Mini Moonwalk training to Millers Pond – first published 30 November 2012

For my last Moonwalk training walk of November 2012 the training plan threw in a nice short walk to give me a break from the long walks. Either that or it was lulling me into a false sense of security. As the weather was decidedly cold and icy I can’t say I was disappointed. After a bit of map looking I decided to revist an old haunt from my childhood. In the thirty years or so since I’d last been to Millers Pond things had changed a little.

30 November 2012

The Moonwalk training walk this morning was relatively short, just five miles. The plan throws in these shorter walks every few weeks to mix things up a bit. Last night I spent some time on WalkJogRun working out a route that didn’t take me anywhere likely to be frozen or flooded which was a good job because, when I left home, it was literally freezing. The decking was so iced up I used the front door to avoid it. Not a good plan to start off with a broken foot and last time I fell on the decking that’s how it ended up. Funnily enough, my granddaughter, Ashley, fell on the decking at her house and broke her arm a few weeks ago, must run in the family. Even with my parka, floppy eared hat, scarf and gloves my teeth were chattering. There was a thick layer of frost on the holly in the front garden and the berries on the Cotoneaster looked liked they’d been dipped in sugar.

The plan was to walk up through the village, past the church and the police station, taking a route I’d walked countless times before on my way to school and then college, then take a zigzag route to Millers Pond. Back in my school days I had a friend who lived near it and we used to walk her dog there. By the time I got to the top of the big hill my fingers were freezing because I had to keep taking my gloves off to pause WalkJogRun when I crossed roads. If they were cold at this stage they were going to be positively painful after five miles so I popped into Sainsbury’s to see if they had some cheap gloves I could maybe make a hole in the finger of so I could use the iPhone without taking them off. What I found was actually better. They had some woollen fingerless gloves with mitten flaps that you can easily flip off and back on again, they were only three pounds fifty too so I thought I’d give them a go. After that I felt a bit better and I found I could easily pull the mitten flaps on and off with my teeth while holding the iPhone in the other hand, why didn’t I think of that before?

As I crossed the precinct I nearly got mown down by the scary woman who drives the mobility scooter. She really does act like she’s the only person in the world and just drives through any human obstacle that happens to be in her path. Not for the first time I wondered how you’d stand if you were run over by one of the damned things? Obviously you wouldn’t stand, you’d lie bleeding on the pavement but you know what I mean, would the person be prosecuted for dangerous driving? Could you sue them? Maybe they should have to pass a test. She drove right at me with a look of grim determination, almost as if she was relishing the thought of ploughing into me. Luckily, I managed to dodge at the last minute and she sped off through the precinct scattering pedestrians as she went.

The sun was still low in the sky when I got to the Millers Pond pub and the frost was still a thick blanket over everything. The whole area was a brick works back when Pappy first came to Southampton but the pond was there, created in the eighteenth century as a reservoir to power a wood mill further down the hill in Mayfield Park. Sadly the mill house was destroyed by bombs in World War II and I can’t even find any old photos on Google so I don’t really know what it looked like. Millers Pond has changed a bit since I was a girl, back then it was just a pond and some woods but now it’s been tarted up a bit and fenced off. Nothing looked the way I remembered it and I wasn’t exactly sure how to get in but, once I crossed the road, I could see a gate with a sign that said Millers Pond, walkers welcome.

On the other side of the gate there was a leaf strewn path leading into the trees. The ground was a bit muddy under the leaves in places and took me by surprise as my feet nearly went from under me. Speed went out the window as I carefully picked my way through the worst of the mud and the still frozen puddles wondering all the time if I was actually going in the right direction. On the map the path had seemed much more defined but this was getting narrower and turning into a barely discernible trail through the woods. After a bit I could see a glimmer of water through the trees to let me know I was going in the right direction so I carried on. Then I came to a place where I could see the pond properly and the houses in Spring Road on the other side. There were even a couple of ducks taking a leisurely swim. Rather them than me in the icy water.

After what seemed like an age of slipping and sliding on the muddy path, wondering if I was going in the right direction or if the path would suddenly end and I’d have to retrace my steps I came upon a thin tarmac lane, which must have been what I’d seen on the map. The lane was strewn with fallen leaves and frosty. In the distance I could see a hint of mist but at least there was no more mud. I stopped at a convenient bench for a closer look at the map on my WalkJogRun and could see the lane started about half a mile from the gate I’d gone through. If I’d just kept on walking my trainers wouldn’t have been muddy. Oh well, live and learn.

A little way along the path there were a series of wooden viewing platforms you could stand on to get a better look at the pond but the wood was so thick with frost I didn’t dare step on them for fear of slipping into the water. I did stop to take some photos of the last of the autumn leaves reflected in the water. The sun was still trying to force its way through the trees but the sky above was blue with some icy looking clouds. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we have some snow soon. After a final photo of the sky criss crossed with white con trails taken from just behind the last viewing platform I came to the end of the path. Leaving the pond behind I crunched my way across the crisp frosty grass to the old railway arches where Spring Road begins. The other side of the arches is Mayfield Park where the mill once stood. Walking that way you can get all the way to the shore, maybe that’s one for another day. By now I’d walked about two and a half miles so I was on track for my five mile walk.

From there it’s mostly up hill back to my village. Spring Road meanders up the hill like the stream it was named after. It’s not a steep hill, just a steady incline and I kept up a good speed, trying to make up for the time I spent sliding about on the muddy leaves beside the pond. It seemed like no time at all before I reached the big dip that leads to the start of Spring Road and the Village at the top of my Big Hill. When I checked the WalkJogRun I could see I’d have to do some rethinking if I wanted to make the five miles. If only I’d realised about the other entrance to Millers Pond and walked a bit further. In the end I walked down Peartree Avenue for a bit until I came to the steep hill leading down to the very bottom of my own Big Hill. The road snakes down following the river and when I got to the bottom I was more or less on target for the five miles.

The final stretch was up the first slope of the Big Hill but when I turned into my road I still had a tenth of a mile to go. I could have called it quits I suppose and gone inside to get warm but I wanted to complete the distance so I wandered up and down the road a bit watching the distance click past on the WalkJogRun until I’d done exactly five miles. Hopefully none of the neighbours were looking out of their windows at the time or they would have been wondering what on earth I was up to. Finally I went in for a nice cup of coffee and a sit down.