Newbury & The Friends' House
Blue Gate was at about a 15-minutes walk from Newbury -- longer when getting to camp because Pyle Hill was uphill and you were carrying stuff. Newbury is at about half an hour by coach to the west of London.
Ordinary villagers thought the Greenham wimmin were dirty hoboes or the like, because — they said — house prices had fallen after the establishment of the camps. However, villagers might not have won the court case about getting the land back, and nuclear weapons would not have left the area hadn't it been for Greenham wimmin. That without getting into a place having become a symbol for women's struggle against war and destruction. Anyway, one day, when we walked into a village shop, the shop assistant sprayed us as if saying: you stink. We did have a "peculiar" smell — woodsmoke. It was wonderful! It's true our hands looked dirty, because when you live on the rough, your skin breaks and the ashes from handling the burning logs gets deep into it, so later, even if you wash in soapy water, it's hard to get that out.
We used to visit Newbury for a few classics:
Get a shower and wash and dry clothes at the Quaker "Friends' House" (Quakers are very supportive with pacifists, actually they installed a washing machine, a dryer and a shower so that the Greenham wimmin could use them -- check out Evely Parker, a Greenham Woman who lived very close to Blue Gate)- Go to the library, to get books to read or prepare legal defences or study the laws and things
Get some edible item, often vegan, e.g. vegan chocolate, battered mushrooms- Have a hot drink in some café
- Get a coach to get somewhere
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