A Happy Days at Aston Rowant

10 April 2025  (Thursday)

We planned a visit to Aston Rowant today so we got up early, getting our ablutions and breakfast all done and dusted and me preparing a snack and a flask of tea for our trip.  It's part of our routine to take a snack and beverage with us so that we can sit on a bench, a fallen tree or a ledge, refuel, and ponder all around us, even when we're only going to Kew Gardens… a mere twenty minutes drive away!  I guess as well as sustenance, it's a treat, harking back to picnics of bygone days.

Richard hadn't slept very well, so he asked if I’d drive which I obviously had no problem with. It can be quite challenging when you've had a poor night’s sleep to then be in charge of any equipment, especially something as dangerous as a car driving along the motorway at whatever speed your head and foot dictate! 

After an uneventful drive, where chat and gaps were both welcome, we parked up in the Natural England car park at the end of the now very well weathered and pitted road.  The car park’s used by dog walkers, walkers and doggers alike; each category of user having their own purpose and pleasures!

We did our usual round: walking from the car park down to the lookout point, through the gate (that had PLOP written on it in chalk…), along the chalk embankment (hence writing implement for the PLOP), then up across the sheep walk and the back down to look out over Aylesbury plain, down into the woodland, up the wider path to go into the forest, left into the side forest that sweeps around the giant field of yellow flowered rapeseed, and right past fallen pointy tree point, and along almost to the road, turning 180° at this point to retrace our steps. We took our time, and halfway through the long walk of the side forest sat on our favourite bench to have our snack, with some quiet chat and a managed gap in trees giving an almost secretive glimpse of the hazy plain beyond.

The first three quarters of the walk was incredibly wonderful, as we met not a single person. It's always lovely when walking to pass somebody and nod, or give a smile, or say “Hello” or “Morning” or “Lovely day for it”... and it's even more special to do the same walk and meet no one.  True bliss, surely?

On our way back, just passing the bench where we'd had our snack not twenty minutes previous, I saw the first dog walker; up along the top path, his mongrel bounding excitedly ahead and he following on, with a whistle quietly thrusting through his teeth.  He seemed oblivious to me being on the lower path, and of Richard fifty feet behind taking a photo of some wood anemones.

Richard had decided that we'd take a new way back to the car, which I was slightly wary of as the suggested path went sharply down, meandering away from where we needed to get to and if we followed it down I was sure at some point we'd have to wind the whole way right back up.  I also wasn't sure it was a circular path, instead thinking it led away from where we wanted to get to in order to take ourselves back to the Fenella. However, being the staunch adventurers we are, we walked down the steep incline, and after about five minutes of trepidatious foot placing and much rustling of leaves found ourselves at the back of a few houses… With uncertainty of what was ahead and a certainty of what was behind we turned round, making our way back up the steeping incline breathing deeply and puffing gently as we both went.

Back at the top, we began our way back to the car, retracing our steps rather than taking the usual shortcut along the rutted road.  We passed various other folk, and when we got back to a high point where it's necessary to go through a gate we found two rather fluffy terriers standing still and watching what we were doing, with anticipation or apathy, I couldn't really tell. Their ‘owners’ looked to be nowhere, though the hilltop hid them and they were maybe just a few feet behind; an elderly couple, and she took a rest on the incongruous lone metal chair that's pegged into the ground. I guess they do this walk regularly, maybe weekly, even daily, maybe even twice daily.  Who knows but them and their dogs?

As we greeted and passed on our way as walkers without dogs and dog walkers so, I imagined the couple having lived their lives together for decades, dogs changing as they do as the years of love and care go by. Of course, they may have only recently found each other, though I felt there was a comfort of knowing between them that only comes with uncounted days of give and take, and a developed deep understanding of one another… and suddenly I’m reminded of my mum and dad, and the joys and jostles life threw their way.  A moment of anguish that they're no longer with us, and minutes of smiles as I remember the happy time… and then looking up I see a red kite soar in the thermals and my mind is taken elsewhere.

Back at the car park, with boots taken off and shoes put back on, we sat in the car just watching things go by; Richard fiddling with his camera and lenses and me watching a red kite circling close by, maybe the same one, maybe not.  In one of its turns dropping off an unwanted poo cargo that thankfully, despite its trajectory, was far enough away to miss Fenella.  There was a joy in this moment… a first for me, as I'd never seen a red kite pooping in midair before… in fact not surprisingly, I’d never seen a red kite’s ablutions before.  Happy days indeed, though if I’d been underneath it… it could have been a very Lucky Day, as the old wives’ tale goes.

The drive back, as usual, seemed to take less time than the getting there, and once home and lunch was had, it was time to get to my desk for an hour's work work. 

As Richard electronically developed all the photos he’d taken, sorting out what was good and what was not and what would be used where, I popped to the plot to do the necessary watering.

It hasn't rained for well over two weeks now, and watering needs to be done. The forecasters say that at the back end of the weekend the temperature will dip from the highs that we're getting now and rain will come. And even though I love the temperatures, the rain will be welcome.

Happy Days!


Weather:  Cloudy start, with sun coming out late morning.  Blue skies and sun in the afternoon, and warm veering to hot, circa 22°.  Bliss.

Breakfast:  Bran sticks, yogurt, banana, sultanas
Aston Rowant Snack:  Rice Cracker Sandwich with spread, yeast extract and thinly sliced cheese, and tea
Lunch:  Baguette with Quorn Chicken slices, coleslaw and cucumber
Supper:  Baked Beans (from freezer), potatoes broiled in a lidded pan with leftover braised cabbage and carrots added and heated through at the end.