This morning, my wife and I did our first walk together in 2021.
In line with the official guidance, common sense and consideration for others, we did a local walk directly from home. The route was planned to minimise the risk of encountering people, being mostly through woods and across fields. On the way, we managed to find a couple of woodland paths that I'd not walked before, which meets my criteria for doing a walk report. In fact, it's been so long since I last posted one that I'm including lots more photos than I usually do!
Setting off down a local lane called Golden Hill and pausing briefly for a selfie in someone's mirror. The weather stayed quite misty until we were about 20 minutes from the end of the walk:
In the distance, sheep in the field we'll be crossing on the way back:
We spotted our first primroses of the year!
Where Golden Hill becomes Bogshole Lane, we left the road and set off across the muddy fields and up to the local woods:
Arriving at Clowes Wood (part of the vast Blean Woods), we saw a tractor spraying the field where rape was beginning to grow:
We avoided the main paths through the woods, which have become very popular over the last year, and stuck to delightfully quiet, twisty tracks where we saw nobody at all...
...although we did come across signs of human habitation:
Here, we realised that we were in a part of the woods that we hadn't been before and it's perfect for trail running, so we'll be back!
We walked beside a small stream for much of the way. As far as I know, the stream is nameless, but I can trace it for several miles from some high woods to where it reaches the sea at Swalecliffe.
The second main area of woodland was Tong Wood followed by Ellenden Wood (again parts of The Blean) and the first bit was very muddy:
My wife left her shoe in the mud and I asked her to wait for me to get a photo before she sorted herself out...
A pond in Ellenden Wood:
We left the woods and began to head back towards home. I'd chosen to wear my non-waterproof HigherState trail shoes with non-waterproof Smartwool socks today, because I'd imagined the ground would be at least dry-ish. Instead, it was very wet and often muddy, but although my feet felt damp at times, it was never a problem. Who needs Gore-Tex boots anyway?
And finally, with a low hill to crest and less than a couple of miles to go, the sun came out!
We both agreed that our self-imposed isolation is at an end and that we'll go out for walks and runs at weekends from now on. We won't be driving anywhere to exercise just yet though...
(Incidentally, that was the 999th walk (or run) that I've recorded on Garmin Connect since October 2016
)