30th June 2025 - Puttenham Common

 

 

Here's an account of our walk on Monday, to make the non-walkers feel jealous (maybe):

In spite of predicted temperatures of over 30C, eight brave souls assembled at Puttenham Common top car park at 0945, where the breeze and the slightly earlier start made for optimism.  A shorter walk (4 miles) had been selected because of the impending heat, and this proved a wise choice.  North along the east side of the common was all under trees, from there past the Lutyens-designed Lascombe and down a quiet lane into and through Puttenham village, meeting several groups of Scouts-with-maps doing Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award hikes.  Passing the imposing gates of Puttenham Priory, we left the road, heading south, passing a lynchet, the remains of a mediaeval field system.  With the temperature rising we made a second refreshment stop in the shade, and came eventually to Rodsall Manor, mentioned in the Domesday Book, but the current house only 450 years old. A short distance further brought us back to the start, and all of us retired to a well-earned lunch in the Cyder House in Shackleford. Much of the walk was under tree shade, but the air temperature and the sun's heat, when in the open, made for a challenging morning; however, we were all glad to have done the walk. 

Walkers: ET, HR, JR, IP, LF, SE, PG leading, LG back marking.  

Pete

Photos courtesy Stuart