Day 27...

...or, a jigsaw and a long walk!

After starting the day slowly - lots of tea, a toasted bagel, more tea, and some more pieces placed in our current jigsaw, MrEH dropped a couple of slices of yesterday’s Chocolate Banana cake over to my parents, I cooked lunch, and after we’d eaten, we laced up walking boots, gathered water and our local OS Map and headed out for the walk we’ve been thinking about since earlier in the week. 

Out along the old road to Potter Street, then through to the edge of Harlow Common - the green space that effectively separates out the new town and the villages merged into it from the more outlying villages. The pond above I’ve seen so many times driving past but never been for a closer look - put that right today! On across the a common and a right turn along the top edge  to Foster Street - this stretch was walked on the road but there was so little traffic it was no problem. Then back onto footpaths leading to this bridge over the M11...

We just went up for a look - incredible to see it so empty! Down the steps again and onwards - the footpath branches off diagonally across a field here - the farmer has helpfully (?) weedkillered a path across so it’s easy to follow - probably preferable to do that than have people wandering over his crops I guess! 

Wisteria flowering - a proper sign of spring!

 Back to the road for a while - past a field with horses in - including the cutest foal probably only a few days old! Plenty of birdlime about too - we were constantly hearing Wrens, Robins and Dunnocks, and got some great views of goldfinches. Also saw MrEH’s first Skylarks of the year too.

NHS window in a house in Potter Street

When we passed the irrigation system below watering a field it seemed quite fitting that it was making rainbows - they have become such a symbol of the work that key workers - and particularly the NHS - are doing at the moment, and the support being shown by the public, I had to stop to get this photo!

With my feet starting to get sore now we crossed the M11 again - underneath this time - and turned back onto another footpath running parallel to the northbound carriageway for a while before branching diagonally across a field with the well known local landmark of the Church Langley water tower off to our left. Some more zigzagging across fields and finally we emerged into the back end of the soulless new development at Newhall - quite a contrast from the lovely villages we’d been walking through!

We were reminded throughout how lucky we are to have access to fantastic open countryside straight from home like this - the total distance we walked was a bit over 6 and a half miles but it felt a lot further from home than that in some ways. It’s a shame really that we rarely walk like this in the local area in normal circumstances - before the zombie apocalypse we’d have hopped into the car to a wildlife reserve, or been out of the area altogether, so it’s rather nice that this is forcing us to appreciate and enjoy what is under our noses! 

Robyn