Christmas Common to Dronfield April 13 to 17
April 13 Christmas Common to Nettlecombe
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Guess what? It's dull and dismal again. It did brighten up a little as I tried to clean yesterday's mud off my new city walking shoes - only partially successful - and packed my clothes. By the time I had rolled off the Chiltern ridge and onto the Oxfordshire plain, it was becoming sunny and warm. When I rose up the other side and could get a good view of Didcot Power Station, it was definitely hot and sunny. |
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After a lengthy drive along some busy dual carriageways, I called in at Old Sarum, an English Heritage site, the predecessor to modern Salisbury. As could be expected on a sunny bank holiday, it was busy, with a full car park and lots of people. I had a wander, took photos of the moat, the walls and the modern cathedral in the distance, and departed whence I had come. I managed to avoid the tent where they were selling fruit wine. |
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 Old Sarum |
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On the outskirts of Salisbury is the old Wilton carpet factory. Some carpets are still made but much of the site has been converted into an outlet village. The river which flows through the middle has been well landscaped and they have put a lot of effort into the planters and gardens.
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My first stop was the café, where I had a surprisingly good bowl of mushroom and tarragon soup and a perfectly decent sandwich. There was even a good cup of coffee. For a café in a shopping centre, this was not what I had expected. The café was busy, mainly full of old people and the intellectually challenged so I fitted in well. The staff were struggling to cope but seemed to have things just about under control. Unfortunately, the main reason for visiting was to buy a pair of walking shoes. Whilst there was a shoe shop and also a specialist golf shop, there wasn't anywhere selling sports shoes, so I came away empty handed.
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The A30 is a relatively quiet but winding road, which made stopping to take photographs an inadvisable exercise. I was able to stop at Fovant, where a series of regimental badges has been cut into the side of the chalk hill. This was done during the First World War, by soldiers who were in training and transit camps at Fovant village. Some more have been added since and there is a society charged with their maintenance.
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Yeovil is the next big town and seemed another suitable place to look for my new shoes. It has some old streets, some new streets designed to look like old ones, and a couple of substantial churches. I found an outdoor shop, which had nothing very much, and then a sports shop, which had exactly the brand of shoes that I wanted, but not in my size. I will have to give up until another day. |
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I drove to Beaminster and spent some time with my aunt before driving along some increasingly narrow lanes until I found Nettlecombe and the Marquis of Lorne.
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The welcome was good, the beer excellent and the food well above average. Just for the cognoscenti, there was a black pudding and apple starter, followed by a fish pie.
The waitresses were also worthy of comment, but not in a family journal such as this. There was no mobile phone connection but the free wi fi worked very effectively and enabled me to make lots of phone calls and to do some work.