Sunday

Posted on July 13, 2023 by The Little Room of Rachell

After a rainy day and not moving far on Saturday, it was perfect weather to go for a longer walk. After work on weekdays in the early evening, there’s a great loop around the field paths, it’s about 2 1/2 miles. Then there’s a longer regular circular walk we do which is six, or eight miles. It depends if we go past a farm and what was once a rather stately home. It’s now a remote rural conference centre. It was around eleven thirty when we set off in really warm sunshine.

Not long along the road the stunning pink tree mallow stopped me in my tracks and I was already reaching for my phone to take a picture (or four!) I usually get a bit further along before I stop. Isn’t it beautiful? So worth the pause. Like the glorious roses that are thriving everywhere this summer, tree mallows seem to have been very happy with the combination of a very dry, cool spring, then some hot spells in the early summer and now rainy, cloudy days…

We walked down to the green lane which I’m sure was once a busy thoroughfare, in the olden days between settlements.

“Green lanes are historic tracks and routes used by walkers, cyclists, horse riders and motor vehicles. They are an important part of access – a story of people and industry, wildlife and habitats, links to communities, beautiful views, tranquility and inspiration for the benefit of all.”

A good general definition of green lanes from the Peak District government website.

You definitely couldn’t get a vehicle down this one, it’s very narrow in places. Quite overgrown. You occasionally come across horse riders and mountain bikers, dog walkers and runners. Amblers like us too.

I absolutely love this green lane because you can almost see the ghosts of ancient traders, a man and horse plodding along with a laden cart of goods to sell at the market. A family going to church. A pair of sweethearts walking out together. Children making dens and climbing trees.

Many fields around us are golden now, with poppies along the edges of the fields of golden barley and still green wheat. There’s something so arresting about the golden crops with the flash of red. I tried to limit how many photos I take as it’s a walk and I don’t want to keep stopping too often. Although I do make sure that I pause and look around every now and then, peering through the hedgerow and in between the trees to take in the hills, the spread of the countryside and the far reaching views. It’s really easy to trudge looking down to check that you’re not going to be tripped up by fiendish tree roots or stumble over stones. I have to remind myself to look up.

We always take water bottles, but have never been good at being organised, or thinking to take a snack. So, when we get to the 5 mile point and sit I’m always starting to feel hungry, energy levels dipping and stomach rumbling! The problem is that if there’s an appealing snack in the house it’s sometimes already been eaten before the walk, usually on a Friday night with a glass of something celebratory. Nuts and raisins are the worst for this, because they’re so appealing when we’ve got the nibbles. We don’t buy biscuits, crisps or anything particularly snacky, so mid-walk snacks are never much more exciting than an apple. Not that they’re very practical with the water bottles in the rucksack bumping them all the way along. What do you take when you’re going on a walk? Almonds with their skins on have been most successful in the past, because they’re really not that appealing with a gin and tonic. I once read somewhere that 3 to 5 almonds is a good snack when you need a quick boost. This ‘fact’ always makes Someone teases as it’s so specific. It did work for awhile, but we challenged the rule and used to have 7. What rebels. Lately I’ve got out of the habit of buying them.

As we sat by cow parsley and blackberry brambles I noticed bindweed winding its way (anticlockwise) along long strands of grass. I recently heard a gardener say that runner beans always wrap themselves anticlockwise around bean canes. Since then I’ve noticed this is common with lots of plants. Are they tracking the direction of the sun, perhaps? I couldn’t photograph the bindweed, it just didn’t work, but there was something really amazing about the neatness of the strand of bind weed climbing nearly to the top of the grass’s seed head. It’s parasitic. As I sat and idly watched I realised there were many insects all around. Particularly teeny little beetle types, with an orange and brown body, crawling all over the heads of the cow parsley flowers. Bees, probably honey bees from the nearby farmhouse, buzzing onto the blackberry flowers and many butterflies and moths. Incidentally we saw there was an honestly box and honey for sale during the week, but didn’t have any cash. So we walked back again past the old farmhouse prepared with cash on Sunday, and the honey wasn’t out! We never ever time it right, have been planning to buy their honey for several years!

As we walked along one section of the field path I was suddenly and briefly surrounded by a cloud of white butterflies. I felt like I was in the middle of a Disney film, like Snow White. I’m wondering if there’s a free app you can get for insect ID? I’ve got one for plants which is amazing. Someone has one for the night sky, that you aim at constellations. Have you found a good one for insects?

It was all going beautifully until the last mile, when we were both looking forward to getting home for something to eat and a rest. The heavens opened and rain poured down. In no time at all I was so wet that my feet were squelching in my walking trainers and my clothes were sopping. Why I wore mascara for a six mile country walk I’m not sure; by home my face was a picture of streaks and black smudges! As soon as we reached home and had stripped off in the kitchen to put all the muddy wet things straight into the wash, the sun came out. Bright blue skies and fluffy clouds. Typically it was then beautiful all afternoon!

An autumn walk part 2

Posted on October 10, 2021 by The Little Room of Rachell

A few sips of water, a good look around in all directions. I took a few photos and then we went on for the next part of our walk.

There used to be a couple of fallen tree trunks which were lovely, clean and smooth off to one side of the green crossroads. Lying on the grass. They were removed sometime in the early year. I still miss them. During the first Lockdown last year, when we were only allowed to see people from our households and nobody else, not even social bubbles (the term had yet to be invented, our poor isolated elderly and vulnerable people) we came across a few teenagers there. From their furtive looks at us I guessed they were sneaking out to meet up and socialise, as an illegal part of the allowed daily exercise. I couldn’t really blame them, although it was all such a worrying time and no one really knew what was ahead. Anyway, I miss sitting on those tree trunks. After avoiding the roots, stones and ruts of the lane it was always good to have somewhere to sit and relax for a moment, or five.

