What’s stopping you doing that thing you know you want to do? There’s always something that we’re eyeing up, putting off, not getting round to.
Maybe it’s coming down to the marsh, to join in with a Marshian activity at the weekend. All this stomping, and bashing, and damming, that sounds rather fun, but unfamiliar. These Marshians seem to be talking in code half the time: “FP7” and “FP6”, The Bench when there are dozens of benches, paths and placenames that don’t exist on the map. Marshes and meadows, Fobney, Kennet, Coley – it’s all Marshianese. No wonder only a few brave souls venture out to find us – it’s an alien world.
But the thing is, we were all Earthlings once. There’s no initiation rite for becoming a Marshian, nothing dangerous or embarrassing that you have to do (unless you want to), and it’s not an exclusive club. We would love to turn more Earthlings into Marshians, especially all those proto-Marshians who are already in the Whatsapp group but haven’t yet got their wellies dirty with Marshian soil.
So we put our heads together and thought about what we could do to make that transition a bit easier. My contribution – since I have always loved both walking and languages – was the idea of an orientation walk, an opportunity for curious or nervous Earthlings to learn a bit of Marshianese through their feet, their eyes and their ears. So I picked a Saturday in September, arranged some fabulous weather, and invited everyone to meet me at Holy Brook Nook.
This turned out to be a somewhat cryptic meeting point in itself, but after the Marshian community jumped in with some live navigation, a mixed group of Earthlings and Marshians managed to find each other.
We began by navigating some of Earth’s more dangerous territory – busy roads and car parks – and a few fallen trees across our path. Thankfully, another Marshian had been out earlier that morning, and had cleared the route ready for us! We made it through these dangers of civilization, and headed into the marsh.
Here are some of things we saw and talked about:
- The path that was once a railway, used every day by Marshians and Earthlings alike, that may need our help soon to maintain our right to keep using it
- The bridge over the Holy Brook, built for trains and now a splendid meeting spot
- The glade, a serene and shady spot that emerged from a rubbish tip thanks to Marshian litter crews
- The magnificent plane trees that flank the Holy Brook, creating picnic spots with the splendour of cathedrals
- The many benches dotted around the marsh, including The Bench, the most important meeting spot of all for Marshians.
For this walk, we mostly stuck to the framework of official footpaths that are the marsh’s skeleton. Our feet stayed dry, and our skin was safe from the nettles and thistles that encroach on the smaller paths.
It’s the Marshians who continuously care for these paths so they’re easy to use and bordered by wildflowers.
This walk was not a voyage of exploration, so much as explanation, and it was no less enjoyable for that.
Marshians help to make sure these safe(r) paths give access to the marsh on foot, on paws and on wheels, to people of all ages, so that everyone can get some green in their eyes, and some earth under their feet. If you don’t know a place, you can’t love it, and if you don’t love it, you won’t care for it.
A Marshian is simply someone who cares about this place, and that can be anyone – though it does help if you can speak a little Marshianese.
