Thursley and Heyshott Walks on 18th May 2022

The Thursley Day Walk started with a panic as we arrived at the start to discover the army were on manoeuvres and had closed the main car park. With Andy on 'car park' direction duty and some off-roading by Jay to get to the start, we eventually all assembled safely in the lower car park. We set off east across Thursley Common, then north over Ockley common, with beautiful views towards Farnham, arriving at the Little Barn Cafe in Elstead for a lunch in the garden in glorious sunshine, alongside some army chaps sneaking a bit of lunch. The afternoon session took us past the historic Westbrook farm and Barn and down to Hankley Common, passing the fishing ponds (great demonstration by Paul) and the golf club which was busy with a tournament taking place. After passing through the golf course and witnessing a very obedient golf trolley following its owner, we arrived at The Atlantic Wall training area - used by Canadian Troops in WW2 for practice before D Day. With gunfire in the distance, we trooped back to the car park passing many tents and army vehicles along the way. Amusement of the day involved watching an army chap drive off to exit the site, then returned past us as he'd forgotten the key to the gate! The walk was about 8 miles.

At last, ready to go!

Pointing not quite coordinated!

Those boots were made for walkin'

Drinks break

Let's get out of here.

Group photo

Elstead Church

Westbrook Farmhouse, 17th Century, or earlier

Fishing break at Stockbridge Pond

"It was this big, but it got away!"

More work from the Canadians during WW2

Manoeuvres in progress.

Mmmmmm, bit more capacity than a motorbike

Heading for the car park

Surely not a posed photo!?

Phew, lucky to escape in one piece

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Isabel's select group of four on the morning walk started from the Unicorn Pub in Heyshott and walked through fields, woods and farm land. We had plenty of clear views of the South Downs, but were quite pleased not to be climbing up the hills as the weather turned progressively warmer during the morning. Sadly the bluebells and cowslips had finished flowering, but we did see plenty of wild flowers, cows, goats and two deer. On our return, we enjoyed our lunch at the Unicorn Pub. The walk was about 5 miles.