whole woodland and heath has been divided into several areas, each with its own name and it was all very beautiful. We looked in vain for Grayling butterfly after I had seen so many the previous week in Wareham Forest, but all we saw were Speckled Woods aplenty.

Right of Way through Southover Heath - SY7892

Pallington Clump - SY7892

"There ought to be a trigpoint here," I said to Paul, as I recalled my aforementioned walk through Wareham Forest last week and my visit to Woolsbarrow Hillfort with its very own trigpoint. "There is!" I announced excitedly as I looked at my phone map and saw the tell-tale blue triangle. "I didn't notice that before!" But, despite an extensive search we couldn't locate it. Was it hidden behind the tumulus? Nope, I went up to have a look. Somehow or other it transpires that we managed to miss it. I checked when we got back and it IS there somewhere so that's two things to return for another day - the trigpoint and Woodsford Church.

We cut the corner of SY7992 and then emerged into farmland once more where I took a photograph of Golden Springs Farm before we joined the road again.

Pallington Clump - SY7992

Golden Springs Farm - SY7991

If we'd been able to walk directly south from here, we would have come to a fish farm formed in the Frome, but I suspect this is private fishing and access is for fishing purposes only. Instead we continued along this minor road and were passed by nothing more than a horse and cart with three people in it.

Horse and cart near Golden Springs Farm - SY7991

At Waddock Farm we crossed the B3390 (Waddock Drove) and joined a footpath which led south-east past Two Gates Farm.

Sign at Crossroads, Waddock Farm - SY7990

Our footpath was very straight, so straight in fact that we could see an obstacle in our path at Two Gates Farm. "I hope it does have two gates because one of them is blocked by cows," I said as we got closer and could see that the cows weren't moving. "They must be on their way to milking," I observed and then a massive beast with more than an udder hanging between his legs strode forward as if to say "Who are you calling a girl?" Fortunately there was an electric fence between us and them and we hoped that what it lacked in sturdiness it made up for in power as it looked particularly flimsy.

Cattle at Two Gates Farm - SY8090

Happily we were able to take a diversion through another electric fence and round the back of the barns as there was no-one to ask how long the cows were likely to be there and we certainly weren't going to go through them.

We rejoined the footpath which followed a northern tributary of the River Frome. It's difficult to tell from the map whether this is still the Frome as it seems to divide from the fish farm into two forks. We couldn't see it from our footpath anyway, though it was only a cow's stride away.

Footpath near Two Gates Farm - SY8089

Soon we reached a confluence of footpaths, one being the Jubilee Trail running north-south, one heading into Moreton Plantation and the other a right of way heading towards Bovington. We had walked all of these except for the one we were going to take today - towards Bovington. We were now very close to Moreton where there is a fabulous ford across the River Frome. To cross that today would be gratuitous, which is not so bad if you haven't already walked over 12 miles and are not sure how much further you've got to walk. We had crossed it several times before so didn't mind missing it today.

This was the point too when we could have called it a day and walked to Moreton Station which is a couple of miles west of the village itself. It seemed pointless to do that when it couldn't be much further than that to Wool from here, surely? (Turns out it was by another couple of miles).

So we walked through the much more mundane Glade (I know it sounds nice) which is military training ground though we saw no evidence of it today.

Military training territory, Bovington - SY8189

I now decided it was safe to check the map and see how much further we had to go and therefore try to work out which train we were likely to catch. "I reckon we might just make the 4.30 pm," I said to Paul, "but if we miss it we'll miss it by a few minutes, so let's take our time instead." That seemed a good option as we were both wearying and my feet were beginning to feel like lead.

Bovington Camp - SY8289

We reached the delights of Bovington Camp with its razor wire, keep out signs, joggers and Big Daddy registration plates. (Honestly!) And of course the museum, which virtually covers a whole gridsquare - well, OK, that's a slight exaggeration as I've just checked and it doesn't. Perhaps it just seemed to take forever to pass the building due to our extreme state of weariness!

Bovington Tank Museum - SY8288

When we turned right onto a footpath I took another photograph of a gate warning of military activity and entreating passers-by to be very careful.

Warning on military land, Bovington camp - SY8388

There were a couple more such warnings before we exited MOD land and were in fields with the Frome once more. "It's time to bid our river farewell," I said in what I hoped was a meaningful tone.

River Frome near Wool - SY8387

We had watched it wend its way through fields and watermeadows, under many bridges. It was watched over by the military (at a push), castles, farms and mills. It was home to Herons, Mallards, Mute Swans and no doubt a plethora of other creatures, avian and riparian. We would soon continue our journey with it to its journey's end at Wareham, but for now we had to leave it and we bade it as fond a farewell as we could muster as we stomped across the last footbridge and onto our final footpath of the day.

