Walk with Max Drake, herbalist. Avon new cut to Manor Woods.
Today I walked with Max, the herbalist. I met him by the giant Asda, next to the river Avon. This is where I believe the Malago joins the Avon, but we couldn’t get close enough to peer over and see where a pipe emerges. Moving south from the Avon, we go under the railway by Bedminster station, where we find a cycle track, and the first glimpse of a littered stream.
As soon as we’re off the road, Max starts to notice plants. He tells me that urban hedgerows are just as abundant as rural ones, and that these edges are places of great variety. On the first part of our walk we see cleavers, yarrow and willow, and Max describes their medicinal properties, and how to make different treatments using these plants. He is particularly fond of cleavers (sticky weed) as it’s a wonderful Lymph tonic. The Malago goes through a tunnel and re-emerges in a recreation ground, where it’s surrounded with abundant plant-life and litter. There’s tin cans, plastic, a shopping trolley, a croc. Max notices a troll bridge and tells me how to use yarrow to prevent bleeding. We come to the end of the park, and the river goes underground again: disappearing under an industrial estate edged with impenetrable harris fencing. As we take a detour along a busy road, he describes how to make chickweed lotion for skin irritations.
We come to the northern entrance to Manor Woods, the sun is shining, and it’s a relief to see this small green lung after the stinking road. Max is talking about an 11th century herbal: the Leech book of Bold. In it, all illness is described as coming from one of these three sources: being shot in the leg by an elf; being hit by flying venom; being hit on the head by a troll in your sleep. Max explains the logic (!) in these explanations, and how some of the cures are medically valid.
In the woods, we find ground ivy, which makes a tea to treat respiratory problems. We discuss the use of nettles and dead-nettles, and how the latter has evolved to disguise itself as a stinging nettle for protection. We smell the wild garlic, and I ask Max about mugwort, which will come out later in the year. It’s apparently a mild hallucinogenic, and appears in stories of witchcraft. It’s a herb that you give people at the start of a journey.
Walking back later, I pass through the recreation ground and there’s gang of teenage lads hanging out in a mildly threatening manner. But I think they’re just listening to ringtones.
