Wellbeing Walk 3 - South - Transitions

Our walk South took us through transitions, passing from one sort of space to another: an industrial estate, over water, through woodland, into open fields.

We aimed to find a place to plant our windmills. The weather had threatened, there had been rain earlier but our group of walkers had happily grown in numbers. We left the station chatting contentedly with water bottles, Carolyn's laden picnic bags and glistening windmills.

Winding our way South through an industrial estate, we went through a waymarked gap and instantly found ourselves once again in a place overtaken by nature. The sounds changed, a stream bubbled below, wild flowers brushing our legs.

Squeezing through the permitted gap in search of open spaces

Onwards, a path took us over a stretch of water towards two monstrous warehouses standing like lego blocks against the sky. Many enticing paths engaged our curiosity, but we followed the way over a metal bridge and between the warehouses.

Cloud overhead but the day stayed fair.

Seductive deep water

The bridge echoed under our feet. This resulted in a playful jumping and stomping on the bridge and Carole tried to record the metallic resonance of our stamping!

curvaceous young Dock

The path led us through a beautiful created walk edged by wildflowers and hedges, until we came back to a road. But along the road further down we crossed a stile and once again found ourselves in a cool woodland.

Through the gate and into the woods,

traffic noises replaced by birdsong,

following soft, earthy pathways

Testing the man-made arch,

listening to birdsong,

adventuring,

being embraced by the woods

The path through the woods went on and on, the shade brought coolness and the sounds changed. Dappled sunlight scattered across the path. To our left a deep furrow ran parallel to our track, trees growing out of it in a single line.

All of a sudden we burst out of the wood and were confronted by a huge open field, lush green, a panorama of fields and trees spread before us. This was the place to plant our windmills!

We picnicked here to the sound of the windmills rhythm.

Eating plums

one of 5 a day

warm breeze,

gentle heat,

open space

Exploring Jo's map

Then back on our return journey. We were all so calm and content that we didn't realise for some time that Carole was no longer with us! Somebody asked the question, and we waited... and waited...

Eventually she came back to join us. Seduced by the woods, she had lost herself recording the birdsong...

Along the route we had all been collecting things to put in small envelopes.

These resulted in a fine tuning of our attention to detail and the small things... the results of the envelopes were exquisite arrangements of colours and textures. We must use these somehow on our next walk.

Peter's request

a golden poppy

self-seeded

growing in the path

We got back later than expected but the walk had been a wonderfully relaxed, calm experience, and what a lovely sociable group! We look forward to our final walk next week, which must include an element of celebration to complete our explorations!

Journey's end - almost

Our route