The 200th Club Walk, from the White Hart at Hackleton

Rotary November Walk ~ The 200th!

Date: Thursday 14 November 2013

Venue: The White Hart, Hackleton

This months (200th!) walk will be 4.25 miles of easy walking with no hills, and there is an escape route if weather is unacceptable.  We will start from the The White Hart, 80 Main Road, Hackleton, NN7 2AD - on the A526 Northampton to Newport Pagnell Road (Tel: 01604 870271).  The route is south and west of Hackleton, through Piddington.

Please arrive by 10.15 for a 10.30 start, as usual.

Peter Davies

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200th Rotary Walk on 14 November from the White Hart at Hackleton.

The 200th Rotary walk was a milestone that many of the regular walkers were keen to support and so it was that 13 walkers plus Jack the Lab gathered in the pub car park on what was a dry but fresh and very breezy morning.

With our lunch ordered and having  listened to Walkmeister  Davies  somewhat  cynical  elf  n  safety briefing we set off  towards  Piddington, where, having negotiated our first  stile, and  in  the  shadow of the Church we were treated to our first history talk.  Urged on by Stan Evans an initially reluctant Peter gave us the low-down on the Roman Villa which has been excavated nearby, and whose contents form the exhibits in the local Roman Villa Museum (only open on Sundays, but apparently worth a visit).

Having stood around in a  howling gale blowing around the side of the church for several minutes we were keen to get moving again and shortly afterwards we duly arrived at the site of the villa.  Here we were shown a computer generated image of what it probably looked like, which was very impressive especially compared with what remains.

Moving on across the fields we reached a suitable half way point were our Walkmeister revealed the contents of his back pack, which to the delight of his soon to be merry band turned out to be 7 year old sloe gin, and very smooth it was too.  Suffice to say that the alternative orange juice was returned to the backpack untouched.  The walk continued with a new spring in the step which was quickly nullified when the fields we were crossing changed from dry pasture to very sticky cultivated ones.

As the mud built up on our boots and we all grew 3 inches taller the pace definitely slowed until we  reached the nadir in what can only be described as a bog at the bottom of the hill below Piddington Church.  Apparently, Mudmeister Davies has a certain reputation for leading his followers across less than perfect ground which our coordinator may wish to note for future reference, but despite the hazards we faced we eventually made it back to The White Hart, weary but in one piece, where we were joined by four non-walkers for lunch.

All agreed that the food was of a very high standard, and as the meal drew to a close it was time for your scribe to present the May, "Walker of the Month" Trophy.   Walk-organiser, Peter Davies, had given us an interesting and varied walk, which was  fitting for such an important event.  However, on being presented with the trophy he pointed out that Margaret Jones was the only  person to have completed both the first and the 200th walk, and as such he felt that she was a more worthy recipient, to which we all agreed.

David Allitt