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Published: April 15th 2006
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Monday morning Sean gets an unexpected assignment which keeps him extremely busy for most of the week. Sean had a dental appointment and vision exam this week. Picked out some new frames as spare pairs of glasses is essential when travel for more than a few months. Really like the frames and thankfully there’s a two for one deal going on. Also, ordered several months of contact lenses for both Sean and myself.
Liam dropped in on Friday evening; he’s off to Oslo to visit an old school mate of Sean and his called Mike. We thought about joining Liam and Anne on this holiday realistically though time was always against us. Not to mention we get our last round of inoculations this Monday.
Check the BBC weather for the weekend and it looks like Saturday is the best day for an outing this weekend; cold, windy and SUNNY. Sound great and it is. Sean spotted an abandoned village on the map that he wanted to visit. I imagined having to drive for at least a couple of hours before getting to our destination. And was happily surprised when we arrive in less than an hours time, parked the
car and walk to the beginning of the path.
The lot was full we lucked out as someone was leaving as we arrived. We saw a few people who seemed fully equipped to take the trail all the way to the coast. We planned a day out type of hike. We had a map but seems we lost track of where we where pretty quickly. The trail post indicated direction but nothing more, no estimated time or distance to next point.
This was a magical day for me. The English countryside is so beautiful, the colours and contrast, the sounds. Absolutely, gorgeous day to talk a long walk in the country… at one point we stop at a trig point (triangulation point) for map readers which I am not.
Anyhow, took a photo of The Blair family - less Gerard (my younger brother in-law) wasn’t interested in joining us as we set out too early! As Sean and Thomas looked at the map a group of children with their gear approached the point. There were about seven of them plus a dog. Greeting them one responded
absolutely, shattered
with a huge ear to ear smile on his face.
The look of accomplishment on his face was joyful. As the seemed to be ending their journey we were just beginning ours.
Later I thought they must have been in their early teens, if teens at all. I would love to have done something similar when I was their age what an adventure it would have been sort of like the movie Stand by Me . At least that’s what I’d like to imagine.
The sky is electric; we spot a glider plane in the distance and just barely manage to get a photo of it. An ideal day to glide in the wind we follow the trail and end up on a bit of trail with naked trees on either side and their fallen leaves lay on the path ahead of us. About half way down the trail Sean and the folks decide to take the higher trail instead so I need to about face to catch them up. Finding my self stopping, closing my eyes for a brief moment to listen to the sound of the trees clank into one another creating a magical sound like wind chimes and watching the wind rustle up the
leaves into flight from the earth upward over the adjacent field to find a new resting place if only temporary. We also spotted a snake that at first glance looked frozen; on the way back it turns out it we alive and well!
We pass a field of grazing sheep. Soon we decide it’s time to find our way back to the car which is easier said than done in the end. Spotting a historical site we hop over the fence to get a closer look, form the distance we saw these mounds of earth that turned out to be over 3,000 years old called
The Devil’s Jump
. It’s getting cold and we have a couple of hours of daylight left.
Reaching a fork in the path, the plan was to return the way we came on the path. At this cross roads, in error, we went the straight instead of turning right on the path. We came onto a cluster of building where someone must live but none of the services were available. Everything was shut for the season, perhaps?
So no longer on a trail path we are on a road, a very narrow one that eventually
intersects the main road. Now we carry on the road walking against traffic as there isn’t much of a shoulder to walk on luckily it’s still very bright and we press forward.
After walking along the roadside for a quarter of an hour we spot a beautiful walk way. The votes are against me and we stick to the road, the path is for another day. Eventually, we get to the path that runs parallel to the road and leads us back to the care park which is nearly empty when we arrive.
While walking this bit of trail the sun is low in the skyline and the evening light is a purple blue and there is a fallen tree with its roots exposed. We take a couple of photos then get back to the patch of vivid green take a couple photos to end the day.
We realized along the way that we walked a lot further than originally planned. In the end we walked for just over five hours and estimate about eight miles as the pace was relaxed.
As a thank you and reward to the folks, we head to the pub for
Thomas and Maureen
this is the naked wood I was mentioned - Loved the sound ! magical a congratulatory pint. I had ale which was excellent as I normally go for light blonde beer. Anyhow, we treat the parents to an Indian dinner. We all worked up an appetite having skipped lunch.
Can honestly say this was an exceptional day and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment.
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