Before setting off to Alton for the start of Day 3 along The Pilgrim’s Way, I visited Chawton to visit Jane Austen’s House Museum.
Jane Austen’s House Museum seen from inside the garden
I left the AirBnB fairly early and since it was raining quite heavily I took the bus to Chawton. After a short walk I soon reached the village. The museum was still closed, so I walked through the village to see the church where Jane Austen worshipped and the house where her brother Edward lived after being adopted by the Knight family.
The church is quite a walk from the village centre, but certainly worth the walk. After he inherited the house he offered the cottage on the estate to Jane and her Mother and sister.
St Nicholas Church, Chawton
Stepping through the door of the church was quite awesome….and rather weird to walk in the same space as what Jane Austen had walked all those years ago. The church is quite beautiful and I enjoyed my time there.
St Nicholas Church, Chawton
Chawton House was unfortunately closed, so I retraced my steps to the village and visited the Austen house. I was the 2nd visitor of the day so was able to meander and enjoy the house in peace and able to take photos.
Austen family tree
The house is so lovely. Jane lived here with her Mother and sister from 1809 till May 1817. To see the chair and desk where Jane sat to pen her novels was spine-tingling. In her bedroom is a replica bed of the one she slept in
a replica of Jane’s bed
as well as many artefacts and poignant items from her life. There are letters
copy of a letter written by Jane
and a beautiful quilt made by Jane, her Mother and her sister Cassandra. There are 3000 diamonds hand-stitched in all.
the quilt made by Jane, her Mother and sister Cassandra
Wednesday 22nd August 2018 Day 2 – Alresford to Four Marks : 20.02kms / 46,970 steps elevation 260 meters
After a really good night sleep despite the hardness of the floor, I rose early, had a leisurely cup of tea, some breakfast of granola and fruit. Dressed and washed I packed up, folded all the loaned camping items up neatly and returned the room to pre-Cindy, then making sure the kitchen was clean and tidy, just after 09:30 I locked up and made my way around to the front of the church to explore the interior.
St John’s Church was probably first built before the Norman conquest and is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.
St John’s Church – New Alresford
The interior of the church is so beautiful and well worth a visit.
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Alresford, mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book is now a pretty Georgian Market Town and I wish I’d had more time to explore.
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Before I left I had a quick walk along the High Street to the far end, bought a packet of dried banana slices (oh my word, they are delicious and provide a lot of nourishment) then making my way back to the route I set off…… ahead of me was a day of 11 stiles!!!
10:44 The Cricketer’s, Alresford: So I haven’t gotten very far 😂. Pepe, Gemini and I are having a rest 🙄🙄 and I’m having a drink of OJ.
The Cricketers, New Alresford is right on the route of the Pilgrim’s Way
Orange Juice for energy
I left the church about an hour before and stopped at The Cricketers Pub for a drink coz I’m already tired and my shoulders where the straps drag on my bones are hurting like all hell. I must remember to get cushioning before my next long walk (🤔🤔🤔) To my delight the chap in the pub is from Pietermaritzburg in Natal, South Africa, so just had a lovely chat. They’ve been here since 2000, the year before me. Awesome.
I’ll be heading onto St Swithun’s Way once again and on my way to my next destination. Fortunately its a shorter walk today. hmmmm.
Bishops Sutton: Perhaps I should have walked to London!! 😂 😂 😂 It would have been quicker. I spotted this in Bishop’s Sutton today. I’ve been trying to take a similar photo as the ones in the Pilgrim’s Way guide book, so was delighted to see this.
56 miles to London……quicker than 130 something to Canterbury LOL
Turns out that the father of a friend of mine from instagram lived in Bishop’s Sutton as a young boy!!
