Still cold - snowdrops at Radnage

I think we've had enough winter now. We had light snow on an overcast Saturday, brightened up only by England's win over France at rugby, so postponed our planned walk to Sunday in the hope of better weather. There was less snow on Sunday, but it was still cold, so we donned many layers (that well-known Greek king*). This was the first outing for my new 'Fig Leaves' thermal long johns (not a brand usually associated with such functional wear), and jolly warm they were too. Highly recommended, especially when bought half-price with the weekly Ocado grocery order. I'm not making this up by the way.


Our target was Radnage churchyard to see more snowdrops. We parked at The Three Horsehoes at Bennett End. Our band, The Bottom Line, has played at their beer festival in the summer. We were surprised to find that the 'stage', a few pallets nailed together, was still in place in the field.

We headed west on a level track, passing a group of men who were assembling their metal detectors, not, as I'd assumed, assembling their guns for a shoot. The northerly leg on the route was the most strenuous one, involving two steepish ascents. It was then a simple, but somewhat muddy, walk eastwards along an enclosed path, and then a track to Town End, from where we detoured to Radnage church to take some snowdrop photos in the chuchyard.

As we'd parked in the pub car park, we needed to pop in for a drink by the open fire. The fire was rather more welcoming than the staff. But the beer was good.




* Menelaus - joke courtesy of Eddie Izzard

Boots back on at last for some snowdrops

Apart from a walk to the cinema in the snow, we'd not walked in 2013 so we were pleased that Saturday was sunny. It seemed likely that there would be snowdrops around, so we chose a route that took in Swyncombe Church - known as a reliable site for snowdrops. We'd had a nice lunch at The Crown at Nuffield recently, so started from there.

Although it was sunny, there was an icy wind, so Rosie put her cagoule on at the car, so she was wearing all the clothes she'd brought. I decided that my fleece with a scarf and hat would be enough. The start of the walk was downhill on a wooded path on The Ridgeway. Once we got to the bottom of the incline, I realised that I'd left the rucksack in the car. It only contained my cagoule and our drink so, as it rain didn't seem likely, we carried on without it.

We saw a few snowdrops near the path on the way, but I wasn't prepared for the display at Syncombe Church - not only were there lots of snowdrops, but plenty of aconites too. And all in a lovely setting.

We had a couple of options for the route back, and choose the shorter one - The Crown was advertising a 'roaring log fire' when we set off, and that was quite a temptation. The fire, the BLT club sandwich and the Brakspears were all very welcome.


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