On Sunday we decided to walk from Penshurst. As we started off we

saw there was an arts and crafts fair there so we got diverted.

It was a good one too. Many local and itinerant artists were exhibiting

and I bought a print of a farm gate typical to this area.

An hour or so after we started looking around, some school children

From Canterbury danced around the Maypole and were followed and the Morris

men continued with more of their hanky waving and banging of sticks.

When we were in the tea tent, one of the men and his wife sat opposite

us and we fell into conversation.

They were both very nice and we asked about his dancing. It seems the

handkerchief is meant to symbolise purity and the idea of banging

the sticks is to ward off evil spirits. Morris dancing was recorded in the

4^th century, but is thought to be much older, especially with it's

pre-Christian overtones.They did ask if I wanted to join them and

Louise was all for it.

She would love to see me prancing around, but I declined, I've never

seen a Mediterranean-complexioned Morris man. It would look odd.

Let's face it, it looks odd with Anglo-Saxons leaping about too.

On Monday we tried for another walk. This time I took an Ordnance

Survey map and my compass. We thought we would get away from

crowds and headed for Bough Beech reservoir. We got to the Nature

Reserve and parked, a bit dismayed to find there were around a

hundred people there.

Most of them were twitchers (bird-watchers) though, so we went to

The reserve lodge for tea and found they had a bring & buy sale.

I got a book and Louise got a very nice photo frame.

We started the walk just as we heard our first cuckoo of the year.

Soon they were calling all over the countryside. We passed through

Dean's Wood covered in bluebells and headed south to Clinton wood

and saw our first swallows this year. We have missed seeing many

arrivals this Spring because we haven't walked much this April.

Past Clout's farm we crossed a railway bridge and stopped off at

the Wheatsheaf Inn.

The weather was very warm for the time of year, probably around

25°C. We had a drink or two, and the beer is good. The food is

overpriced and you can't get a sandwich or anything less than a

serious lunch, not even soup or chips.

The pub is attractive and has a large head of stuffed animals over

the bar, including a cigar-smoking stag's head. The open fire is

inviting in the winter.

The walk after the pub is through meadows bordering the

south-eastern edge of the reservoir. We then saw why there were

so many twitchers at the reserve. A couple of hundred of feet above

us flew an Osprey, a kind of fish-eagle. Quite an impressive sight.

Soon after, we came on the fishing and sailing club house.

I made some enquiries about the fly-fishing there and noted the three

anglers there had all caught.

We wandered through meadows and sparse woods for some time

seeing our first Orange-tip butterflies this Spring. They only seem

to stay for a few weeks and then disappear in the summer.

We stopped in a glade for a drink of fresh apple juice produced in

Owlets Farm in Lamberhurst, the best we've ever tasted.

A female blackbird had been plucked and partly eaten by a sparrow

hawk in the path nearby. These hawks seem to be making a small comeback.

We skirted Little Sidcup, a small farm and passed the Old Forge,

noting an ancient hand pump in a hedgerow nearby.

Bore Place is a farm, but has a number of small businesses in it's

steadings. As you walk through it is very quiet, but must be busy

during a working week.

The last section of the walk is pretty and gives a view of the lagoon

At the nature reserve end. All along the walk, bluebells were in their

Prime and early purple orchid leaves were protruding through the grass.

It really was an idyllic day and we appreciated being out in such fine

weather, with such fine company.