A Bimble round Ivinghoe Beacon

The start of the Great Ridgeway, beacon to walkers rises like a sugar lump over the flat rich lands  of Bucks and Berks. If you walk east it is also the start of the Icknield Way and marks the point where the home counties stare at the desolate North beyond.  Abandon hope as beyond lies Luton and the Watford Gap!  Retreat to the soft safety of Wendover and Tring.

This is middle England in all its comfortable splendour and Ivinghoe Beacon is imbued with symbolism beyond its unassuming appearance.  It is not even the highest point on the National Trust's Ashridge Estate but it calls to many. It is not just the views that the summit affords, there is a sense that this is a spot that ancestors have also invested in. An edge land, a defining space that has been used for millennia and carries a mystical allure.

In late Autumn sunshine I found a field in England.  This was a popular camping spot for the hordes of day walkers from London looking for an easy escape with the kids.  I knew the owners were looking at Rosie as if she was Christine so I assuaged their fear by asking if there was another spot where Rosie could be accommodated way from the regular folk. And they led me to the sheep field..I was led away from the crowded masses to a view across bucolic England with only a couple of yoga enthusiasts to share my boon.

I was told that you could see Chequers but Theresa was a bit close for comfort.  At least that was what she told me her name was, Baaa. What a heavenly spot with a fire pit thrown in and a moonless sky to stargaze upon.  I think they wanted me out of the way which was fine by me.  

Big skies and splendid isolation.  I imagine it could be windswept but on a mild day this was ideal, perched on the edge of the Chiltern ridge this was the spot I had seen countless times from the Birmingham Euston train. Rising up to the beacon beyond past the Grand Union canal.  

Once ensconced in rural bliss on the Town Farm campsite I ventured down to the tavern in Ivinghie the rose ad crown

where the cricket was hotting up, or as hot as it was ever going to get.  Six wickets in three pints and the soothing tones of test match special to round the day off.