Towpath Philosopher

'PATHS ARE THE OLDEST THINGS AROUND, when you think about it, aren't they?' the cyclist tells us, 'They were here long before roads. People on roads are so stressed, it's all rush to get there. There's nothing more relaxing than a path, I find I can just wander along from side to side, like a pendulum. Well not here, of course, I'd end up in the water!'

He recommends a book called Fear of Freedom by a Yugoslav author and one by Frome, Paths to Freedom?

Ash puts out sprays of tiny red flowers. It seems strange to see something so delicate springing from grey year-old twigs. The change from bare branches to solid bright green on the Hawthorns has changed the character of the canal. The open spaces glimpsed through the branches are gone and it has become a green cloister.

Bramble has sprung into vigorous new growth.

Richard Bell,
wildlife illustrator
E-mail;'richard@daelnet.co.uk'