Bishop’s Sutton – mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book
Walking the Pilgrim’s Way sentence by sentence. Following a guide book is a new departure for me and I am not enamoured of the idea. It’s too cumbersome – but The Pilgrim’s Way is not as well marked as the Camino, so it has to be done🙄🙄🙄
To give you an idea, I took 4 photos of one sentence, thought you might find it amusing. “At a four-way junction go left by a post box to pass a white house.” 😁😁 Wait? what will we do if they repaint the house a different colour?? I have quite literally followed the guide sentence by sentence. If I read too far ahead, I get confused and forget what I’m supposed to do 😂😂😂 But besides getting lost (ish) in Old Downs Wood, I did alright.
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I left Alresford quite late this morning and stopped quite a lot along the way. Of the distance and time travelled, I’m sure at least 3-4 kms was having to retrace my steps 3 times and I took about 2 hours for rest stops.
14:36 I stopped in Ropley for tea and cake
Quite frankly I was tired and really struggled today. It was also quite humid. Sadly no churches today for my pilgrims passport stamps. I saw a massive solar farm and wondered again why our Government is not promoting this more.
a massive solar farm….surely the way forward?
I’ve managed to sort accommodation for the outstanding 2 nights, so tomorrow I’m going to post my sleeping bag home. It’s just adding too much extra weight.
Day 2 along The Pilgrim’s Way was a lot more arduous than Day 1 and I climbed over more stiles than I ever want to see in my life again ever!!
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I arrived in Four Marks at about 17:30 and my lovely hosts fetched me from the local Garden Centre…truly I doubt I could have walked much further.
I stayed at a fantastic AirBnB tonight, they even washed and dried my clothes. Bonus
my bed for the night in Four Marks – AirBnB
Today was tough…..looking forward tomorrow since I will be visiting Chawton where Jane Austen lived for a time.
After a lovely scalding hot shower and hair wash, I slipped between the covers and before long I was in dreamland….Goodnight!
I have created a video that you might enjoy of the day
As part of the many events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War, a number of Silent Silhouettes were installed in different parts of the country.
I first saw these ghostly figures in London at St Pancras station one day as I was in transit from work to home.
Silent Silhouettes
I saw a few more as I was walking The Pilgrim’s Way in August.
Puttenham –
Silent Silhouette – Puttenham
Chaldon
Silent Silhouette – Chaldon
Limpsfield
Silent Silhouettes – Limpsfield
A poignant and fitting reminder of the huge sacrifice that was made by ordinary people; people who believed in freedom and King and country….and who can forget the extraordinary Poppy installation at the Tower of London in 2014, as people from around the country came together to plant over 803,000 ceramic poppies in a breath-taking vista; Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red
Planting the final Poppy at the Tower of London 11.11.2014
Currently on at the Tower of London is the amazing ‘Deepening Shadows’ ritual; an evolving installation with the Tower moat gradually illuminated by individual flames. A powerful symbol of remembrance.
I’m planning on attending the Remembrance Sunday service on Whitehall at the Cenotaph this Sunday 11.11.2018 as we mark 100 years since Armistice Day in 1918…a day that officially, albeit not actually, brought The Great War to an end…the war to end all wars…..
Buying vegan foods and trying to avoid dairy products and palm oil as well as plastic packaging presents something of a challenge, and requires some inventiveness for preparing meals. I’m learning a whole new way of shopping and cooking.
These days shopping takes a bit longer than in the past….I spend a fair amount of time reading food labels. If it contains palm oil I have to look for an alternative…not always available. I recently had to bypass my favourite soups while shopping; Heinz cream of Tomato, cream of Mushroom and peas and lentils (contains dairy). Instead I bought mostly tins of plain ingredients and dried products and will make them myself, sans the ‘cream‘ of course. I made my first dhal for supper with basmati rice recently… Apparently it smelt delicious 😋 😋
Despite it being the first time I had made dhal, it was actually really yummy. I had a look at a few recipes online and in my usual style, tossed in this, that and the next thing… pretty much whatever I could find in the cupboard in terms of spices…I also roasted some sweet potato wedges in olive oil and herbs which made a really interesting contrast to the dhal. My 2nd attempt wasn’t quite as successful and I burned the lentils coz I didn’t have sufficient water in the pot LOL I ate it anyway….waste not, want not and all that!!!
