'Mirth & Maltesers'.

8 of us met a the Horse & Groom for our afternoon walk on Friday.

We started from East Lavant and walked up the track onto Trundle Hill.

We had one brief shower so all donned our wet weather gear.

Despite the clouds the countryside looked beautiful and the path edges were full of wild flowers.

The views down the valley to Chichester Cathedral and beyond gave us a good picture of the area.

The skylarks heralded summer. At the top of Trundle Hill we got a fine view of Goodwood Racecourse before heading back across the hill fort to take a path across the fields heading west.

The hedgerows were bursting with blossom, old mans beard and buttercups.

We walked back into the village across a clear stream passing lovely gardens and headed for the pub where the barman kindly supplied us with tea, coffee and maltesers.

We met up with the other two members of our group on our return and enjoyed drinks and a good supper before an early night for most.

Saturday dawned bright and breezy and we set off from West Stoke up the track to Kingley Vale Nature Reserve.

The Reserve covers 150 acres and contains the largest surviving yew forest in the world.

A trail leads through the ancient, gnarled and quite sinister trees to a clearing at the heart of the Vale.

We climbed up through the trees (quite a challenge!) to the top and enjoyed wonderful views over Chichester.

We spent a few minutes exploring a group of Bronze Age tumuli known as the Devil's Humps.

We then set off inland on the Monarch's Way walking passed lush fields of crops and glorious woodland.

On arrival in Stoughton we piled into the pub for coffee, tea and shandies.

Continuing on, we walked out across the fields to Walderton stopping for lunch behind a hedge to get away from the breeze.

We were all enchanted by the array of flowers on our trip.

Leaving Walderton we headed up onto Walderton Down and followed the path up through the woods back to the Nature Reserve and further views of the sea and the end of a lovely walk.

Back at the Hotel we met for tea and a good chat about the 2007 WW brochure!

After a rest we met for drinks and another good supper.

Sunday proved extremely wet but undeterred we togged up for our walk at Bosham.

As it was so wet we walked fairly briskly round the harbour and across the farmland to the Fishbourne Channel glimpsing Chichester Cathedral in the mist.

Our path took us through the reed beds and past the mill pond where we fed the ducklings.

The rain and thunder started again so we had a quick stop for a drink before heading back to Bosham and a very welcome cup of tea.

We were only allowed in the tea shop because we agreed to sit on plastic bags!

We then bid farewell - the rain had not been able to dampen our spirits!