Today
I took the train to Cowden to access two walks described in my guidebook. Initially,
the trail climbed to a high ridge to provide outstanding views on a lovely day.
Then the trail meandered across pastures, over farm fields, through woods and
along a river. Sound familiar? It was a
beautiful day for another walk through the countryside.
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| Blue skies, nothing but blue skies... |
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| Carpet of flowers |
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| On a clear day, you can see forever... |
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| The corn is as high as ... |
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| Wild flowers everywhere |
Only
once did I have difficulty finding the trail. Actually, I found it, but it was
planted over with wheat. Generally, farmers leave unplanted a trail at least 18
inches wide, so walkers don’t damage the crop by exploring. This farmer,
however, planted right across the right of way. Some walkers had worn a feeble
path through the wheat, following the right of way, but I didn’t want to deal with
the knee-high wheat. So I improvised another route along a bridleway and minor
road, and guess what. I rounded a corner to find a lovely pub a few minutes
after noon. I didn’t really need a break, but I sat in the courtyard for about
45 minutes, enjoying a lemonade and a salmon sandwich.
The
only unpleasantness of the day was finding a pile of trash as the footpath crossed
a road. “Fly tipping” (illegal dumping) is a problem in England where trash
collection is generally billed by volume. Signs warning against “fly tipping”
are everywhere, but people still do it – generally out in the countryside where
nobody is watching. This trash pile will be cleaned up sooner or later, but
there’ll be another to take its place.
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| Fly tip |
Still,
even a pile of trash couldn’t diminish a lovely day.
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| Church at Cowden |
© 2014 Ken Klug
Well, I've finally remembered to catch up with you and your travels. You've been coming close to my family in the last few weeks - my parents are near Arundel, I have an aunt in Eastbourne and my in-laws live in Deal. My father's maternal ancestors lived in the South Downs a little west of Amberley for centuries - at least back as far as the Civil War. My Great Aunt Mary (sadly departed) lived in Hartfield - not far from Cowden where you are now - so you've been saluting them all! now it looks like you are heading our way into the big city - I'm really intrigued how you work your way into London from where you are over the next five days or so....
ReplyDeleteYeah, another lovely walk through the English countryside. Life is good and hopefully you will have nothing but sunshine all the way through.
ReplyDeleteHappy trail to you Sir Lost-a Lot.
Do I hear a new theme song coming? About blue skies? To replace rain drops on my head.
ReplyDeleteShirley
I've been expecting a mention of fly-tipping. Of all of my walking around the UK, I've never come across any county with anywhere near as big a fly-tipping problem as Kent. When Mick & I passed through a few years back, we were coming across multiple incidents on a daily basis - I particuarly remember the 'no tipping' sign which was almost covered by the amount of rubbish piled around it.
ReplyDeleteHi, Gayle. I've been ignoring the tips, but this one caught my eye because it was right next to the trail, and was particularly photogenic.
ReplyDelete