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7 July My walk for the Ramblers. It was the one I prewalked on 27 January so I won't repeat the detailed description. I was worried about the muddiness of the fields when I did the prewalk. I didn't have worried - the ground was pretty dry and solid most of the way round. The problem was the amount of vegetation we had to plough through without proper paths. Nettles, beans, rape, wheat. (Rape is the worst; there was only one field but it was large and very tiring). I was getting some uncharitable comments from some members of the group. I also came close o losing three members of the party who were so slow finishing their lunch that they missed the first turn into a field. The upshot was that I had to leg it back up a hill and then about half a mile up a track before I caught them. The lane was very strange; it was full of people - including one hearty soul who told me with great glee how he'd directed three walkers further up the lane. Just before we realised that we were three short we had heard an explosion and seen black cloud floating across a wood towards us. This was the reason for the gathering. I saw the structure from which something or other had been launched. Still I narrowly managed to keep the party together. The sun really broke out in the afternoon and we had made such slow progress (for various reasons) that I cut the walk short by taking the direct route from Bourton to Wenlock Edge. We still didn't get back until 5 o'clock. I reckon I'd done 11.5 miles with the proper walk just over a mile less. The first battle of the beanfield
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