We entered East Burton and I photographed my final gridsquare of the day - Fromedale B & B - rather appropriate considering our journey of the past three days. Then we heard the train's whistle as it pulled out of Wool Station heading towards Dorchester.

Fromedale B& B, East Burton, Wool - SY8386

"I could just eat a plate of chips," I announced, knowing now that we'd have to wait even longer for food. I'd been fantasising about that plate of chips for the past couple of miles and thought maybe now we would pass somewhere which would help me realise my dream. We didn't. We crossed the railway at a convenient juncture thinking we couldn't enter the railway station if we stayed on the northern side of the line. That turned out to be a big mistake.

At Wool level crossing I ended up having to walk into the middle of the road and hold out my hand like a white-gloved policeman of days of yore to stop the traffic. Otherwise I think a skeletal form of ourselves would still be there waiting to cross the road.

We collapsed onto a bench  at the station with our trickle of lukewarm tea and two raisins each and were soon joined by a cyclist who a) confirmed we were on the right side of the platform and b) told us we'd walked past an cafe which sold excellent fish and chips. If only we hadn't crossed the railway when we did! Out of energy now there was no way we were going back. "Domino's Pizza," I said dreamily to Paul as we embarked the train.

Number of new gridsquares:18
Number of gridsquares I failed to photograph: 1
Number of miles walked: 16.2
Number of trigpoints missed: 1
Number of cafes missed: 1

Following the River Frome - Stage the Third - 8 October 2017

Having decided to follow the course of the River Frome from source to mouth, I poured over the map devising a route. And, yes, I know someone's already done it and there's a footpath for a large part of the river's 30 mile length, but as far as we could see, there's chunks missing on the waymarked foopath. Turns out there's a reason for that - and that reason being it's not so much a case of following the course of the river in places, as following the course of the road!

My second source of disappointment was the discovery that we'd already walked the first part of it - from Evershot to Dorchester and, lovely as that stretch is, I'm always in search of something new. How to get round that conundrum? Answer, do the walk in reverse. Having settled on this east to west trajectory, I discovered that, in fact, I hadn't settled on it. It left me feeling unsettled. Something was wrong. What was it? After all, we would merely be following the sun's movement round the earth (or is it the earth's movement round the sun?) Either way, the sun rises in the east and moves round to the west, so why should this feel unnatural?

Shrugging my shoulders at my inability to answer this one, we parked in Dorchester for my military-tuned plan. Managing to resist being drawn into a very tempting car boot sale, we passed the time of day with another defector from  the walking group. ("You're not walking today either then?" "Well, yes, but not with the group.") Dave was very keen to hear about our progress when we told him what we were aiming to do. We promised to let him know and darted off to Dorchester South station, caught the train with a carriageful of others (what were they all doing? Surely they weren't all doing the same as us?!)

We all spilled out at Wareham and I was raring to go find some new gridsquares. Clicking away at every opportunity, we headed towards the town centre.

Lovely pub sign by the railway - SY9288

St Martin's on the Walls, Wareham - SY9287

St Martin's on the Walls, Wareham - SY9287
Sadly locked at the time of our visit.

As I photographed what I'd read was the oldest building in the town, we were accosted by Santa Claus. No, double take, it was not Santa Claus, but merely his understudy who apparently lives opposite the oldest building in Wareham. "That's the oldest building in Wareham," he confirmed after we apologised for nearly knocking him over. He proceeded to give us a little of the town's history, telling us all about the fire in the town which commenced on a hot day in July 1762 when somebody threw hot ashes form a fire onto a rubbish dump at the back of the Bull's Head Inn (now Lloyds Bank in south Street). Most of the town was subsequently destroyed, "and, as a result," Santa went on to inform us with some aplomb, "there are no thatched buildings left in the town!" Before I could stop myself from realising I was just about to spoil an old man's story and possibly ruin his day, I heard myself contest that allegation. "What about that one?" I pointed across the road about 50 yards from his house. "Well, apart from that one," he conceded and changed the subject swiftly.I felt beside myself with guilt. how could I have done that?!

Anglebury House - the oldest building in Wareham, dated 1550

When he left the subject of Wareham and launched into his life story and time spent in South Africa, I decided against politeness and opted for being rude, after all, I'd already ruined his day. "Sorry, but we really must get going," I tried to be as nice as possible as we waved goodbye to Santa looking afresh at the thatched building across the road.

