Our walk started in the village of Branscombe on a day having begun with some overnight rain which produced “puddles”. If you happen to read this in a few years time you may wonder why I’ve talked about “puddles”. But certainly after weeks of no rain and unbelievable temperatures of 30° plus no explanation is needed. And maybe as soon as next year reporting some other headline temperature if global warming continues on the same track. Alarming!

This was a walk with no “expert”. It’s the summer holidays, members on holiday, experts on holiday and nature not doing a lot. But we had a good turn out of 15 members with one who wasn’t able to come describing it as “Everything English in the space of a mile or so: a village hall, a blacksmith, a quaint tearoom, hedgerows, a babbling brook, a watermill, a farmyard, sheep (only one lamb today), a shepherd's hut maker (didn’t spot that), sewage treatment works (didn’t smell that), a beach, a beach café, beach chalets, a ship wreck (marked by the anchor from it), and a sauna“ the last of which didn’t invite us to use having experienced similar conditions without it, in recent times!

This stroll, short as it was, kept Malcolm and others busy identifying the wildflowers that we came across, some just by the leaves as the flowers had long gone over, some with the drought conditions were early shedding theirs. By the end of the walk, we had made quite a list

And we thoroughly enjoyed our walk.
Janet Fernley