South Mids Xmas lunch, Dec 18.

It was certainly very different weather this year on Sunday 9th when we met up in Chipping Norton for our annual Christmas walk and lunch.  Last year the event had to be postponed when we awoke on the Sunday morning to find the whole of South Midlands blanketed in 2’ of snow.  This year was unsettled and threatening the odd shower, but by 10.00am had dried up and was a relatively pleasant morning.

21 walkers set off from the centre of Chippy for a 3.5 mile walk, to build up an appetite for the eagerly awaited traditional Christmas lunch to follow.  A varied walk, partly by roadside, through a small wooded area, following a bridleway to the village of Over Norton.  From there we followed a further farm track before cutting back across fields towards Chippy.  We passed nearby to the local landmark of Bliss Mill, an impressive building with a giant sink plunger on the roof and now converted in to luxury flats.

Back in Chippy we had time to quickly change our boots before heading to the Old Mill House bistro for lunch.  By now a further 4 members who weren’t able to join the walk, had now joined us, making a sizeable group of 25 of us sitting down together.  Other customers in the café were certainly aware of our presence as we chatted between courses.  By the end of the meal I think everybody was well fed, I didn’t hear any complaints about the portion sizes here.  The manager, Selatin, was pleased to see us as in previous years and it was unanimously agreed that we were all very impressed with his Sukuk, aka Turkish sausage.  It went down a treat.

Many thanks to all of you who came along to make the day a success.  I am happy to do it all again in 12 months time, but if anybody has suggestions for alternative venues and/or formats then please let me know.

I look forward to seeing you all out walking again soon.

Happy Christmas.  Mark. x

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