It’s been an interesting exercise to see how much of what I wanted/needed I could buy without buying anything in plastic. I think I was about 70% successful. It’s incredible difficult. Even if you buy something in a cardboard box, when you open it, the contents are usually packaged in plastic. urgh. So annoying.
Buying fresh fruit and vegetables is the aspect that confounds me the most….why on earth do the supermarkets still have to pack bananas, apples, oranges, broccoli, cucumber, cabbages, potatoes, peppers etc etc in plastic bags, trays or wrap. It’s COMPLETELY unnecessary and just adds more and more to the plastic pollution blighting our landfills and oceans. Apparently a number of brands have signed up to a pact to reduce plastic…..by 2025!!!! Why so far in the future? With 8 Million Tonnes Of Plastic Dumped in the Sea every Year, that means an extra 56 million tons in the next 7 years!!!. There are so many alternatives available already that I’m pretty certain they could reduce their unnecessary plastic packaging immediately.
I recently tried a different type of milk; Oatly and it’s delicious, even in my early morning tea. I’m trying to avoid soya products due to the destruction of the Brazilian rainforests, as well as palm oil due to the destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests and the orangutans that live there. These forests are being torn down for palm oil, pulp and paper plantations threatening endangered species such as orangutans with extinction. It’s horrendous. “Without proper safeguards, the soybean industry is causing widespread deforestation and displacement of small farmers and indigenous peoples around the globe”. The EU’s hunger for soy is causing destruction in Brazil.
I’m afraid I was largely ignorant of the ecological impact of my lifestyle. It was only after coming to the UK, and particularly more recently, that I’ve become aware. I do agree that the number of people, consumerism and materialism have played a massive role in the destruction of the planet. Sadly, I don’t see that ending any time soon. But, lobbying to make changes, signing petitions and raising awareness by talking about it, as well as taking daily action will make a difference. I’m always reminded of the starfish on the beach. I believe that, although our actions are tiny, they do make a difference and they set an example that other people will follow. There are a number of brilliant initiatives taking place around the world that will collectively have an impact. Even grassroots initiatives like the people in Kenya who are collecting discarded flip-flops and creating beautiful artworks. I feel for the 3rd world countries who don’t have the same infrastructures we in the western world take for granted. I just fear that the large corporations are not making enough of an effort. I’m going to start writing to every large company in the UK and urge them to take stringent actions now, rather than phase it out by…. Whatever arbitrary date they come up with.
We really do have to take urgent action NOW. On a more personal note…..my first grandchild is on the way and I want to make sure I don’t leave a planet decimated because of my lifestyle. And a major plus is that I’m saving a lot of money, my shopping bill has reduced quite a lot coz I’m not buying as many products as I did before.
The Clean Kilo strives to be as close to zero waste as possible – and getting closer all the time.
The store is the brainchild of Tom Pell. He and his partner Jeanette long felt that they “needed to do something about the amount of plastic which ends up in the environment.” While thinking about ways to reduce the amount of plastic used in our daily lives, they came to think of the obscene use of unnecessary plastic for food packaging and the idea for The Clean Kilo was born.
I hope that more of these independent stores open up around the country.
I say bravo to these people, and wish the very best of success. Yes, some of the named brands have signed up to the UK Plastic Pact….but their target date is 2025!!! By that’s 7 years away and by that stage 89 tons more of destructive plastic will end up in the oceans. They need to stop wrapping fruit and vegetables in plastic NOW!!!
