Saturday 15th April, Deacon Hill and Knocking Hoe, to see the pasque flowers

 Led by Ruth, 7 miles, 6 ramblers

We squeezed into two cars, yet there was ample room at the tiny car-park below Deacon Hill. Perhaps the heavy rain overnight and thick clouds in the morning deterred people.  We set off straight up Deacon Hill and paused at the trig point to admire the view. 

 Then we walked along the fence above Pegsdon Hills, and through a gate to a muddy bridleway.  We stopped for our coffee break at the path junction below Telegraph Hill. Lynn told us it was a telegraph place from Napoleonic times. 

 

Next we turned South and walked through fields and copses past Little Offley, a very impressive house with lovely grounds and many outbuildings. Was the one on the left once a windmill?? The sky brightened up, there was even a hint of sunshine!

 We skirted past Wellbury House. It was once a catholic school but now is derelict and has signs warning you to keep out, not to take photos, and security cameras with facial recognition software frowned down on us. There was a sign in foreign script… hebrew we think.  Sorry, we were not allowed to photograph it. Much speculation!

We turned off along a footpath, passing a copse full of bluebells. We were overheating and stopped to take off several layers. We had a nice views of Deacon Hill in the distance.

 We then crossed the Hitchen road.and got to the gate for Knocking Hoe in another half an hour, with much agitation about when the lunch would be. I held out. The sun came out . After a short walk along the top of the valley, we got to the site of the pasque flowers and ate our picnic amongst the purple blooms. There are only five sites in the whole country for this flower, and here they are abundant.  Lynn shared her mini mint aero Easter eggs, which were just perfect for the location.

 After lunch it was only a mile back to the cars.