Friday 24 April 2015

The right side of the hedge


Over the years I have been heeding the advice of Mark E Smith to eat yourself fitter. It hasn't worked, so I have decided a different course of action. I have always loved a walk, but never one of great distance until now. The footpaths, dark lanes and byways around this part of the hill intrigue me. So much so that I have been recently marking them off on my maps once trodden like an excited loco spotter. It's verging on the obsessional and I get twitchy if I don't get my fix.









One such route has captured my imagination more than most. The Monarch's Way. It passes my back garden as it carves its 615 mile route from Worcester to Brighton. The section I love the most goes up over my hill into the wilds of West Dorset along a glorious ridge up the holloway made famous in Robert Macfarlane's book of the same title (heartbreakingly now destroyed in places by the tractor and flail) and wends its way through the Marshwood Vale to Pilsden Pen and beyond. I love it.






Bilshay, Axen Brow, Henwood Copse, Jan's Hill, Denhay Hill, Wormstall Copse, Ryall Bottom, Copper Hill, Doctor's Copse all have their charm and I drink in the view to savour on dull days.  



A day walk brings much pleasure and all being well a pint en route but the air is the best refreshment - cooling from the sea or warm from the hills with a hint of ramson, bluebell and primrose at this time of year. 

This is the stuff of dreams or as I prefer to say it's the right side of the hedge. All being well I'll be back in time for tea. 




3 comments:

The Two Terriers said...


I love those hollowed out pathways, we walked a few on the Isle of Wight and some back home in North Yorkshire. Lovely stuff Dickie. ATB, John

PS The play-offs it is

The Two Terriers said...

Evertime I see 'The right side of the hedge' I get Van Morrison going round inside my head…Worrying. John

Dickie Straker said...

Thanks TT, never liked old Van, always thought him a bit of a bore, liked Them, but I bet he wants to forget that part of his career. I keep finding new hollow lanes, some haven't been walked for years, too late now as they are impenetrable. Bloody farmer has flailed the sides of one of the Rogue Male lanes, totally lost its distinctiveness and a whole ecosystem gone! All in the act of "tidying" up. Good luck in the PO's, nerve racking!!! TTFN Dickie