SWE 0 - 2 ENG

Hurst Green to Lingfield
LDWA
7 Jul 2018
29km, 18 miles
6 people

Anticipation held us in thrall
That torrid day in the Weald
Hammer ponds in shady trees
Obscure groves in emerald seas

Lunch was held in a wire mill
We watched a water ski outside
Loved the cool of the limpid lake
And on our way before match start

We were coming home in silence
Through quietly deserted paths
A rousing cheer occasionally heard
From houses with all windows open
One of our group shouted results
She occasionally received by SMS.

Fighting through the bush

17 June 2018
Blackheath Ramblers
25km / 16 miles
6 people

That ancient railway track was worth the walk
A tunnel of green gave shelter from the suburbs
Gullege with its imposing lapidary facade
Marking the outskirts of the municipality

Limpid hammer ponds and sportfishing lakes
Shimmered in the cool light of the English sun
As the narrow footpaths slowly became degraded
Prickly and stinging vegetation grew around us

We bravely fought cross slaps of leaves
Tiny wriggling animalcules fell into our clothes
While we gained immunity from dreaded pollinosis
By numerous nettle stings which bit our legs
That day's summer cool was perfect walking time
Though we braved many hinderances on our way.

Bluebells and Primroses

Haywards Heath to Three Bridges
21 April 2018
28.56+2=30.56km /19 miles
10 people

A gallimaufry of ancient woodland

Interspersed with grass meadows

Rivers  running red with oxide of iron

Viridian grass on the brown earth. 

Bluebells and primroses in flower 

Gave colour to the forest floor

Old hammer ponds shimmered 

Between the trunks of ancient trees.

Forges once used the wood and water

Fashioning guns and ploughshares

From the locally produced iron ore

These forests now stand silently

In memory of an ancient industry

Once common among these forest groves.

Clay and Chalk

Clay and Chalk

Dorking to Westhumble

25 March 2018

7 People

31km / 20 miles

Slipping and sliding in the glorious mud

Prehensile clay eating our heavy boots

Sucking us into its slithery profundities

Until we walked uphill to the chalky downs.

Leith Hill was a revelation on that day

Forested slopes and daffodils blooming

The harbingers of spring in full beauty

Presaging the joys of summer to come.

Frost haired winter has been long and cold

His icy arms embraced us in his frigid torpor

Siberian winds and bitterness of Arctic snow

But the Green Man wakes now from his sleep

Blinks,  rubbing his eyes, and looks around

Laughs out loud and chases our blues away.

Stories

Chorleywood to Amersham
10 September 2017
4 people
32 km / 19.8 m
LDWA

The Chilterns landscape is full of memories
Ancient buildings recall peoples' lives of old
Cattle sheds made from monumental stone
Owl and pussycat gates found on a shady path.

Brick kilns from time immemorial fired clay
In some forgotten forest which we passed
The modern works nearby with piles of bricks
Where people toil the whole week through.

We wished we had an almanac to explain
The curious places marked out on maps
The memorial plaques on gates recalling
The long passed life of some lost relative
Or the golden jubilee of an unknown pair
In the green hills among the grazing sheep.

Dryads

Burgess Hill to Three Bridges
19 August 2017

14 people

27.5 km / 17 miles

Blackheath Ramblers

Morning dryads were angry

Bit our ankles with nettles

Unleashed barking rabid dogs

From undergrowth around roots.

We drank a lunchtime libation

In honour of those tree spirits

The grey clouds cleared from afar

We walked along pleasant glades.

August end presages autumn

Sweet blackberries ready to pick

Leaves burning a russet colour

Summer's ardour almost spent

And our fifty years old stories

Of Empire's end in the east.

Gridlock

Amersham to Great Missenden
2 July 2017
7 people
26 km; 16 miles

The undulating topography of a patchwork landscape
Forests and fields of wheat flowing into each other
Like the black and white squares of a chequerboard
The tall wheat ready for the summer harvest time.

A midsummer festival in each small town around
Open gardens of Little Missenden drew crowds
Navigating their motors through narrow country lanes
Brought to a standstill through lack of car parks.

So remember, you lovers of local floral displays
A car can only travel from one car park to the next
If you wish to take pleasure in gardens galore
Try leaving the limo safely behind in its space
And experience the beauty of the wheat in the fields
and the cool delight of woodland paths as you walk.