Thursday is the new Saturday

Delayed post, this one, as my brain has had difficulty working this week.

Saturday last a midwife, an English teacher, two Physics teachers and two teenagers went out walking. We went out on this walk, though the weather and conditions underfoot were a bit different this time.

There was no rape, so this view was now possible where it hadn't been in May. This was just about the point in the walk where we had heard the cuckoo last May.

The Church is that at Buttesbury. Ah, isn't it cute!

Meanwhile, the teenagers nearly got away, as the grown ups set off in hot pursuit!

Can we assume that they were engaged in a deep debate about the meaning of life?

The bright sunshine disguises the fact that it had been freezing overnight, and shady parts of the ground still had a crisp crunch to them. The water in this dyke was still covered by ice, though a physics teachers attempt to be artistic with a photograph wasn't altogether successful.

At this point you have to imagine the bluebells that were here in May.

A fair amount of rain during the previous week ensured that some points of the walk had ample helpings of that delightful phenomenon ... MUD. Somehow, it seemed to attract the teenagers ...

St Giles Church, Mountnessing ....

.... was followed by more MUD as we crossed fields (on the public footpaths, I might add). Eventually, a democratic vote was held as to whether to continue across the fields or take to the road. Needless to say, a tie - 3 votes for each way. Teenagers voting for the MUD, of course. In a true sense of libertarianism, each did there own thing - three ventured through the MUD and three walked the road.

The midwife and the English teacher ... another attempt at an artistic photograph, trying to capture the Mountnessing sign between them.

Next comes the mill at Mountnessing, used at one time for grinding corn.

I think the shadows of the people in this second photograph are quite artistic. Except, perhaps, for the photographers shadow in the bottom right hand corner ......

The clouds apparent in the first of these photographs was a foreshadowing of the heavy rain and sleet that was to arrive within about 30 minutes of this photograph being taken. We had by then made it back to Ingatestone Hall and the cars. In daylight, too, not after spending our last half hour blundering along in the dark.

Ingatestone was only an excuse to be near Margaretting - the next village out along the A12. We did have time, however, to return home to Romford and drive back out again for dinner.