Whoever it was yesterday who said we needed some steady drizzle got their wish here this morning. The cloud came down and obscured all the horizons and the drizzle fell steadily. I was running in the damp again! The drizzle stopped later so maybe today will be like yesterday and brighten up considerably in the afternoon.
The blue sky and sunshine tempted us outdoors in the mid to late afternoon yesterday. The idea was to walk up the hill to Dobcross and back down again. Phil took the secateurs with him to “tidy up the hill” - in other words remove any stray brambles and the like which had dared to venture over the wall and onto the pavement.
Maybe a quarter of the way up the hill we came to the turn-off for the Woodland Path. I suggested going down there. Phil ummed and awed about, fearing it might be a bit wet from the rain that had fallen in the night, but in the end we turned off the main road. The path begins on someone’s driveway and after 100 yards or so veers off to the right again onto the path proper. This turn-off was pretty much obscured by enormous nettles. We might have been better with a scythe rather than secateurs but you have to manage with the tools available at the time.
Further down the path Himalayan balsam added to the problem, some of it ridiculously tall and far too much of it to eradicate completely without an army of volunteers. We always pull a few up as we go along. Clearly this policy of encouraging others has some effect. Most paths around here are strewn with dried up balsam stalks.
So we had a slow start to our walk through the woods. After that the path grew clearer but Phil still found plenty of miscreant nettles to cull.
We reached the point where the new owner of some of the land has fenced his property, restricting walkers to the path itself. From the amount of barbed wire at the top of his fencing and entwined around a padlocked gate, it is clear that he wants nobody climbing over the pick HIS abundant blackberries. I hope he plans to pick them and make jam!
Incidentally, according to this article which maintains that 92% of England is off limits to the public, barbed wire was not well accepted when first introduced in the countryside:-
“Huntsmen complained of terrible accidents resulting from their horses vaulting the unexpected wire, while members of the House of Lords railed that “nothing was more calculated to destroy the amenities of country life”. What reason was there, asked Lord Thring in 1893, “why a child wandering along the roadside picking cowslips and blackberries should be liable to have its hands lacerated and its clothes torn by these fences?”
“Today, barbed wire is an accepted feature of the countryside; a misanthropic aberration faded into the background of daily life. It is the symbol of a sick culture that fetishises private property rights at the expense of all that is good, humane and beautiful. That’s why I and others have taken to mass trespass.”
The writer of that article recommends ignoring trespassers-will-be-prosecuted notices as trespassing is not actually a criminal offence. So long as you do no damage, roam freely with confidence. But be careful of the barbed wire!
I also read that Wainwright’s coast to coast trail from Cumbria to North Yorkshire has been given national trail status, which means it receives funding to help maintain it. Hugh Thomas, writer of this article, who walks the trail with his pack mule Jethro, waxed poetical and described walkers like this:-
“I always refer to the walkers as swallows. They start arriving in the spring, mass in the summer and then by autumn they’re leaving. It’s not just because of the cold. You need long days to manage the stages. By November, the light’s fading too early.”
Anyway, getting back to our Woodland Path (it has that official name and informative notices about the types of trees and birds you can see), the erector of fences has not enclosed the Wishing Tree, an oak tree that some people, possibly local hippies (?), have so designated. Maybe the fence man felt it was a step too far. Usually it’s festooned with ribbons, maybe placed there on significant nights of full moon, but at the moment it’s covered in blue hearts on which local schoolchildren have written their ambitions, hopes and dreams. “When I grow up I want to be a vet. In year three I wish we can do more art,” writes a Year 2 pupil, impressing me with her writing skills.
While Phil snipped, I snapped pictures of the fine day we were having.
It was a rather longer walk than intended, at least time-wise because of all the snipping stops. But it was time well spent. We saw relatively few people out and about. Maybe the dull start to the day had put people off but we need to walk these routes to ensure that they do remain open to the public.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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