Giant Hogweed
The Cat - and Dog!
Venue: The Plough, Rusper
Walkers: Farty, Token Bloke, Clatters, 10 legs, Windy Nohills and Mrs Provincial. 2 Legs having shed issues! Sally - flying I believe?
Weather: Very warm, hazy and humid
Distance: 10k/6.2 miles
Time taken: 3 hours
Find of the walk - not much, sadly a dead vole/mouse, a very manky looking hat on a fence post and most importantly of all - TB's hat on the hot tin roof! Left in error on the roof of the car when we fell into the pub and almost frying when we returned some time later!
We all congregated at the allotted time, poor Clatters extremely tired and stressed out from not sleeping for several nights due to her noisy and inconsiderate neighbours. However, she very kindly disappeared to the shops and returned bearing a tray of coffee for us all. Once a stewardess, always a stewardess . . . .
Having briefly tried to help a pleasant chap who was having a spot of bother with his loan car from the garage (not a good advert for the garage!), we set off from the village along the Sussex Border path, through a field and straight into some lovely woodland. Unusually, we found some raspberry bushes so out came Farty's container and we all set about eating and picking. A bit tart (no, not Farty!), but will no doubt be transformed into something wonderful by Farty's culinery skills by now! We then passed the Royal Oak pub at Friday Street which, like the last time we walked this way, looked very welcoming with its beautiful flowers and hanging baskets. We reckon a walk from here sometime in the future could be on the cards!
We stopped for our break, very welcome as it was really hot walking today as it was so humid. TB decided to show off his cat position (well, that's what he says it was . . !) and Minnie roared over wanting to join in - as you can see from the photo! Mrs P gave a brief flash of her gyny position, Farty decided not to join in this time - so it was then time to head off again, probably before things got really out of hand . .
We passed over the Horsham/Dorking railway line, onwards to Kingsfold and then back over the line to a lovely house whose 2 black labs greeted us (or rather 8 legs!) rather vocally . . they managed to squeeze through the fence and after a tense couple of moments - were they friendly or not? - they decided to join the walk, noses firmly attached to the girl's nether regions (8 legs, not ours!). They finally headed for home, and we took another short stop to rehydrate.
We passed, as ever, some beautiful large houses, one of which was quite unusual and is apparently called the Nunnery. The whole walk was very pretty and good walking - fields, woods, dried up streams, very few hills, views - a bit of aircraft noise but none directly overhead. We did get a glimpse of something small and black crossing our path towards a ditch or stream - possibly only a cat but we wondered whether it could have been an otter? A bit too big to be a mink, we felt. 2 legs and TB also caught sight of a magnificent deer bounding through a field.
We then found some amazing, large plants growing at the side of one of the fields - felt we were in some alien planet! - enormous tall plants with very thick stems and incredible flower heads. Out came Farty's plant book, cross referenced with Mrs P's book from the tip, and we reckon they were giant hogweed. Giant indeed! and apparently give a nasty rash if you brush against them. We gave them a wide berth!
The last part of the walk took us through fields of crops -wheat? we think, but in single file (thanks Mr Farmer). By this time it was even hotter, and dry and dusty, and 8 legs needed carrying. the closest we've seen them to having had enough!
So, finally back to the pub and very welcome it was too.. We couldn't believe that after 3 hours we had only managed 6 miles - felt more like 10! However, considering the weather we reckon we all deserved medals. 10 legs decided against stopping as the 8 legs needed to cool down, so us 5 dived into the pub for drinks and nosh (TB having to watch his head, those beams and doorway are low!). We sat in the garden, and scores are as follows: Food 5, Ambulance 4(those low beams) and the garden needs a bit more planting and time to look at its best, Value 4, Service 5. A grand total of 18 - pretty good!
We then rescued TB's fried hat, and headed off on our various ways home to no doubt all dive into a cold shower - or cold bucket of wine, beer, gin and tonic . . . . We reckon it's a great venue, not too far for anyone to drive, a free village car park, a variety of walks we can do from here and a lovely pub. (There is another one in the village which we may investigate in future).
Next Tuesday - a new venue, Horsted Keynes - most probably the Crown, RH17 7AW. Sadly, Clatters won't be able to make next week - boo hoo! - but hope everyone else can.
Have a good week/end!
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