Emberwick Vale

The Ember comes down cold out of the high passes and takes its time through the vale. The Upfield folk graze sheep on the bluff side, and at Rushmere they cut reeds along the marsh edge. Emberwick sits at the ford and takes the toll, and whatever the vale has to sell goes downriver to the factor at Harlmouth. Past Rushmere the river runs into a fog of its own, which the boatmen call the reach-fog, and the stretch of water under it they call the Old Reach. There is nothing up there but heron and old willow, and the fog lies where it has always lain. The guild's survey of the vale survives: Map of Emberwick Vale.