Sunday, August 27, 2006

Avoiding holiday crowds

How to avoid the crowds on a sunny bank holiday Sunday afternoon….

It was too nice to stay indoors this afternoon, but we didn`t want to get caught up with lots of traffic and crowds so we went for a ride in the country lanes. Quiet, peaceful and with plenty to see. Turning the corner between hedges, some thick with blackberrys beginning to ripen, on one of the twisty lanes coming towards us was a lovely sight – a small pony putting a trap with a driver on it, we slowed right down to let it pass, no sooner had it gone past than another one appeared, so we waited for it too to go on its way.

A few yards futher along, we again had to stop, this time there were more small horses and traps coming, they looked so right in the countryside and it seemed almost as if we were intruders in a bygone age. As we travelled a bit further on, enjoying the shade of trees, the colours of wildflowers in the hedgerows, rabbits sitting on a bank and their white tails bobbing along as they ran through the fields, the sound of bird song, we met yet more ponies and traps, this time slighly bigger horses, all looking very attractive and trotting along at quite a pace. (Sorry, I`ve no pictures of them to post with this, I tried taking a couple through the car window, but they didn`t come out well.) but it was a wonderful sight.

It`s so good that just a few yards from main roads you can find beautiful quiet lanes and the wonder of the natural world.

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