Leigh - The Plough

Tuesday 2 July

Green Grow The Rushes Oh

Walkers:  Farty, T.B., 6 Legs, and Clat.  No Windy or Lil, but Chris and Sally joined us for lunch.
Distance: 7 miles
Find of the Walk: a rather decayed and smelly carcass of a fox - too gruesome to photograph

Well, after a few weeks of no walking, due to CBA, holidays, etc., we have re-convened.  It seems that some of the Mums have been falling over.  Wendy's has broken her big toe, so the tap-dancing lessons are on hold, and Sue/Chris's has hurt her shoulder, after falling over in the bathroom, so for her, it was a different sort of tap-dancing.  Lil is preparing for a wedding in Plymouth - wellies to the fore , as it is in a yeart, and Mrs P is, as I write, on her long journey home from Ifrica,. and we wonder what she found in her front garden this time.  She has been in continent, and the albatross which found TB's newly-washed car, was obviously in-continent - it happens (but it must have eaten a lot, judging by the rocky landscape which adorned the bonnet).

We set off, doing our well-known Leigh 1 walk, so chatting was easy.  TB and Clat are the new Bailey and Lebowitz of the photography world, as they are hoping to enter the Countryfile calendar competition, so it was lenses out and at the ready, to get 'the' shot, but the weather was grey and gloomy, so not good for the winning pic.
The grasses have grown tall, the flowers are in full bloom, and the crops are coming along nicely - fields of barley, wheat, oats and corn - a veritable harvest awaits, hopefully. We met several clumps of walkers, all coming from the opposite direction, and we soon came to the Dolphin pub, just as a few drops of rain were felt.  We stopped for a coffee - this place has had a good re-furb, and all was clean and new.  Minnie did a crocodile impression, the loos were visited, but the taps wouldn't turn off (no tap-dancing was involved here), and we moved on.

The closest manhole was erupting, and water was spewing all over the road - was it our visit which caused this?  A few near-misses with cyclists who give no warning of their impending arrival, and we arrived at Wonham Mill.  The works have finished, and properties on sale.  The field nearby is now being worked on, and looks like a road is being put in - we reckon the whole area is ripe for development - what a shame.  TB had a slight altercation too, as his Lidl rucsack malfunctioned and decided to poke him in the ribs - watch out Lil, cos you have the same one.
Sue has the decorators in , which used to mean something else, but her new look has meant some serious de-cluttering which is very liberating, so Clat will be doing some of the same very soon.  I mean, how many dinner services does a girl need? 
Farty and TB think they might be making some positive headway with the proposed bollard and yellow lines to be installed outside their house.  Canvassing, petitions and meetings abound, so fingers crossed that none of the above will be implemented, and Clat loaned them her doll, to help them get it out of their system.

So, after some serious photographing of fox gloves, and not many stiles to cross, as they have been replaced by metal kissing gates (too much kissing can give you glandular fever - you have been warned)  Minnie went bonkers at a passing fox cub, and we got back to base and met the others for lunch.  Pie of the day was beef and horseradish, and was deemed good.  Time to go home as Andy Pandy would say.  See you next week - zooming and framing to be continued.