My first Bristol HF walk as a leader
I led my first walk on Tuesday 13th January. I advertised it as 7½ miles starting from the main Leigh Woods Car Park at 10.15 am. As no-one had phoned me to say they were coming and as the weather forecast was heavy showers at 11 am, my wife and I wondered if anyone would come. We were pleasantly surprised that there were actually 12 of us, including one who arrived just in time as she had gone to the wrong car park.
Soon after we started off the forecast rain arrived, and we had to stop while several members of the group put on their waterproof trousers. We walked down Paradise Bottom to the River Avon, and soon afterwards we were asked to help retrieve a dog which had fallen over a 20 foot drop while chasing a squirrel and had broken its leg. I climbed down the steep bank and brought up the dog – to the relief of one member of our group who wondered if everyone was meant to follow me down!
After walking some way along the river, we went up Nightingale Valley – the most difficult section of the walk. Thankfully by then the rain had stopped. Then we went on to St. Mary the Virgin Church where we had our coffee break sitting on benches in the churchyard. Afterwards we made our way into the Ashton Court Estate and were able to see lots of Red Deer on our way down to the stables, where we had a toilet break. We discussed whether to have lunch at this point, but the majority wanted to carry on as we had not long ago had our coffee break – to the disappointment of my wife who had hoped to be able to get a cup of hot chocolate in the café!
The next section of the walk led us past the Fallow Deer enclosure, and we had good views of them. Then we stopped at a couple of picnic tables for lunch – we didn’t hang around too long as it was quite cold. After lunch we sent off north to the gap in the wall in the Ashton Valley estate which I had discovered on planning out the walk – to my relief as otherwise we would have had to walk along a busy road. We made our way to Abbots’ Pool, then to the A369 at Abbots Leigh. Here I offered the group a choice – to return to our starting point along the main road, or to follow the Monarch’s Way – a similar distance but involving crossing some muddy fields. Four of the group opted for the main road, and I led the rest along Monarch’s Way, which was not as muddy as I had feared after the recent heavy rain. We met back at the car park at 2.45 pm – three quarters of an hour later than I had estimated – and I was informed that we had covered 8½ miles, not the advertised 7½. However everyone said they had enjoyed the walk, which was very encouraging.
David Bolton
I led my first walk on Tuesday 13th January. I advertised it as 7½ miles starting from the main Leigh Woods Car Park at 10.15 am. As no-one had phoned me to say they were coming and as the weather forecast was heavy showers at 11 am, my wife and I wondered if anyone would come. We were pleasantly surprised that there were actually 12 of us, including one who arrived just in time as she had gone to the wrong car park.
Soon after we started off the forecast rain arrived, and we had to stop while several members of the group put on their waterproof trousers. We walked down Paradise Bottom to the River Avon, and soon afterwards we were asked to help retrieve a dog which had fallen over a 20 foot drop while chasing a squirrel and had broken its leg. I climbed down the steep bank and brought up the dog – to the relief of one member of our group who wondered if everyone was meant to follow me down!
After walking some way along the river, we went up Nightingale Valley – the most difficult section of the walk. Thankfully by then the rain had stopped. Then we went on to St. Mary the Virgin Church where we had our coffee break sitting on benches in the churchyard. Afterwards we made our way into the Ashton Court Estate and were able to see lots of Red Deer on our way down to the stables, where we had a toilet break. We discussed whether to have lunch at this point, but the majority wanted to carry on as we had not long ago had our coffee break – to the disappointment of my wife who had hoped to be able to get a cup of hot chocolate in the café!
The next section of the walk led us past the Fallow Deer enclosure, and we had good views of them. Then we stopped at a couple of picnic tables for lunch – we didn’t hang around too long as it was quite cold. After lunch we sent off north to the gap in the wall in the Ashton Valley estate which I had discovered on planning out the walk – to my relief as otherwise we would have had to walk along a busy road. We made our way to Abbots’ Pool, then to the A369 at Abbots Leigh. Here I offered the group a choice – to return to our starting point along the main road, or to follow the Monarch’s Way – a similar distance but involving crossing some muddy fields. Four of the group opted for the main road, and I led the rest along Monarch’s Way, which was not as muddy as I had feared after the recent heavy rain. We met back at the car park at 2.45 pm – three quarters of an hour later than I had estimated – and I was informed that we had covered 8½ miles, not the advertised 7½. However everyone said they had enjoyed the walk, which was very encouraging.
David Bolton
