The pouring rain

Uckfield to Buxted
12-Nov-16
24.90 km
15.48 miles
5  people
6.00 hours

The rain poured down that day
Along the broken paths we walked
Over hidden stiles in thickets
Trails overgrown in undergrowth.

We walked into the sombre dusk
The shower lessened to a drizzle
Rural lanes through woods and fields
Waterlogged grass and muddy feet.

The lunchtime locals in the pub
Talked beetroot and fine white wine
For the forthcoming festive days
We sat and thawed over vegan beer
That winter day after Martinmas
Shivered with cold on the way home.

The Fog

Polegate to Glynde
Date 29-Oct-16
Actual Distance km  26.70
Actual Distance miles 16.59
People 9

We walked uphill into the clouds
The damp nimbus impregnating our clothes
With freezing water and drizzle
In our own private world of mists.

The air then cleared and left a view
A crimson band above the azure sea
Cosy hamlets nestling at our feet
Under the distant glooming clouds.

In the cold and foggy cloudscape
We talked about our little lives
Remembered conviviality long gone
We rejoiced in the distant sea
The golden sunset the low skyline
Fields blanketed in evening mist.

The Painter

Princes Risborough to Saunderton
Date 23-Jul-16
Actual Distance km 34.00
Actual Distance miles 21.13
People                                         14

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We walked along uninterrupted lanes

Under the shade of leafy trees 

Guessing at the form of the land

Screened from burning light of sun.

Our vistas suddenly were revealed

A lonely painter sat on a hill

Partitioning canvas with dark runes

Wild flowers rampaged at our feet.

That perfect day of English sun

Revealed a cornucopia of beatitudes

We witnessed weddings in the sun

Frayed our way through undergrowth

Eat ice creams at the Hellfire Club

And wandered up a steep hill home.

North Yorkshire

28-May-2016 to 4-Jun-2016

A land of mists and melancholy scenes

Gothic windows of a proud ruined abbey 

Reminders of the Vikings who once ruled 

Cleveland's cliffs melting into the sea.

A land of magic where vampires roamed

Saints who spread the faith in ages old

The angry sea swelling against the rocks

The heather and gorse on the heath.

We laughed and sang in the humid dew 

Saw Whitby's once proud fishing port

Now mostly filled by pleasure craft

We walked the heaths and saw the bracken 

The yellow flowered gorse upon the hills

Enjoyed that land of fog and sorcery.

A pub with a view

Haddenham and Thame Parkway to Bicester North

Date   21-May-16
Actual Distance km   28.00
Actual Distance miles           17.40
People   5

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Virgin paths overgrown with grass

Gates closed with Gordian knots

Curious cows following us cross fields

Affluent towns with old thatched roofs.

A terrace in Brill outside a pub

A view of a windmill and two counties

The horizon slowly vanishing in mist 

An afternoon's walk through the rain

Although we walked along some busy roads

And the footpaths there were overgrown

In a land of fields and limpid brooks

A skyline indistinct and far away

The beauty of our country from on high

That cruel day in May was a delight.

The Delayed Train

Wivelsfield to Haywards Heath
Date 16-Apr-16
Actual Distance km         31.00
Actual Distance miles 19.27
People 13

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We sat in a darkened train for a half an hour

Late starting, we walked through muddy fields.

A lonely, angry looking bull started at us

Escaping hostilities, we have him a wide berth.

We squelched through mud and slipped in slime

Along streams bordered with hosts of bluebells

Sheffield Park station's weekend pleasure seekers

Stared askance at our squalid, smelly crowd.

At an impromptu pub, found halfway along our walk

Our polyglot group talked of learning languages

While eating gourmet snacks and drinking limpid beer

We warmed ourselves by an enormous crackling fire

The Lingua Franca was rain, wet feet and swamps

That day we spent walking in the Wealden lands.

A game of Chess

Brief Description Chorleywood to Amersham
Date 19-Mar-16
Actual Distance km 26.00
Actual Distance miles 16.16
People 15/16

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Chorleywood common and Saturday golfers
The muddy green banks of the River Chess
Uphill to Sarratt Church and village
Copperfield Common and pretty Flaunden.

We lunched at the dainty Swan at Ley Hill
Wandered the woodland past Moors Farm
Botley and down to the greening river again
Up a wooded hill to Amersham town station.

The weather that day was grey and windy
But comely views of blowsy Chiltern hills
Viewed through breaks in forest trees
The limpid flowing waters of the Chess
in verdant groves of newly budding plants
Made a perfect day of spring in March.

Delta of Wandle

Brief Description    The lower Wandle
Date     9-Mar-16
Actual Distance miles    5
People    3

The bustle of Wimbledon High Street at dusk
Crowds of people doing their evening shop
Luminous puddles reflecting darkening sky
A commuter train whizzing past above meadows.

The river goddess gurgled happily at our feet
While cyclists, flashing headlamps, hurried by
A Gothic dome of leafless branches over us
The winter twilight gradually closing in.

Private apartments now line the open river
Where factories and workshops once abounded
The Wandle delta is now quite different
With Putney lights reflected in the Thames.

Dryads

Tilehurst to Twyford.
Date 13-Feb-16
Actual Distance km 29.20
Actual Distance miles 18.15
Percent Variance from planned 2.82%
People 16
Hours 6.00

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Lissom tree spirits entwined their lithe bodies
While they performed their naked winter dances
In forests with tall trees bereft of leaves
And naiads in the valleys wet their muddy beds.

Lunch at the Reformation in Gallowstree Common
Where we discussed the reign of Henry the Eighth
Eating soup and sandwiches under leadened skies
While steam evaporated from our dampened clothes.

Bare fields had turned to a quaggy slippy morass
And our feet sank ankle deep into the liquid mud
Different kinds of drizzle pattered on our heads
As we walked towards the tattoo parlours of Twyford.

Suburban Rivulets

Cheam to Earlsfield

Date 10-Jan-16

Actual Distance km 25.80

Actual Distance miles 16.00

People 11

Hours 5.53

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Nonsuch park and its manicured lawns

Playful dogs running up to greet our group

Four old concrete posts we passed

All that's left of King Henry's Palace.

A small jail house beside a pub in Ewell

Once used to can the pixilated locals

The muddy banks of the Hogsmill river

Down to a feast at the old watchman's house.

The babbling bubbles of the Beverley Brook

Caesar's dubious old Iron Age fort upon a hill 

Wimbledon's windmill now bereft of sails

The Gherkin seen from the park club house.