We headed east towards our destination, along an avenue of Scots Pine, straining our eyes for our first view of the sea and the Frome's end at Swineham Point. There were plenty of boats along the Frome at this point and Paul wanted to stop just short of the the furthest point east'. Of course he didn't realise his error otherwise he wouldn't have suggested it as being  "a good place to stop for our picnic?" "But we can't," I objected, "it's not as far as we can go!" Little matter that 'as far as we can go' meant either retracing our steps to Paul's choice of picnic spot or sitting in the middle of the footpath with our sandwiches.

Near Swineham Farm - SY9387

My map is a little out of date so does not show the flooded gravel pits at Swineham Point. I immediately suggested this as being our lunch spot, once we had paid due homage to the Frome. I'm glad I already knew that this homage would be paid from a distance. Without a boat (now there's an idea!) you can't really view the mouth of the Frome. So we peered over the reedbeds to the passing yachts and paid tribute to the longest river in Dorset.

The mouth of the River Frome at Swineham Point, Wareham - SY9487

We went back to the gravel pits and sat amongst the rubble (including some cherub's legs) with our lunch watching Egrets, Herons, Coots and Geese.

Swineham Point gravel pits - SY9487

Interesting rubble at Swineham gravel pits - SY9487

We'd hoped to follow the course of the River across to Ridge, but bumped into some people who said they'd had to wade through the flooded river and then turned back because it got too deep. We decided against this course of action. "We'll just have to come back when it's drier," I said excitedly as we retraced our steps back into the town, "then we can do it the right way round." I still had that gnawing feeling that we should be walking towards the sea and not away from it. Maybe it's the anticipation of seeing the sea, a sense that has been fuelled from many family car trips when everyone vyed to be the first to see the sea.

Back in Wareham town I was growing a tinsy bit anxious. It was already 1 pm and we hadn't really left our starting point yet. It was a beautiful day however, and we admired the Sunday lunchers at the Old Granary leisurely eating their lunch whilst we ploughed on along the Purbeck Way to Ridge.

River Frome at Wareham - SY9287

The Old Granary and the River Frome, Wareham - SY9287

We passed only briefly into SY9286 and I was waiting for the moment with camera poised.

Towards Stoborough from the Purbeck Way - SY9286

We left the River Frome at Ridge, but continued along the Purbeck Way heading through the houses south-west towards Stoborough, stopping at the crossroads for the obligatory photograph.

Signpost at Ridge - SY9386

We crossed the B3075 and then the A351, and onto Stoborough Heath where we departed from the Purbeck Way. Admittedly that footpath looked a much more attractive option than our road-bound route, but we had set our faces westwards and westwards we must continue.

Stoborough Heath - SY9285

This is an incredibly dull part of the walk and it lasts for a good mile and a half through Holme Lane plantation. We weren't sure whether it would be possible to walk through the woods and avoid walking on the road, but never felt confident enough to try it.

Approaching the railway bridge - SY9185

Holme Lane Plantation - SY9085

We were walking along the northern border of the MOD Lulworth Ranges so anything south of us was out of bounds. Coupled with the busyness of this road and its seemingly interminable length, I felt like we would never reach East Holme and Holme Priory.

But we did. We turned off onto a quieter road and made for the Priory and its little church where we aimed to have a coffee break.

The Bond family still live in Holme Priory, from where the key for the tiny church can be obtained (we found out later). Apparently the family has adopted a certain secret agent's motto ‘The world is not enough’. Or is it a case of James Bond 007 having adopted a motto which already existed? In 1915 aged seven, Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming, boarded not too far away at Durnford School in Langton Matravers, where he mingled with the Dorset gentry and borrowed several of their names – Strangways for an MI6 operative in the Caribbean, and Drax for the villain in Moonraker, for example. 

But there is another connection with Holme Priory and the secret agent. The real-life present-day owner of Holme Priory, William Bond, has a diary of an ancestor, Denis Bond, which refers to a John Bond who worked in Queen Elizabeth’s secret service and helped Sir Francis Drake in numerous Flemingesque escapades. In 1572 he escaped from the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre in France by taking hostage a woman and her children and threatening to kill them. It seems to have been this John Bond who hijacked the royal motto of King Philip of Spain (in Latin, ‘Non sufficit orbis’), perhaps to cock a snook at England’s arch-enemy.

It was Denis Bond who extended Holme Priory in the late 18th century. It passed to his nephew, who was the first of four Nathaniel Bonds to live there, some of them on their way to taking over the main seat of their branch of the family, the house now known as Creech Grange but formerly as just Grange. One of these Nathaniels was a distinguished QC, although remembered today mainly for having defended Jane Austen’s aunt against a charge of shoplifting! Later, Holme Priory was let for almost a hundred years but in the 1950s it was taken on by Martin Bond, a grandson of the fourth of those successive Nathaniels. William Bond succeeded and he himself has a son called Nathaniel.

