Over the past few years we have walked the Thames Path and the Ridgeway as well as walking long stretches of the Pembroke Coast, Offa's Dyke and the South West Coast path. These trails are funded and managed nationally but the government is proposing local management which is opposed by The Rambler's Association amongst others. More than 7,000 people have signed their petition calling on Natural England - the Government body responsible - to rethink their plans for National Trails but the decision will be made next month. Local responsibility for the trails will almost inevitably mean less investment , a decline in quality and possibly commercial involvement that could be detrimental to their natural beauty.
These pics were taken last summer on the South West Coast path - the red sandstone cliffs near Sidmouth - very steep walk! - and the chalk harbour at Beer - very good crab & chips! Please sign the petition.
A fabulous walking day. We took the bridle path behind the Bridgewater monument and down to Barleycoombe, skirting Aldbury to Clipperdown and back along the Ashridge Boundary path. About two hours in glorious autumn sunshine. The apple tree on the old drover's road was laden with Coxes Orange pippins and we managed to scrump a couple. In the distance the bleached grass blew and shimmered on Pitstone Hill and the Ridgeway beckoned. And good company: one of those perfect times where we finished each other's sentences, discovered we like all the same things and thoroughly enjoyed sharing the countryside we are so blessed with only 25 miles from London. In amongst the debris of the wheatfield these little wild pansies or Heartsease (sigh) and Speedwell.
I'm watching Room at the Top with the fabulous Maxine Peake. Better I thought than Simone Signoret in the 1959 classic, though she won an Oscar for it. I think I found the classic Penguin edition on my dad's bookshelf around 1970. He did read some good books! Funny how a young girl like Susan can be totally 'in love' (whatever that means.....') and not notice that her lover is not in love with her. I guess we have all been there. We think we can make them fit the story. Poor Susan doesn't even understand a good story when he tells it to her, which is rather a good ploy to discourage our empathy for her. And Joe isn't quite the angry young man of the Braine novel, in fact he's a bit soft, but Matthew Mcnulty matches Laurence Harvey in a sort of new mannish way. It's Maxine that makes it though; watch it for her tough, tender, bittersweet rendition of a more mature but poignant and hapless love.
I thought I was off the wall with my love of Richard Brautigan novels. As a nineteen year old art student I read them in the seventies but no one ever seemed to have heard of him. Simple, beautiful, deeply meaningful novels and poems, a Beat but never quite on the record. More zen than The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, he apparently did have a huge following in the US. and a smaller niche one over here - someone nicked my collection of his books before the decade ended.Now Jarvis Cocker has caught up with his fan base and his daughter Ianthe in 'Messy Isn't It?' The Life and Times of Richard Brautigan on Radio 4. Unfortunately iPlayer is baaad at keeping content for more than a week so I listened at 11.30 before the programme disappears into the ether. As a bonus I found a great archive and discovered plenty of 'out of prints' on Amazon. I have been recommending for the past forty years so hope that there will now be a revival.
Last day of coasteering we spent in Wells Next the Sea and we'll definitely be back. Perfect seaside, wide sandy bay, pretty beach huts, and sand dunes to nestle in. The geography of this coast with its sand bars and shingle spits is fascinating and dangerous. The coast from Cromer to Hunstanton is backed by creeks and salt marshes, everywhere are avid bird/ seal/ dophin watchers. We saw one seal from Blakeney Point while we ate our cod & chips! On the horizon Sheringham wind farm; I like it but why has it been funded and built by Norway and not team GB?
Tomorrow I walk in beautiful Wendover Woods for The Altzheimer's Society. This week we spent a lovely Autumn day in Southwold where John Betjeman wrote a poem to his friend Mary Wilson wife of the former Prime Minister. The linking article enlightened and the poem she wrote to mark his passing from Altzheimer's moved me.
Along the length of the pier are dedications of the sort you often see on seaside benches and which I always read feeling something akin to affection. Now in her nineties Mary lives quietly in Westminster where I suspect she still writes poetry...
Just back from a little trip up the east coast - Suffolk and Norfolk. Big seas then big skies. Called in at Snape. I love the old Maltings. Which do you prefer? No prizes for guessing my favourite. And then to Thorpeness, a place so close to Sizewell that I had always shied away. It was however an amazing find, a gem. Its creator is by turns called an eccentric and a philantropist. It started to rain just as we reached the boating lake which was a disappointment, but I think we will be back.
The Indian Summer continues and all the veggies that crashed early in the year are on top form. Sunshine in March, a heatwave in April followed by an unremittingly cold, wet May & June meant no beetroot or radishes but broad beans and lettuce have been excellent and we are now on the second crop; I am also trying for late beetroot on a second sowing. The lettuce is so sweet we are eating daily - and don't they look pretty?
Glued to Parade's End on BBC2, mostly looking at Adelaide Clemens pretty face and perfect hair. The best cut ever. Have to watch PE though to see from all angles and the fab movement. Wish I was 19 again and had half the nous I have today (at 19 I had none whatsoever.) Talented and dogged -http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/adelaide-clemens#/_ and, well, gorgeous.
Another week, another weekend. Fabulous weather and very satisfied that children can play outdoors as children should. One very warm day the boys found this slightly scary (for grandmas, who will be held accountable) spot on the River Colne and adventured for hours using the river as their pathway through dense undergrowth and scaring me half to death. All was well, just a little muddy! And today a family picnic near Marlow. The Ice Cream Boat came to call - v exciting, the man hands the ices ashore on a long pole to which you then clip your money and there is a pot for change. On the far shore a Jazz Band set up for the afternoon and we lazed around playing cricket, watching canoists and boats of every kind as we grazed. I didn't swim but the children stayed in for an impressively long while!
Had a wonderful birthday (his) down by the Thames yesterday, first at The Beetle and Wedge for a long, lazy and very indulgent lunch and later on to Henley where the urge overtook us, and quite a few others, so we took the plunge on the Regatta course which was luckily vacated at the time.First week o f the hols looking good!
After a mild winter and a few warm days before Easter the garden looks lovely - both the cherry blossom and the bluebells are earlier than last year but the cold north wind is now scattering petals with the hail.When I feel in need of comfort I often stand beneath the cherry breathing in the fragrance and listening to the humming bees.
Can't believe it - still horizontal almost a month later! Typing slowly with two fingers of right hand, I notice I sound stilted and am avoiding capitals. No matter; in these technological times I can leave my bed and walk the earth, with the aid of google. I notice that travelling the Pembroke Coast Path and checking out the uploads revives sensations deep in my brain - it really is, for a millisecond, just like being there. I expect there is a time - space equation for that and I have just felt it. It wasn't a smell but the feeling of my feet on the path and a leaning into the picture and it only works with somewhere I have been. Amazing - try it!
Awoken by cockerel crowing and kites keening it was a beautiful sunny day and is lighter this evening than since before 12th December with clear blue skies and a soft rose sunset, still twilight at 5 o'clock. The weather stays incredibly mild with roses still blooming and these incredibly profuse little daisies thinking they are somewhere in the Med! Still wanting to know their name if anyone can help? So, mustn't grumble. Happy New Year!
