Day off Dreams
My husband and I decided we're going to make the most of his day off together. We had our seats booked at the Everyman Cinema for the latest Bond flick, and decided we'll do something for the first part of the day. Our usual default is a walk in the Yorkshire Dales close to where we live, but I thought we'll explore somewhere we've never been.
Because we have recently watched a feature film about Tolkien, I thought it would be nice to go see what the great writer saw in Lancs that inspired him in his writings. The plan was to visit the village of Hurst Green near Clitheroe, to nosy around Stonyhurst College where the great bard spent some time writing the LOTR trilogy.
We got to the quiet village and saw a few other couples getting ready for their walks. I quickly googled the route to Stonyhurst College, a 24 minute walk leisurely stroll from the village green, so off we went, admiring houses along the way. When we got to a field surrounded by hedges on all sides, I was stumped. I don't know which way to go now, but Google maps keeps pointing to a corner of a field bordered on all sides by tall hedges! Salvation came by way of a young couple we had seen earlier. M asked if they knew where the next stile is. They weren't local but were there to follow the Tolkien Trail and had a map with the route on it. We took a picture of the map, to help us along the way, with me thinking it will just be an easy one, probs 1.5 hours tops, with plenty of time for us to sit down with a cuppa and a cake back at the village.
Our photographed copy, thanks to the lovely couple we bumped into.
We got to Stonyhurst, and though I was quite impressed that they have their own observatory, I wasn’t really too keen to have our walk finish there. The grounds and museum are only ope to the public during summer holidays, so we continued on and decided to do the whole trail instead, with nary a thought to how long it would take, or if we have enough water to get us through the route.
St. Peter’s Church
A tiny corner of the Catholic church on Stonyhurst’s magnificently grand school grounds
So on we went off the tarmacked road on to dirt paths that led down to stepped paths. We went over wooden bridges and bubbling streams, and into woodlands, hunting for hobbits. I ‘ooh-ed’ and ‘aah-ed’ as we passed through little tree tunnels. The shadows cast on the woodland floor as the leaves filtered the sunlight was simply magical. Did I see it as Tolkien did? Perhaps not as clearly as he did with mystical elves, warrior dwarves and supernatural creations, but I can completely understand why he fell in love with the place.
Wooden bridge over the stream at Hacking Wood
Our planned mini walk ended up into a 3+ hour scramble over fields and three rivers (a bit of a stretch, but we did walk along Rivers Hodder, and Ribble, and saw where Calder joined the Ribble). But the thing was, I wasn’t prepared for it. I brought a water bottle with a litre of water to share between us, but left the house without having my morning coffee, or a slice of toast for breakfast. My energy levels flagged about a third of the way, and though the scenery was breath taking, it wasn’t enough distraction from lips cracking from dehydration.
We got back to the village but to my dismay, found that the cafe I was so looking forward to trying is closed on Mondays, and the only other places to get food from were pubs. With a growling tummy and just enough time for us to get to the cinema, we drove away with great memories of a beautiful day out in the countryside, and aching legs.
Now, though I had absolutely enjoyed my walk I certainly have learnt a few things from it that I think can be applied to life, in general. Days out are absolutely great, but it’s never a good idea to leave home without making a plan, especially if you’re going to the countryside where there could be little help available. I feel like I should already know this having lived here for more than 5 years, but still… Never assume cafes are open just because others normally are. It’s great to take precautionary measures with you, but you can’t drink hand sanitisers when thirsty, nor is it advisable to munch on antihistamines when hungry. Food and water are essential (NOTE to self).
