bewilderbrain

Wednesday 4th June 2025
Walk start time: 9.03am
Walk finish time: 9.37am
Walk area: Barry Sidings railway path
Miles walked: 1.65

I arrive at my walking destination knowing I don’t have much time today, but determined to soak in what I can before the days work ahead of me. I am trying to shake off some of the stressors of the school run, and some of the family worries that have nudged into the morning.

At the very beginning of the walk, I am accosted by this glorious rose bush, a wild rose? rambling rose maybe. It sits boldly among a thicket of bramble, startling white and stunning.

Turning onto the main path, the earthy undergrowth smell envelops me. Trees are now in full leaf, and for this section of the path the canopy is complete, lending its throughway the damp richness of its shade, and providing abundant foraging and shelter for the birds.

The trees here are many and varied, species of native oak and hazel mix with determined and hardy sycamore saplings. The area below the mature trees either side of the pathway is populated with mixtures of bramble, bracken, weeds and wildflowers dotted throughout, and ever hardy buddleia bushes, those fantastic attractors of bees.

The variety of paler and bright greens are punctuated with the intense deep green shine of liberally scattered holly trees, whose neat leaves reflect the morning sunshine with dazzling clarity.

A wren’s cheerful trill accompanies me as a I continue on my way, answered by the insistent call of a chiff chaff on the other side of the pathway. A robin lands a few feet from me on a bench, looks at me boldly, watches me raise my camera and waits till the exact moment I have it in frame to fly off.

As always, I am drawn to the many mixtures of light and shade offered by this pathway, the way that the sun is strewn lazily across a rock face, the way the light plays with the water as it trickles peaceably down the rocks.

Light alters the hues and the textures around us, changing from one moment to the next, rendering moments of stillness or of movement more vivid.

The trees are still dense here, and I catch notes of two birdsongs that I have not yet learnt; my app identifies them as a Goldcrest and a Nuthatch.

I stop to feel the incredible soft texture of a mossy tree trunk before the path opens out into brighter sunshine in the clearing ahead. A blackbird is foiled by my stillness, and bobs confidently next to me in the earth, foraging for worms.

Ahead the small waterfall cascades into its pool beneath, fully lit with sunshine. A robin lands photogenically on a branch on its edge, taunts me briefly, then flies off to a rock behind the waterfall. I attempt to refocus, but the robin has other ideas, executing a quick pre-launch poop, before swooping gracefully along the top of the stream into a buddleia.

I content myself with the verdant greens and bright yellow flag iris bordering the edge of the stream. I also spend a moment drinking in the simple pleasure of a patch of bright buttercups.

I turn to retrace my steps, re-entering the canopy and letting the birdsong simply surround me for a moment, without thinking of which birds are singing, just absorbing the melodic joy of the sound mix.

The thick trunks of imposingly mature trees flank my return path, a welcome barrier to the road noise from beyond into the town. Their spreading branches protect the space, for this moment, my space, from the world beyond, and remind me of the feeling of safety that nature offers. Todays walk was short, but, when you feel like you’re running on fumes, a small injection of nature into the tank can get you through a day…