the river walk

The walk follows the millstream from the lower bridge to the weir, a distance of just over a mile, on a path which is in places gravel, in places mud, and in two places water. It passes the old mill — disused since the war but still upright, still smelling, faintly, of the meal that was ground there. The stream itself runs clear in summer, brown after rain, and contains, by anecdote, three otters, none of which have been seen by more than one person at once.

Walkers see, from this path: the long meadow on the far bank, the mill's wheel-housing, the kingfisher reach (in May), the heronry (in any month), and the place where the path floods. A small footbridge, of two planks, crosses the millrace; older walkers prefer to wade. The walk is favoured by those who like to think while moving and who do not mind the sound of water beneath thought.

It connects, at the weir, to the seven-oaks walk; at the mill, to the upper field track; at the bridge, to the main road. The river itself extends far beyond the walk, but few follow it past the weir. The pluviometers walk it daily in spate.