11/3/06 - A small turnout of 6 (plus Archie) met at the Priory car park in Carisbrooke with Andy continuing his unbroken record of arriving last. Starting south along the Shepherds trail, Spencer soon demonstrated the value of a well trained dog when he dropped his lens cap only for Archie to quickly sniff it out for him. Passing Newbarn Farm, we climbed steeply up Newbarn Down, pausing only briefly for an unintended detour along the wrong track which was undoubtedly Andy's subtle ploy to give us a breather. Turning south again along the top of the Down, passing the TV mast and then West along Northcourt Down adjacent to, as Andy called it, Westridge corpse which was looking appropriately dead. We then descended down into Shorwell for a very pleasant lunch in the Crown. Just as we were finishing lunch, Harry arrived with tales of a different starting car park & a lovely walk along the Tennyson Trail. Unfortunately he had to go to Fratton Park to support Pompey (which miraculously actually worked!), but the rest of us decided not to catch the bus back as planned, instead taking advantage of the unexpectedly fine weather and walking back. Taking a different route East out of Shorwell, we were treated to the rare sight of a Barn Owl out during the day which guided us to Chillerton Farm. Leaving the road we headed across country back to Newbarn Farm to retrace our steps along the Shepherds trail to Carisbrooke.

Leader - Andy

Total Distance - 10 Miles