Companies like Tesco, Sainsburys, Iceland, CoOp, Aldi, Lidls, Morrisons, Waitrose are all going to lose customers because of their stubborn refusal to stop wrapping fruit and vegetables in unnecessary plastic. They’ll post a year-end loss and sob into their plastic bags. #bansingleuseplastic
Tuesday 21 August 2018 Day 1 Winchester to New Alresford : 11.94km / 40,690 steps elevation 114 meters
Sooooo excited today!! I feel quite boisterous LOL. I didn’t start off too well though….got myself ready real quietly so as to not disturb my host, checked to be sure I had everything packed, and that the room was clean and tidy…managed to get Pepe onto my back without knocking anything over, got my shoes on and crept quietly out the flat, dropped the key carefully through the letterbox slot, heard it land on the floor…turned around to start walking and…..whattttt????? noooooo!!!! I’d left my walking poles in the bedroom. OMG my heart!! sank right down into the tops of my shoes. Seriously Cindy WTaF?? My horror was unbounded. Now what? I stood there with the hair standing up on my neck and wondered “what to do, what to do?” Well, as much as I was totally reluctant to wake her, there was no option…..I rang and rang the doorbell till she woke up. The sight of her tousled hair and sleep-filled eyes made me feel like a complete idiot. Oh my lord, I felt absolutely mortified.
Poles in hand, apologies trailing behind me I finally set off and decided that if I left anything else anywhere I would just kiss it good bye LOL Taking a quick walk through the streets I hurried as best I could, now well behind schedule as I wanted to catch the 9am train to Winchester….I don’t hurry well with a backpack on!! Got to the station with literally 2 minutes to spare and a long queue for the ticket office. Cue regret for not buying my ticket the night before!!! Urgh. Anyway I pleaded with the woman in front of me who wasn’t catching the train that day and she let me in…got my ticket as the train pulled in to the station and then I ran…slipping on as the doors closed behind me. Whew! Made it 🙂
What a joy to arrive in Winchester again. Of course I had to take a quick walk past the Great Hall, the West Gate and 15th century The High Cross aka the City or Butter Cross, then I almost skipped to the cathedral I was so excited! Followed the avenue of trees and there it was, looking gorgeous. Excitedly I made my way to the ticket counter, pulled out my pilgrim’s passport and voila!! my first stamp as a pilgrim about to embark on my journey along The Pilgrim’s Way – Winchester to Canterbury.
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A lovely gentleman came over and gave me a short tour of the cathedral, took some photos, gave me a viewing of the medieval paintings in the 12th century Holy Sephulcre Chapel, and directed me to St Swithun’s Shrine where I sent a small prayer to the Universe for safe conduct and lots of adventure and discoveries. I visited the crypt (pretty awesome) then lit a candle in memory of my Mother (Marjorie), Mother-in-law (Dixie), and Father (Derrek), took a few last photos and on my way out, one of the Chaplains said a blessing and sent me on my way with lots of cheerful waves
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And I’m on my way, Winchester to Canterbury……with a final glance at the cathedral, I set off. First a quick visit to St Laurence Church then following the directions in the guide I made my way out of the city and along The Pilgrim’s Way. Whoo Hoo. My mood was exhilarated and excited and full of joy.
The route is unbelievably varied; initially following city streets and then through the suburbs, I passed the ancient site of Hyde Abbey (destroyed by Henry VIII)
site of Hyde Abbey destroyed during the Reformation
St Bartholomew’s Church (I forgot to get a stamp grrr)
St Bartholomew’s Church, Winchester
and suddenly I was into countryside and a nature reserve. From here on the terrain was quite simply gorgeous.
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Passing through King’s Worthy, Abbot’s Worthy then Martyr Worthy I soon reached Itchen Abbas. Crossing the River Itchen I reached Avington Park where Nell Gwynne (that other Charles’s mistress) lived. I meandered up the drive (it’s very long) hoping to visit the house but didn’t see a soul about. The front doors were open so first I put my nose through the door, not a soul about, and before long (like maybe 10 seconds) my whole body was through the door and walking around. LOL I still didn’t see anyone…but on my word…the room wow!!! fabulous. I thought I might chance the stairs, but caution prevailed, and instead I walked around took a few photos and left. Before heading back to the pilgrim route I strolled across the lawns and enjoyed the green and shady trees.
