I am writing on route to Oxfordshire’s Windrush Valley on a glorious sunny June day. Here, with the children helping us, David and I will be putting together a short trail for guests to enjoy. There is an air of expectation.
Driving through Wiltshire’s countryside the landscapes whizzing past the glass windows are bursting with green. There are huge stretches of delicate Cow Parsley which float like a mist on the verges and white Hawthorn and Horse Chestnut blossom. The land looks a vision of green and white.
I’m feeling an excitement whirling in my tummy and a sense of glorious adventure. The same feeling which first inspired Foot Trails. The pure and simple joy of travelling, going somewhere new and exploring it and discovering all sort of previously unknown history and stories.
Through travel we learn more about our world and we often gain a greater perspective and understanding of our own home.
I can also appreciate more than ever the feeling of freedom I find being outdoors and in the countryside. Relative peace and silence, space and the great reminder of the power of nature.
Arriving we spring out the car and put on our boots. No need for jumpers today but we pop them in our rucksacs with waterproofs, a wild flower guide, fudge and my camera. All set for our own small but no less momentous adventure in the Windrush valley.
The afternoon and evening stretch out far ahead of us, unfilled, so that we have no pressure of time. The promise of dinner at the pub an added motivation. And the discoveries ahead of us are all at this point unknown and yet to become reality. Our delightful discovery of the knight who died in 1603 and is buried along with his family in the small village church leaving a striking tomb and statue to remind us what he looked like in life. Clearly highly regarded locally. The sight of a mother duck and her countless ducklings skirting awkwardly and furiously behind her across a village pond. The fall of the sun on the woodland and the shadows created on the land by the clouds.
Adventure lies ahead in Oxfordshire’s Windrush Valley…….and we are looking forward to enjoying it all. I will savour every moment.
