These are a few more photographs of the countryside near home. These were taken about ten miles away. Last weekend my eldest son and I walked along a stretch of the Wayfarers walk. The entire walk from Emsworth in Hampshire to Inkpen in Berkshire is 71 miles but we only walked the last twelve miles!
This part of the path passes over some of the highest points in Berkshire (which isn't very high at all, its quite flat around here) and it is very open countryside giving lovely views.
We passed a pig farm. There used to be quite a few pigs around here including some in our village but pig farmers are unable to compete against cheaper meat imports and are going out of business so we don't see pigs very often now.
There were many fields of wheat still not harvested. The summer has been so wet that the grain is too damp to harvest. Some of the fields were very battered down by the recent wind and rain and I wonder if it will be possible to cut much of the remaining crops at all.
Humans have been making their mark on the landscape around here for thousands of years. The photo above shows Bronze Age barrows close by to a very busy dual carriage way. The traffic noise was very loud while I was taking this picture, making it very difficult to imagine how quiet the same place must have been during the Bronze Age.
There were peaceful parts to the walk as well like this beech wood, which sheltered us from some of the wind and rain. The weather did clear during the day and in this picture taken near the end of the walk it almost looks like summer!
4 comments:
What a beautiful walk! I would have loved that.
The rain problem you mention regarding the harvest is a huge worry for farmers where our son lives, in the Midlands.
We visited him two weeks ago and the wheat that should have been in the barns was still in the fields and so wet that I could have squeeze the water out by hand.
If they can't get it harvested soon it will sprout, or became rotten and need to be ploughed in.
You must have picked one of the few good 'summer' days we have enjoyed, thank you for the photos and so nice to see pigs in a field again.
Blessings
What beautiful pictures. I appreciated the explanation of some of the issues that are facing the area. How difficult to have fields full of wheat and pigs yet not truly be able to harvest the yield. Hopefully things will improve. Thanks for sharing the walk!
Great pictures - love the pigs! I saw a field locally with standing wheat at the weekend - it'll surely be lost now. I have the deepest enduring respect for our country's farmers, just wish more folks shared my view!
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