A Journey along the Eridge Stream.

The Eridge Stream

Today I met the Medway.

After a month of following a stream from the hills to its confluence with the river, it was a moment that felt profound.

I feel that following this sparkling stream and discovering its secrets has been a journey through a season.

From finding hidden eel traps in the upwaters, to seeing goshawks hounded by swallows, following a deer path through the undergrown, scurrying across country estates in the rain fearing the gamekeeper. From it’s banks I watched kingfishers with an old man who had lived by the river for 40 years and had planted trees where now the herons nested. I have discovered ancient rock caves, been chased by a man called Hugo on his tractor, watched teams of red kites quartering the fields after the plough.

I have scrumped apples, mushrooms, berries, ripening in the low light of late summer. I have been greeted by the owners of ancient mansions, chatted to mill owners worried by rising floods, walked with sassy pensioners testing the river for pollutants. They all had a story to tell.

Through all this the river has flowed alongside me, meandering through woodlands, toppling trees that created waterfalls, splashing past boulders beneath which the crayfish hid.

The river has sung its song all summer and I have followed. Today, when I finally met the Medway ,I realised that river has settled me, healed me and eased my path into Autumn.