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Reaching the road again, I headed up towards the golf course where I saw one of the most welcome signs you can imagine: Walkers Welcome 🙂 yayy, just in time for 4pm tea. I stopped off to use the facilities, had a cup of refreshing tea, a piece of delicious cake, by now I was really feeling the heat, and the shade of a tree was most welcome.
Although it was a truly beautiful day, and made for some fabulous photos, it was very hot and personally I would have enjoyed a light rain. 😂 😂 😂 😂 (be careful of what you wish for! sometimes the Universe gives you what you want…not necessarily at a convenient time or day!!)
Oh my word….England is soooo quaint. I passed some of the most gorgeous houses…total house envy!! The route today was fabulous, mostly very flat for which I was grateful.
Scenes from today’s walk along The Pilgrim’s Way:
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Church interiors- I visited 6 churches in total, some had a pilgrim stamp, others not – all without doubt amazing:
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Finally I got to say “I’ve arrived at tonight’s destination after a very long and hot walk, then stroll and finally a stagger along The Pilgrim’s Way”. I’d visited some amazing churches, met loads of people along the route, had some interesting conversations and seen some beautiful places. I met up with the lady who was to open up the Church Hall for me, and oh my word…I was blown away. She very kindly gave me a sleep mat, an air mattress, a pillow and a towel. I could have cried with gratitude. I then sat out under the trees, enjoying the peace of the graveyard and the colours of the setting sun, and enjoyed my dinner of fish and chips and mushy peas.
New Alresford: I’ve dined in some interesting places, but not yet in a graveyard 😜😜
a first for me …..eating dinner in a graveyard – First time for everything 😂 😂
I was so amazed at the varying terrain of the route….
take your pick……The Pilgrim’s Way, The Watercress Way, Allan King Way, St Swithun’s Way, The Itchen Way
The route along the first few days is a mix of 5 different ways; St Swithun’s Way, Itchen Way, Watercress Way and the Pilgrim’s Way, along asphalt, gravel paths, woodland, narrow winding paths through copses of trees, crossing the Itchen River a few times, and fighting my way through an overgrown tangle of scrub, shrub and weeds. Roughly 12-14 kms. Its a lot harder than the start of the Camino last year. But I’ve made it. Hoorah. Thankfully tomorrow is a shorter day (or so I thought).
My bed 😂😂😂 I slept in the church hall at Alresford and they kindly loaned me a mat and air mattress and a pillow…oh the luxury of a pillow.
my bed for the night
I was quite comfy. The church is beautiful and I had my passport stamped. Mostly the stamp was attached to the wall with an ink pad nearby and you just stamped your own passport. As I did last year on the Camino, I left a small donation at each church.
my Pilgrim’s Passport – Winchester Cathedral 21 August 2018 (the chap made a mistake and dated it 12th 🙂 urgh
End of Day 1 on The Pilgrim’s Way – totally amazing.
A short video of my journey from Winchester to Alresford
In case you missed my prelude to my walk along The Pilgrim’s Way – click for
Hoorah. Good for Greenpeace!!!! Now you can email the CEO of your local supermarket directly via Greenpeace.
The letter starts as “I am a regular customer and I’m writing to express my concern that ???? is not doing enough to help curb ocean plastic pollution by reducing the amount of plastic packaging in your stores“.
Click on this following link for the full letter and the process for emailing. I’ve sent an email to CoOp, Tesco, Sainsburys, Waitrose as those are the stores I buy from most regularly. I was disappointed to not see Iceland on the list, but I’ll send a letter directly…along with all the useless unnecessary plastic packaging I’ve collected.
It’s time we got tough with the supermarkets. Phasing plastic packaging out by whatever date they suck out of the air, is bullshit. They have to stop using it NOW. There is no time to lose. Our oceans are in a mess and animals are dying by the million. Whales, dolphins, turtles, sharks, fish, birds…all are suffering horrendous deaths because of the plastic pollution that is blighting the oceans.
