Thornbury Wayfinders

We got the timing wrong!

Libby and I were on an expedition to buy some clothes at Cribb’s, but we hadn’t reckoned with the later Sunday opening times – so we got there an hour too early. It didn’t seem worth going back to Thornbury, so I thought I’d see what was left of the paths that used to go around the Brabazon runway. I’d written a route in 2007 in which I imagined being a Henpecked Husband looking out into the countryside whilst waiting for his wife to demand to know whether the dressed suited her or not. How to answer? Should he say what he thinks or what he imagines she wants him to think?

The route is a loop off the Community Forest Path around Bristol. Re-reading it, I don’t think my instructions were very clear, but I didn’t have them with me anyway – I was expecting to buy some shirts and a pair of trousers!

First of all I tried the route off Merlin Way between Aldi and a Jaguar showroom. There were made up paths and some valuable wetland areas, but I couldn’t find a way through. There were also some strange wooden structures on posts that looked a bit like nest boxes, but there didn’t seem to be a way in for any birds. Perhaps they are sculptures?

I went along Merlin Way past a prospective building site and found a kissing gate into the remains of the fields around the airfield. I exchanged words with a woman who pointed out that the giant sunflower that used to stand here now lay broken and rotting on the ground. I stepped over the obligatory newt barrier and found the path alongside the airfield still intact and obviously still being used.

The grass was being kept short by rabbits living in the brambles and I was pleased to seem copious groups of agrimony spikes among the vegetation. As I continued I saw many dark butterflies, which I believe are called Ringlets. There were somewhat fewer Meadow Browns and a pleasing number of Marbled Whites, which I associate with unimproved meadows. There were also two or three Small Copper butterflies.

I tried unsuccessfully to find the old route back to Cribbs, so I had to retrace my steps as I was running out of time.

I need to return to see what else remains between the housing estates and the shopping centre.