My May Day wanderings took Toby and I along our favourite riverbank.
It was tranquil, beautiful, restorative.
Toby was happy to amble and give his nose a really good workout, so I fell to thinking about the countless people who must have wondered along the riverbank through the centuries.
This 1610 map shows that very river,
below you can see what it looks like today.
below you can see what it looks like today.
Some villages have disappeared, and the placement of other villages on the map is definitely not accurate, but who cares?
I love maps, especially of places I am familiar with.
I read them with almost
the same excitement as I read a good book.
How quaint the old spellings of place names.
The big red blobs (as splodged on by the cartographer) show the churches which existed at that time.
Many are still standing and are much loved.
However, others, including the one in our village,
have long-since disappeared.
The Merry Month of May must work some magic, for the trees are only just coming into leaf. I know she won't disappoint.We roamed the fields and river sides,
When we were young and gay
We chased the bees and plucked the flowers
In the merry, merry month of May
Stephen Foster
We had company, for part of our walk.
She was exceptionally friendly and came out of her way to walk alongside us.
No walk would be complete without a visit to Arnold.
He was happy to feel the warm May sunshine on his back.
Aaah! Bliss.
Time to go home to begin the mowing and the weeding,
the growing season has begun.
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