I’m thrilled that Greenpeace have started this initiative and I sincerely hope millions of people email the CEO’s of these companies.
BAN SINGLE USE PLASTIC. SAVE OUR OCEANS. SAVE OUT PLANET. SAVE OUR ANIMALS
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reasons to ban plastic via @Balloonsblow on instagram
Plastic pollution in one beach area of the UK; Stanbury Mouth
shared with permission
further information we need to know, and reasons to send that letter to the CEO of our supermarkets, urging them to stop using unnecessary single-use plastic wrapping
We are surrounded by plastic and it gets overwhelming when we look at the huge issues facing us for the future. Were do we start and how do we avoid plastic?
Just about everything we buy today, is either made with plastic, contains plastic that we can’t even see and is wrapped in plastic. Hell even our money is made of plastic.
There are hundreds of small initiatives springing up around the world, some reuse our plastic trash to make other items; road surfacing, benches, houses, clothes…..this is phenomenal and really commendable…however they are still plastic.
Around the world people are coming together to clean up their rivers and beaches.
#banballoons – stop buying balloons. Balloon releases kill thousands of birds and sea creatures every year. Follow @balloonsblow on instagram for more information – https://www.instagram.com/balloonsblow/
#nomorestraws – stop using plastic straws; there are alternatives. Ask your favourite milkshake venue to make the change (there are nearly 7.5 million plastic straws lying on America’s shores alone). https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/no-straw-please/
#plasticpackaging – unnecessary plastic packaging is the blight of our lives. I’ve started naming and shaming the supermarkets now for using tons of unnecessary plastic packaging – there are alternatives : Bagasse: compostable, eco-friendly bagasse is great for replacing plastic when you need disposable plates, cups, or take-out boxes. http://www.greenhome.com/blog/alternatives-to-plastic
#boycottplastic – Plastic Bags; there are hundreds of shocking and heart-breaking images of seabirds, turtles, whales, dolphins and many other animals and birds killed by plastic bags. “Plastic bags harm the environment in several ways. For instance, marine animals may mistake them for jellyfish when they are in the water and eat them, clogging up their intestines in the process“. http://www.bigfatbags.co.uk/plastic-bags-environment/
The amount of plastic bags made each year has now passed 1 trillion & they take up to 1,000 years to fully decompose.
We have to change our habits and make the necessary changes.
And one more thing we absolutely have to do…stop buying plastic water; one million plastic bottles are purchased around the world every single minute. That’s 525,600,000 million bottles per year…. 525 million 600 thousand bottles per year. 525, 600, 000 million plastic bottles entering the system and polluting out planet……
I was in London last week and decided to make a visit to the Imperial War Museum to see the Weeping Window…..a cascade of several thousand ceramic poppies created in 2014 for the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation at the Tower of London.
Weeping Window, Imperial War Museum, London
Once the installation was uninstalled most of the poppies were sold off to the public and some went on tour around the country to various landmarks.
14-18 NOW is bringing the two sculptures Wave and Weeping Window to audiences across the UK as part of the Poppies Tour. The sculptures are free to view.
Seeing the poppies once again was so poignant and brought back memories of the day I helped to plant some of them at the Tower of London’s moat back in 2014, as well as the finale on November 11th when, during a very moving ceremony, they planted the final poppy after roll-call.
Tower of London poppies
Tower of London poppies (taken when I still did 3 days in London)
Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red
Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red at the Tower of London 11.11.2014
The Weeping Window installation will be at the Imperial War Museum until the 18th November 2018
Seriously? Look at how they’re making the plastic problem the consumers responsibility again!! 😤😤😤
Making the consumer re-think how we use plastic?? Ffs. Think about how to not keep PRODUCING plastic!! “Many companies, including Procter and Gamble, Coca-Cola and Asda, trade associations and campaigners have joined forces with the government to form the UK Plastics Pact. It’s aimed at making people re-think the way they use plastic and its dangerous impact on the environment if it’s not disposed of properly and recycled”.
