24 Jan 2021
I started this wander with my "support bubble" Sarah and Vik, after Sarah texted me to say "SNOW!" We parted ways on the towpath and I headed up into the bit of Leigh Woods that's not actually the woods—the village-like part in between Leigh Woods and Ashton Court, where I'd noticed on a map a church I'd not seen before. I found St Mary the Virgin and quite a few other things I'd never experienced, despite having walked nearby them many, many times over many years, including a castellated Victorian water tower that's been turned into a house...
There's something quite pleasant about being able to walk to a different county. I've always liked passing the sign.
In EH Young's Chatterton Square, Rosamund describes a similar escape-to-the-countryside feeling when crossing the Suspension Bridge and heading for "Monks' Pool", which surely must be Abbot's Pool at Abbots Leigh in real life. I've actually swum there, I think the only time I've been "wild swimming" in the UK.