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Sunday 29th April 2007
Lindfield - Horsted Keynes
11 miles

We woke up pretty tired after our long walk in the sun yesterday, but we were not going to waste the day sitting indoors. Instead we headed for nearby Lindfield near Haywards Heath. This village is incredibly beautiful with many of the houses dating back to the 14th century. Many of the other houses were built in the 1930's and are very stylish.
We walked from there to Horsted Keynes (pronounced "canes") with the sound of the bluebell railway steam trains in the distance all the time. It was another really hot day and we had to keep finding shade to stop in and cool down. Someone else who was doing the exact same thing was a grass snake, who we spotted just at the side of the footpath. We were able to stand quietly and watch it from less than 6 feet away for a few minutes. As we started to move away to leave it in peace, it suddenly leapt into the undergrowth and was gone. Grass snakes are nearly twice the size of adders, but are totally harmless.
Bluebells were out in force today and every piece of wooded land we came to had a carpet of them underneath. The smell was intoxicating as was the wild garlic which seems to be having a very good year.
The day was partially ruined by some stupid, badly trained dogs that came out of someone's garden and attacked us. Gill got badly bitten. Luckily, after some first aid she was able to continue walking, but she was badly shaken. When you consider the amount of "wild" life that we see every weekend, it is ridiculous to think that the most dangerous animal we should come across is described as "man's best friend"!?


 


Gill leaving Lindfield on route for Horsted Keynes.


The beautiful grass snake that made our day.


Gill is our expert on snakes and she tells me that the scales are spread apart in the section facing the camera because the snake has recently eaten. We were fascinated by its round eyes that seemed to be watching us, and by its very long, tapered tail.


Wild garlic. We had some with our lunch and it was delicious!


Result of dog attack. Which ruined our day! (Click HERE to see the foot a week later)