One thing about going back to the town I grew up in is that childhood memories come flooding back with the sounds and smells around you. Whilst I was in my childhood hometown of Chorley in Lancashire, I went for a walk along the Leeds-Liverpool canal. I spent a fair amount of time along here, especially when I was younger-as I was staying in a hotel on the banks of the hotel, I thought I would take a trip down memory lane.

I headed away from town on my walk and I have to say it was rather lovely. Slightly overgrown, full of birds tweeting (rather than cockatoos screeching and kookaburras laughing) in a rather sweet way and the smells were great. It was also the smells in particular that were bringing back the memories, especially as I don’t smell them any more due to living in Australia. It’s the smell of the English countryside.

I started my walk not long after breakfast on a day that looked like it was going to rain for most of it-I heard thunder in the distance too, but thankfully I dint see any sign of rain or thunder all day after this.

There are several plants that I came across on this walk. The first is yellow flag, or Iris pseudocarpus.

Elder (Sambuca nigra) was in full flower on my walk and smelt wonderful.

Red catchfly (Silene dioica) also made an appearance on my walk.

As is always the case raspberry and/or blackberry (Rubus spp.) plants were everywhere through the hedges. I have such fond memories of all my family going out and picking lots of blackberries to eat at home.

This delightful plant with the pretty pink flowers is a plant I know as ‘stickleback’, with its binomial name being Galium aparine. As young kids we were constantly trying to stick it onto each other’s backs without that person noticing anything amiss.

I thoroughly enjoyed my walk along the canal and along memory lane. While there are many reasons for me moving away from the area twenty years ago, and those reasons are still there (northern English small towns don’t ever change) meaning I won’t move back. The countryside isn’t one of those-that is one reason to go back.