A Covid Walk

We are nearly into two months of lockdown. Boris has made his statement about how he intends to get the country out of it.

 As for the rest of us, the most exciting thing that we’ve got to look forward is the daily Covid-19 walk. There are worse things to do during this time of pandemic madness.

 In East Devon, we have many beautiful walks and our particular favourite is right on our doorstep.

Black Aller Woods is a hidden delight at this time of the year. Strolling up the middle of this ancient wood you are surrounded by a sea of bluebells. Bluebells are really bright and strident in colour although the bluebells in this wood are a little subdued. The sun shining through the canopy of trees bringing these Bluebells to life. The dappling of the sun bursting through the bows of ash and beech trees brings the Bluebells to life and opens up the blue floor below.

The fragrance emanating from this ocean of blue could be captured as a perfume. The ground is much firmer to the boot now than in the weeks leading up to the start of the lockdown.

Apart from the seasonal change of colour from green to blue, the other major change in the wood is the silence. Not as silent as in really quiet of course. The natural sounds of the woodland are blackbirds, sparrows and songbirds of all kinds, the odd nuthatch and the scrabbling of the squirrels and rabbits in the undergrowth. What is silent is the unnatural noises from the nearby A30 trunk road. The sound emitted from the road and the travelling vehicles has been much quieter since the beginning of the lockdown. This is the sound that the good people of East Devon want to hear from the road every day.  A slight rumble in the distance is hardly noticeable. Sadly on a normal day or what was previously a normal day, it is extremely noisy. But these are days of change, what does the future hold and what is new normal is, no one can tell.

But back to our walk, there not many other people about at the moment. It is all very peaceful.

 Continuing onwards for another 100 metres or so, our walk opens out into another vista and a view across the Escot estate.

The little copse below obscures a view of the main house. Usually buzzing this time of year the house is an excellent venue for spring weddings, when will they be back?

Sheep can be seen up in the fields of the opposite side of the valley, grazing on the remarkably green

grass. Below the River Tale meanders through the valley, a path winds alongside it. The waters of the Tale are crystal clear and to paraphrase the American painter, Bob Ross, “It’s a happy little river”! It would be a cliché to say it’s a babbling brook, the water level is just about right for the water to make wondrously cheerful noise as it whooshes over the banks of East Devon pebbles. Last year we could see little fish in the clear waters, but not today. The reason could be that earlier in the year, we suffered a period of sustained rainfall. The waters run off the distant Blackdown Hills and by the time the waters reach the Tale at Escot, it can be very murky. This year it even broke the banks and spilt into the adjacent fields.

Continuing along the riverside path as it winds its way to the end, it meets a truly Heath Robinson bridge. The wooden bridge consists of a rustic plank of wood with a handrail on one side. The walking surface is covered with chicken wire to help with traction when wet and yes, it bounces as you walk over it! Murphy, our dog, loves to run across it and then waits at the metal gate at the far side for us to let him through. In truth, if he looked a bit closer there is a dog-sized hole in the fence which he could walk through and recommence his romp in the next field. The sign on the gate coming back the other way says that this is a permissive pathway; there is a sign at the other end too. We consider ourselves very fortunate to able to use this path on our lovely COVID walk.

This public pathway way takes us across the next field towards a wooden kissing gate. I always feel a bit self-conscious about walking across the middle of a field; however, this is where the signs instruct us to go.

Adjacent to the wooden kissing gate is the copse that we looked down on when we came out of the wood. Hidden in the copse, are pens for rearing pheasants for the hunting season. Empty now, they will shortly be full of chirping baby pheasants. This year there has been an albino pheasant running around and I didn’t fancy its chances at all up against the guns. Thankfully we have seen it about in the spring and even Murphy declined to chase after it one morning.

Going through the gate we have a choice to make. We can proceed across the field towards Escot Church and Fairmile beyond, our choice though is to turn left and climb the path that is not a path. This is a joke that we make about this path as when we first starting walking in Escott a few years ago there was a sign at the top of this path that stated that “This path is not a path”. It made us giggle.

At the top of the path that is not a path, there is another wooden kissing gate. As you go through this one you can either make the choice to walk back towards the big house or the walk back through Black Aller woods again. We choose the woods

The path back through the woods always looks somehow different on the way back. Warning of our approach, the blackbirds are still singing in the trees. The squirrels have taken advantage of a moment’s peace and scrabble about on the woodland floor for their hidden treasures. The rabbits stand statuesque in the field, with a wary eye on the approaching humans and their dog, anticipating a dash to the nearest burrow should the alarm be raised.

The only anticipation that we have is to look forward to a visit to the local shop for a pain au chocolate and a well-earned coffee after returning home, and of course, washing our hands before breakfast.

COVID walk completed and all social distancing and hand washing requirements are done, happy days. Enjoy your walks and stay safe and well.