Fleet Services is actually adjacent to the suburbs of Fleet itself, it's just not very convenient to move from one to the other. There is a huge wooden wall between the two that I suppose can be justified on noise reduction grounds but I can't see any good reason for preventing people walking between the two. Luckily there is a service road, liberally adorned with hostile notices warning of prosecution for trespass if one were to use it. It doesn't penetrate the wall of course but at least it does allow one to reach the main local road without travelling along the motorway. So I walked about 1 300 m along that until I came to quite a pleasant footpath through a wooded strip beside the road that headed to the centre of Fleet.
The service road is actually quite a pleasant walk
On the footpath through the wooded strip between the housing estate and the road there are lots of trees and bushes.
After the Two Spoons I decided to walk back via a pub. There were a couple nearby but I settled on the De Havilland which is about half way along a slight detour.
I stopped at Sainsbury's to pick up a packet of mini pork pies and some coleslaw and then set off through new build suburbia.
It was an interesting walk. After a while I was powerfully reminded of Victorian back to backs. The houses are of course much more expensive, larger, and better appointed. But they have the same lack of public greenery and are even more lacking regarding front gardens, they have none at all.
So now I'm in the De Havilland which turns out to be a Hall and Woodhouse pub. So I'm having a pint of Fursty Ferret. I asked for a packet of crisps but they have none. Odd, that's two pubs in a row that had no crisps. The barman offered a portion of chips instead which turned out well. The WiFi is good too.
After DEBRA I started looking for a café. There are quite a few in the main street but none that really dragged me in.
I eventually settled on the Two Spoons because it has a notice outside that tickled me slightly
My toasted teacake arrived astonishingly quickly, they must have used a flamethrower to toast it so quickly! Unfortunately this means that although it is toasted it's not actually hot. The mocha is hot and nicely decorated.
Once I reached the centre I started trawling the charity shops for books and anything else that looked like I couldn't live without.
Saw a miniskirt that I quite liked in BHF but it was five quid. I can live without it.
Fleet looks like a very new town and the centre is just one long straight road so eventually I ran out of charity shops, cafés, and pubs. So turned back.
What's the going rate for a second hand copy of Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club? One charity shop wanted two pounds for the paper back but I got it and a hardback of the Last Devil to Die for one fifty altogether at DEBRA.
