Lurgashall walk on 10th January 2024

Thirteen walkers gathered on Lurgashall Green for a 4 mile walk on crunchy ground following cold weather which done its best to harden up the rain sodden earth. We exchanged stories about ice on the road on the journey there, consoling ourselves that a nice warm lunch would be waiting for us at the Noah’s Ark when we finished. The route took us into the graveyard of St Lawrence Church, over a stile, across a field onto a track to Park Farm, walking between the two ponds, over another stile and into fields again. We used the house at Shop Hill Farm to sight the path across the field and into a copse before venturing onto Jobson’s Lane for a short distance where we turned left up towards Ramsfold Wood. Before reaching the wood we took a path to our left, eventually dropping down onto Quell Lane, enjoying the downhill across Quellwood Common followed by a climb back up to the woods beside Blackdown Farm where we stopped for a coffee break. Buoyed by our caffeine boost, we marched smartly past the houses and Home Farm with glorious views in cloudless skies across to the South Downs and admired the wooden horse and foal before heading down the drive towards the gatehouse back down to Jobson’s Lane where we admired the chainsaw wood carving we had seen being carved last year. Turning north and immediately east on the bridleway towards Coochway Ground, we took the footpath away from the bridleway through Spring Coppice, an orchard and back to the Noah’s Ark for our eagerly anticipated lunch that lived up to our expectations.