Literary Hitchhiking - "Dulce et Decorum est"

Literary Hitchhiking - "Dulce et Decorum est"

The Poetry is in the Pity

Walking is a great way to contemplate and remember and in November each year it is ‘sweet and fitting’ to take a Literary Hitchhike with a Remembrance theme. For this Remembrance walk in the south Oxfordshire Chilterns, we have chosen as our principal literary subject one of our most celebrated Great War Poets, Wilfred Owen. Owen witnessed firsthand the harsh reality and carnage of war - his ‘poetry of witness’ is uncompromising work, steeped in pity and fury, the pen exploding with purpose as it is pushed across the paper.

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Mushroom Muses - the Amethyst Deceiver

Mushroom Muses - the Amethyst Deceiver

As we walked through Harpsden Wood one autumn morning the sunlight chanced upon this beautiful Amethyst Deceiver (Laccaria amethystea).  Pummelling upward through the leaf litter, this stunning deep violet mushroom makes a magical sight.  Poetry to the eyes, and as we crunched down among the leaves for a closer look this mysterious pretty-in-purple got us musing...

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Literary Hitchhiking – ‘Up on the Downs’

Literary Hitchhiking – ‘Up on the Downs’

Nobody can’t stop ‘ee.  It’s a footpath right enough - Edward Thomas

There are many literary connections with the North Wessex Downs - poets and writers all united by their deep love of nature and the English countryside.  We often tread the same paths walking in their footsteps and our North Wessex Downs Walking Festival walk up on the Berkshire Downs around the historic village of Aldworth was no exception.

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