Monday April 25, 2005

The Frog at Skirmett - third time lucky..

This weekend we decided to stay one night at the Frog in Skirmett. It may seem extravagant to stay in a pub less than thirty minutes drive away but it provides a good base from which we could do two walks. A little drama before we were finally got to the pub was that on the way, outside Wargrave my wife decided she had forgotten a vital pieice of my clothing allowance. So back we went for it. After an excellent lunch at the Frog of a sausage and onion baguette with a wonderful side salad we then unpacked our stuff. One , two three , only three walking boots could be found. As it was raining we elected to drive home to retrieve the missing boot. Finally with a full complement of our clobber we started the first walk from Nettlebed. This was a walk we did before but I had the camera with me this time.

This brick kiln is in Nettlebed at the start of the walk. An information plaque describes the kiln and its history. Bricks have been made in Nettlebed since the middle ages. Raw materials for the bricks where provided locally. Lime came from the Chilterns and wood from nearby woodland. Bricks were first mentioned in 1416 when a Thomas Stoner paid forty pounds for making 200,000 "brykes" to a Michael Warwick and a further fifteen pounds for their carriage from the kiln to Stonor house three miles away.

We then came to the ruined church in the walk, called St James. It is believed this church served a village which has disappeared and the church itself was abandoned in 1875 to be replaced by one in Bix itself.

Back at the Frog we had an excellent dinner; seared scallops for me followed by an huge salmon steak on a bed of onion maramalade. My wife had a caesar salad followed by chicken with a tarragon and shallot sauce. I then had cheese and my wife the pancake with Grande Marnier sauce, she has had before. If she had a choice I think she would have had this for all three courses... Before the walk on sunday we had the "full monty" or English breakfast. The walk was a new one starting just outside West Wycombe. The walk took us through impressive woodland with birds and deer to see. Nearly halfway round we passed the UK headquarters of the "Wycliffe Bible translators". This group was inspired into action when on a visit to the Cakchiquel Indians in Guatenala someone was told by the Indians "If your god is so great , why doesn't he speak my language?". Each of the buildings are named after one of their famous missionaries. After a stop at a garden centre we then followed the walk back to the start first alongside the busy A40. A load of walking shoes were hanging from this tree, all in pairs and in good condition. We had no explanation for this. (apologies for the rotten picture)

The walk then took us into bottom wood owned by the Chiltern Society. Above us fly Red Kites, amazing to see them in numbers. It is a thriving wood and has a thriving population of dormice who are very rare in the UK. These mice eat pollen, nectar, insects and various fruit and nuts. Their varied diet is critical for their survival and a wood's health can be shown by its ability to sustain a dormouse population.

One final piece of good fortune. As the pub was a bit noisy on the saturday evening the landlord gave us a bottle of Sancerre rose wine as a way of apology. A promise of a single malt with him on our return will of course be taken up gratefully.