Sadly we found the church locked, but I read afterwards that  a wooden cross inside the church was made from mother-of-pearl in the Solomon Islands. Another visit is becoming increasingly necessary! 

Other interesting facts about this area: on 25 August 1940, a Me110 crashed at Priory Farm after being shot down, and its crew were taken prisoner. 

To the south-east of the hamlet of East Holme Old English font marks Three Lords Barrow - so called because three manors meet here. So do four parishes: Arne, Church Knowle, Steeple and East Holme. A piece of window from Holme Priory is set in the top of the barrow as a marker stone. 
(Information from http://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/2011/12/east-holme/)

Holme Priory - SY8985

St John the Evangelist Church, East Holme - SY8985

We had bumped into a couple of ladies when we'd walked across the fields to the church and we bumped into them again, together with their partners sitting on a bench in the centre of the hamlet just after we'd crossed the ford. We stopped to talk to them for a bit before continuing to more Old English Font at Holme Bridge.There are now two bridges across the Frome here - the old one forms a sort of informal car park.

Holme Bridge - SY8986

A little known battle was fought during the Civil War here. The town of Wareham remained in Royalist hands during the winter of 1643 but on 27th February 1644 Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper for Parliament launched a full scale attack on the town. The assault came from all sides and the Royalists were greatly outnumbered. A fierce battle took place on Holme Bridge where forty five men, both horse and foot, beat off three hundred Roundheads for five hours, killing forty of them. It was reported that Captain Purton was wounded and “bled to death while encouraging his men with great cheerfulness” After a day of relentless attacks by the Roundheads from Poole the outnumbered Royalists surrendered the garrison. (Information from Dorset Ancestors.com.)

An information board at the site also informed us that two German airmen had hidden under the bridge during the Second World War after their airplane had been shot down and crashed into Priory Farm. The men were captured and taken prisoner. Apparently the farmer at Priory farm had used the cockpit canopy as a cloche for many years.

The River Frome meanders tortuously between the A352 and the Lulworth Ranges but sadly you cannot see it as you walk the footpath to Rushton Farm as it is too far away.

Rushton Farm - SY8886

Shortly after Rushton Farm the footpath leads up to the railway and then stops abruptly. We crossed the road in the hope of visiting East Stoke Church, but all our church attempts today were to be thwarted.  Built in 1828 this former church replaced an older building closer to the River Frome because apparently there were concerns about flooding. This building was made redundant in 1988 and converted to private residences when the ecclesiastical parish of East Stoke was merged with that of Wool. 

Church of St Mary, East Stoke - SY8787

River Frome at East Stoke - SY8786

Level crossing over railway at East Stoke - SY8786

We passed a fisherman and walked down the road, closely behind a little girl on a horse being led by a rather large lady. Fortunately our path soon led us westwards again and we hunted for the former Church of St Mary. I was very disappointed to discover its ruinous state. Of course I knew it was going to be a ruin, but I thought it was going to be an accessible ruin. It used to be; an information board invites you to look for the scratch dial on its wall. A very overgrown gate used to give access to what remains of this ancient site. Sadly no more. We had to be content with a glimpse at briars and nettles.

St Mary's Church, East Stoke - SY8686

The two St Mary's churches - old and new - SY8686

We then entered East Stoke Fen nature reserve and decided we were possibly the only two people ever to have done so - until we came to another information board which justified the nature reserve's existence. Apparently it is home to a lot of invisible wildlife. So it wasn't just our imagination! This invisible wildlife inhabits the fens and takes the form of plagiopyla which only inhabit oxygen free aquatic sites and provide food for the initial stages of fish and other aquatic life.

East Stoke Fen nature reserve - SY8686

Leaving the reserve I would have liked to have at least passed the Bindon Abbey (founded 1172), but that didn't look possible so I made do with a photo of Bindon Farm instead.

Bindon Farm - SY8586

We couldn't make out the supposed earthworks in the fields outside Wool,but we didn't pause long to look, neither did we pause for long at the church in Wool. After nearly 13 miles we were keen to get to our destination and drink the dregs of our tea. It had been a great walk and now I'm going to count how many things we've got to come back for . . .

Holy Rood Church, Wool - SY8486

Number of new gridsquares: 15
Number of squares discounted as Geographs by Geograph: 2
Number of miles walked: 12.8
Number of Santa Claus's seen: 1
Number of things to return for: 6