Windswept in Shropshire

I haven't spent much time in Shropshire; maybe a couple of interviews in Telford and I think I went to a tennis tournament there years ago. This weekend, up there with my book club discussing the work of Mary Webb I was blown away (almost literally) by its mad beauty. There are birds of all types everywhere, long hedgerows, big skies and a sharp East wind that makes you happy to encounter a fire and a good dinner (with locally sourced ingredients). Really a fantastic Bank Holiday Weekend.

Walking in Kent

Time Out Country Walk No: Not sure, but it was Borough Green to Sevenoaks.
Time: 6 and a bit hours, but difficulty 4. So no sore feet.

A lovely walk on a Sunday afternoon in a green portion of Kent; really hard to believe it's half an hours train ride out of London. Can't look back on it with much, or indeed any, pleasure; my friend T rang as we had lunch and told me his Dad had died. A grim week had begun. Went to Manchester for the funeral on the Tuesday, marvelled at the courage of those closest left behind. A remarkable man has left us.

Nicest Day of The Year

It really was. The advantage of spending the Bank Holiday weekend locked up in the newsroom was escaping the following day to a largely deserted Henley. The sun blasted down as we trekked along the Thames then across fields and woods to Marlow. There was wildlife everywhere; a swan with her eggs, kites hunting above the trees and a thousand ducks in riotous assembly.

Walking in Surrey

Time Out Walk: Number 42
Bluebells seen: 300,045
Quaint Victorian Relic of Rural Repression: 1 (see above)

Another lovely walk, this time in Surrey about ten miles east of Gatwick Airport. I'm really starting to like it down there, but perhaps that's because I can go home at the end of the day. Lunch in a bizarre pub with the smallest Ham Ploughmans I've ever paid £7.95 for. At one point one of the staff ran from the pub weeping. Ms T went to the loo and the manager came to quiz me on how I'd enjoyed my lunch. I told him his plate was a tad wee.
"I've sold twenty of those this lunchtime" he said.
No wonder country pubs are closing in droves.
We passed the weeping member of staff sat crouched next to the road, being comforted by the chef.

Wandering in Woburn

Time Out Walk: Book 2 Number 17
Weather: Brisk
Animals seen: Squirrels, Wolves, Hundreds of deer and a number of Indian Elephants.

The plumber came at 7, turned off the water and the heating, so we headed to Bedfordshire for one of those Time Out walks. Winter's last throw; everything faded and chill. But no rain, so we did a good pace to Woburn where we lunched at a rather indifferent pub and then went on following the route into the safari park.

The public footpath network leads right through it; you can see the animals without paying, albeit a bit far away, plus you're out of the car. We encountered the elephants in their holding pen who ambled over to their fence to have a look at us. At one point two Apache helicopters swooped low over the trees and vanished with a low rumble.

Lost in West Sussex

These chickens thought we knew where we were going. They were wrong. If you're going to use the Time Out book of Country Walks to navigate the countryside on your day off, use the updates off the net. Or prepare to stand about for ages looking at stiles and saying, this isn't right is it, and asking when the pub shuts.