Walk Report

Greensand Way 7, Sunday 28th July 2013
6 walkers, 23 miles - leader Susanne Waldschmidt
Six of us set off from Headcorn to continue our journey along the Greensand Way. The weather was perfect. Sunny but not too hot. A peaceful start to a day which would end in drama.
As we approached Ashford, we had to cross a field with a large herd of cows. Many of the cows seemed agitated by our presence, though we were trying to give them a wide berth. Suddenly one cow turned on Neal and charged. The rest of us looked on in helpless horror. Then something extraordinary happened. The cow was only inches from him when Neal sank to his knees in front of her. She stopped in her tracks. For a few seconds man and cow stared each other in the face. Then she backed away.
We all joked about the incident afterwards about 'nealing' and 'cowtowing'. Also the cow had not charged as much as the hotel, where the orange juice topped up with soda had cost me and Claire £6.27 EACH. However we all were aware that Neal's presence of mind and courage had spared not only injury to himself but almost certainly to us as well.
It was a day, none of us will ever forget and a warning to be a lot more wary of cows and also always to ask the price of a drink, before ordering and consuming it.
And finally the generosity of those kind souls, who all offered to buy the destitute Claire a cup of tea at Ashford International should not go unreported.

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