As you can see our countryside's having a bit of a blonde moment as the grasses which line many of our roads have now dried to show off their decorative seed heads. We're lucky on this walk as we're following Maud Heath's Causeway for much of the way. It means we have a nice safe path to walk along away from any passing traffic.
We go under the railway and even here the path remains as...
... we have our own pedestrian tunnel. The path predates the railway by centuries (15th vs 19th). Here we're looking back the way I've come so we can see the evening light through the tunnel.
More blonde moments...
... a pause by a shadowy bench...
... over the ancient clapper bridge, then follow the path around the corner to...
... feast your eyes on the scene. Magnificent aren't they? The farmer is growing them for birdseed, plus they sell them in fistful bunches at the farm gate and also deliver them locally.
We can't go into the field as it's private land, but we can cross the river and climb down into the next field as there's a public footpath.
Here it's also good to look across the field towards St Giles' Church. The 'wall' you can see to the left of the photo is actually the bridge which takes Maud Heath's Causeway across the floodplain of the River Avon. It's what we stood on to admire the sunflowers.
Our riverside walk follows the sunflower field for around a third of a mile. We could walk back to Chippenham following this path across the fields, but I've saved that exploration for another day.
Instead we've returned to the bridge where I've spotted a new interpretation board which tells the story of Maud Heath's Causeway. I'm sure it wasn't there when I last walked over in April. I like it!
Then it's time for a final look at those happy flowers before we head for home the way we came.