My friend and footpath leader, Heather, took me across fields of kale (where the footpath remains unmarked)  and towards a gap in the hedge where the path crosses the brook.  But, just as the brambles grew around the sleeping beauty in the old fairy story until they were impenetrable, the thickets had grown over the footpath and we had to retrace our steps and take a different route.  We have to hope that the farmers will remember to mark the paths and cut the hedges next year.