27th June – 2 July (England)
28th June –1 July (A field in Wales)

Friday the 28th June. I turned 27. Flew into Heathrow on Thursday. The flight served mixed nuts and I had a glass of water with ice and lemon. I am a water baby anyway and all advice recommends against alcohol on flights. That didn’t stop the people sitting beside me. They got on well with the airhostess who slipped them a couple baby bottles of champagne as well as their beer's'. On the bus to Worcester Park there was a longhaired chatty guy handing out questionnaires for all passengers. He was looking forward to going back out on the road travelling and used my backpack as a good flirting starter. Very helpful though…can I free your hair from your backpack! (?!?)

Friday 8.30am, Nikki brought heated croissants birthday breakfast in bed. Nice. After lying in the sun on the roof we headed to Watford. I sat in Wimbledon station looking after the bags people watching. Had a classic movie experience of watching a couple sitting on a bench across on another platform. They were part of my scene. A train pulled in and when it pulled off they were gone! I scanned the crowd mildly frantically and found them getting on another train. How easy it would be for someone to completely disappear like that. Random thoughts of a people watcher!

After a jump start on George (Nik’s van) we finally headed off about 5pm to join the Friday rush hour traffic on the M25. Solid traffic for an hour and a half. The five of us in the back (Nikki, Debi, Jono, Rob and myself) passed the time laughing and munching on a bag of food from Sainsburys. The two in the front (Nik and Justin) got to have the pressure of the traffic and then several hours later the joy of navigating around 10 feet high hedged lanes that suit one vehicle and even then at times are a squeeze. At one am we found a farm with lights on. Not the farm we were looking for but the one waiting for us. We never looked for the other farm again. We had found a great field with a stream, sheep, a friendly farmer Rob and his dogs, a beautiful view of being surrounded by forested hills and good walks. A time of relaxation and friendship and celebrating Debi’s (and my) birthday around a camp fire and snug in a van with the rain pouring down outside; walking through a small village and on a Tolkien-esque hike up a beautiful hillside and through the forest. We were sustained on our walk by a well prepared Justin who at an opportune moment produced a bar of fairly traded chocolate and a bag of peanuts, raisins and chocolate chips. How to be popular.


Jono read my journal and then I got him and some of the others to write entries in my beautiful book. (extracts)

‘We’ve been here in a little field 2 nights now; we’ve had 2 vegetarian and 2 meat breakfasts. Last night we had trout steamed with chilli, lemon and apple juice. Jayne and Debi made little parcels of carrot, onion, mushrooms and peppers in cabbage leaves. Yum Yum. We had baked potatoes and they were very nice. Nik played his didgeridoo around the fire and Nikki and I sang together. I liked it. We went to Abergeveny yesterday and I couldn’t find a water pistol like the one I bought in Wales 14 years ago’.

‘Great Wind blowing; Great Earth rising beneath our feet, filling our eyes; Great Sun, warming our skin; Great Water flowing by, above and beneath. The life of the Creator, Spirit of the elements, animating and sustaining all things in this place! We have been enriched by the peace and solitude of this place, the enlightening nature of the river, the inspiration of the gnarled trees, wisdom of the ancient hills, and the amusement of our following fleecy friends. The company of friends, old, new and re-acquainted; lives shared around the fire, stories told, food cooked in the embers; talk of farming, music, food, travelling and fairies! We sang songs of freedom’.

‘Our birthday weekend. Pyrgad, South Wales – Rob’s field. It has been so beautiful to be amidst friends – such a wonderful walk today – likened to the scenes in ‘Lord of the Rings’; a fellowship of friends; a host of beautiful greens with the occasional magenta foxglove breaking up the hues’.

‘Rustling trees, the swish of rain,
The stream slips by, bobbing through the rocks,
A blanket surround of green and blue
Ripple of laughter blending with the silence
Holding friendship with an intimate embrace
White fluffy friends watch on and time pursues tomorrow
Hold back the time, drink in the now
Store life and love in memories, for future days to come’.


We stopped in Bristol on our way back to London. Walk by the water, drink in an art house cinema bar and then a lovely coffee from a Barista on a corner. Talk of everyone moving to Bristol in a couple of years. I may end up with friends in Bristol as part of an arts collective. How fun would that be?!