Saturday morning saw me facing the perils of the M25 as I acted as stand in chauffeur for Mike and Amy. They were on their way to Turkey for a week's holiday. The thing about going somewhere when it is not me that is going - is the waiting. Like a good chauffeur, I was ready well before my customers. Unlike a good chauffeur, I was not waiting patiently. I was frustrated at the amount of time they took to get ready. The journey time (according to Google) is a little over an hour. This being the first Saturday of the holiday season, I had left a little over two hours. Call it experience. Our little island has suffered under-investment in transport infrastructure for over ten years. While car sales are important for the government, roads for them to drive on are not. Expect delays.
We were not disappointed. The Dartford Crossing was the first delay, this was expected. The toll booths can never cope at peak times. The next delay was at the point where the M25 and A21 part company, but by then we had not got up to cruising speed for more than a few minutes. Then there was a quick comfort break for the driver at the services, at which point one passenger decided he was hungry and left to find food. We travelled slowly on the remainder of the M25. The M23 was OK, and we arrived at the airport in plenty of time. They expected a three-hour wait at the airport, but their flight was delayed for 4 hours.
I was home by the time I heard this. Having sat in even longer jams on the way back. These though were unnecessary, being caused by people on my side of the road trying to see what had happened to a very minor accident on the other side (about 20 minutes of delay!).
Towards the late afternoon, with threats that the weekend would see the end of the good weather for a while, Jo and I decided to take a walk in the country. We picked up one of our books, drove to Galleywood and set off on the walk. We started from the car park for the common, and traced the walk to its starting point at the Horse and Groom. We had a map, but no compass (forgetful me!), so followed the directions across the Essex countryside. I'd like to say how peaceful it was, but the roar of traffic from the A12 Chelmsford bypass was almost constant. Galleywood is unique in the UK in that there was once a racecourse around its church. You can see the outline of the course in the map below. The church is in the upper right of the loop of the course.
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The walk started on the remains of the racecourse, but soon struck out from the village into the countryside. We passed a field of ripe rape seed, the pods popping open at the slightest touch. We passed fields of ripe wheat, all ready for harvest. The longest day is now long gone and summer is coming to an end. The final field we crossed was already harvested. Going through one farm, the turkeys looked nearly ready for Christmas, but the ones in the next shed were much younger. Here the roar of traffic had ceased, but the machinery to keep the sheds supplied (food, water, light, air?) interrupted the expected quiet. Further away, the expected countryside peace arrived, but it was not long before we were once again near the roadside.
Back across the bypass and back to the car park. We then drove on to the Horse and Groom for tea. It looks like a lovely village pub, which it most probably is, but tonight there were various local celebrations going on, and it felt very much like gate crashing someone else's party.
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