There is no away!!! There is no way of disposing of plastic. It takes centuries to break down…and even then it doesn’t just ‘disappear’, it just morphs into microplastics, of which we are now eating a portion in our food and water.
This article is an advertising plug for solent plastics, however the information it contains (up until the advertising bit) is useful, albeit mostly old news.
“Statistics show each person in the UK creates an average of around 76kg, or 167lbs, of plastic waste per year. This compares with US citizens who produce around 120kg of plastic waste per person per year.”
Why is the UK Government making it about the CONSUMER once again. We are always being blamed for the mess. But we are FORCED to buy our products in plastic and in 95% of cases have NO OPTION but to buy something we need DESPITE it being encased in plastic.
We’re told to recycle! Okay fine, except that every bloody council in the country has their own rules, and many are breaking the law!! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45911794 >
Besides that no-one has YET EDUCATED the citizens of the UK how to recycle properly. I travel a lot in the UK due to the nature of my job. Every single place I go to has a different set of rules for recycling, and for what the council will or will not accept. Most of the people I work for are elderly and have NO IDEA how to recycle properly, what impact their incorrect recycling has on every load, and what can or cannot be recycled. I’ve worked for people who recycle their tissues, or soiled serviettes…because it’s paper!!! And paper is recyclable right?
Yes there are numbskulls who refuse to recycle, who chuck their trash any which where they please because they are as thick as the proverbial brick, people who dump stuff in the streets, parks, rivers, mountainsides etc etc but those are the minimum. The vast quantity of plastic, especially single-use plastic, is used in the home….
It doesn’t surprise me in the LEAST that companies like Coca-Cola and Proctor & Gamble are involved….what they want to do is make it OUR FAULT with the Government’s full support and make it about us being FECKLESS citizens and not recycling properly. The REAL ISSUE IS THEM!! They are the ones producing the plastic, they are the ones who are packaging their products in this pernicious shit in the first place, after that the SUPERMARKETS are not taking any responsibility because they then sell these products to us the consumer who then gets BLAMED for the plastic pollution, while they shrug their shoulders and continue to make obscene profits.
THE ONLY BLAME LIES FAIR AND SQUARE AT THE FEET OF THE PRODUCERS OF PLASTIC, THE CORPORATIONS AND COMPANIES THAT MAKE THE PLASTIC PRODUCTS AND THE COMPANIES THAT SELL IT ON TO THE CONSUMER WHO HAS NO OPTION BUT TO BUY THEIR FOOD AND NECESSITIES IN PLASTIC.
The UK Government are complicit in the waste issue and of course we know just why they are teamed up with these plastic waste criminals, it’s because they’re getting MONEY from them. It enables the corporations to continue producing plastic without recourse. It’s called CORRUPTION. End of. Stop producing the stuff. There are OTHER OPTIONS. Support the companies that are making packaging using other methods rather than PETROLEUM PLASTIC. Only when our governments, corporations, big businesses, manufacturers and suppliers/sellers stop being bribed by money and start employing some ethics in business will this plastic issue start being resolved. Now, if the government fined these corporations for the plastic they continue to produce, then they’ll start making the necessary changes.
AS I said in a previous article: Rwanda, Mauritania and Morocco all have bans in place and it’s worth noting that there is no such ban enforced in the UK, US or China, all of which have highly developed plastics industries; producing and exporting plastic bags across the globe – ergo we in the developed countries ARE TO BLAME!! It’s all about making money, the bottom line and obscene profits, and the manufacturers have no interest in the fact that it’s killing the planet.
But, hey….easy way out….keep producing plastic and blame the resulting pollution on the consumers/population.
Wednesday 22nd August 2018 Day 2 – Alresford to Four Marks : 20.02kms / 46,970 steps elevation 260 meters
Tuesday 21 August 2018 Day 1 Winchester to New Alresford : 11.94km / 40,690 steps elevation 114 meters
Not Just a Granny 
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