Bonus blue skies in October and freshly ploughed fields.

If you go down this way you end up on quite a fast little road, which leads to a picturesque village. You can take another footpath into a meadow, then walk alongside some fast flowing water, go through a few gates, under a railway bridge and ultimately up to a large farm. There’s a public right of way along the road through the middle. There was a bull in a field with cows and calves, which scared the bejesus out of me last spring. You’ve never seen such a flimsy fence and such a mahoosive bull. He kept staring at me!

The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye, I loudly sang as we walked past.

The deer have been munching and trampling the sweetcorn. They’re all around here. We saw hoof prints and ‘other evidence’ of their presence near the maize fields.

At this point my hoodie was firmly off and tied around my waist. Such a lovely warm day.

There was a massive rainstorm in the middle of the night last Saturday.

We saw a red kite with a huge wingspan being chased by two or three crows around that tree. It always amazes me how crows can be so aggressive to such a scary looking bird. Confidence or aggression in numbers? They must be highly territorial when in a flock (a ‘murder of crows’ is the collective name after all!)

I suspected there were tasty, juicy things around this corner of the hedge.

Someone had started to walk on and hadn’t come back around the corner with me. So, I called that he should; because there were very big juicy fruits that I couldn’t reach, which could be all his if he wanted.

He remembered something we had seen back in the summer. But wouldn’t tell me what. It would be a surprise.

Another stretch of footpath which goes along a narrow green lane between field hedgerows. Quite an adventure, this is very narrow. You can easily get caught on brambles and have to avoid nettles and thorns. I usually walk with my elbows and hands up in the air. Quite a sight, especially if I’m also singing.

Other kinds of traffic have recently been along here too.

Ah yes! Fields and fields of the potatoes. I’d forgotten we’d seen these before, when they were small plants. The ridges of rich iron earth that are heaped up around the plants are so neat and pleasing. I missed a photo opportunity.

For some reason when we come out of that narrow overgrown path and walk along this field edge, we always remember the surprise of passing a teen during Lockdown in summer, last year. She was wearing noise cancelling headphones, had a brightly coloured backpack on and was so confidently tramping along. She’s really stuck in our minds and we’re not quite sure why. I think maybe it was because she was so incongruous. It looked like a route she walked regularly, like she was going to visit a friend or something.

I needed to lean against a big five-bar gate to reorientate, before we turned left for the third part of the walk. I heard a sound and turned around to see a man-child throwing a chunky stick into a tree, followed by the sound of things clunking to the ground…

I stuffed these into my conker pocket and on we went.

The next part of the walk went along a hedge to our left, which has occasional trees interspersed among the bushes. The field on our right gently slopes down to a stand of trees. This is where we watched a young muntjac deer wander earlier in the year. This time there was no peaceful little deer wandering, instead we disturbed about a dozen pheasants in the hedgerow. They took off right in front of us, flying and squawking in alarm. They made me jump. I took up in the air, flying and squawking in alarm too! Someone found this all rather funny.

It can’t be too cold at night yet, otherwise the ferns would be brown and dying. It can’t be far off though, the evenings are much chillier.

I had to limit myself to two fern photographs. I really, really like them.

We crossed a road and plunged into the start of another green lane. This is an ancient byway which used to lead commercial travellers from the Midlands to London. We call the start Freezer Corner because unfortunately sometime ago someone dumped the contents of the freezer under the bushes near the road. They must have pulled up their vehicle and just thrown it all out. Some were probably opened by foxes, others were intact. For quite a while we noted the disintegration of the packaging of once frozen lasagna, fishfingers and a carton of ice cream etc etc. Then it was cleared away. A friend asked if we had reported it all. I’m ashamed to say neither of us even thought of it (though someone else obviously had) partly because it was so fascinating watching the food and packaging disintegrate in the wild. But what an awful thing to do, and why? Why not dump it into a bin? Was it an act of revenge? You’ve hurt me, so I’ll empty your freezer? Weird.

A little sit on a rock. A sip of water and onwards again.

I photographed these thistles when they were glorious purple flowers, back in the summer.

Many brambles on both sides of this path, but few blackberries. Perhaps they doesn’t get too much sun.

A little handful of emergency almonds to crunch, hunger was coming on with a vengeance now, it was way past lunchtime. There’s a few miles to go.

We’ve turned left again. We’re heading to very familiar fields with landmarks: the cherry trees, sloe alley, blackberry corner and plum row.

Higher up now than at other points of the walk.

We paused at the top of the field and heard very, very loud unselfconscious singing coming from some distance away in the shady lane. As it’s stubble now we preferred to walk out in the open field, to keep feeling the sun and wind on our faces. The singing was hilarious. She obviously had headphones on and was belting out JoJo’s Leave (Get out). I glimpsed her; a grey haired lady walking a lurcher, definitely getting something out of her system. Good for her!

This one is tiny. Do mice make burrows?!

In the last part of our walk, in a field not far from home we looked for the dead adder that we came across last week. It’s gone. I’ll pop the pic I took into my Taking Stock post at the end of the month, if I remember. That was quite a sight. That and seeing a headless pigeon made for a memorable walk.

Home and a late-late lunch of cheese & biscuits, apple & grapes. What a great walk, so fab to go out-out again.

I hope we can do it again very soon.

An autumn walk

Posted on October 8, 2021 by The Little Room of Rachell

An autumn walk wearing T-shirts! In October! It was really special because Someone was off work mid-week for a few days, and so on Wednesday we grabbed the opportunity to go for a longer walk. It was a beautiful day, about 19° and very quiet. I think we only saw a couple of joggers in the middle and then a couple of dog walkers at the end, it was 3 o’clock by then.

We took our time. I went slowly, took lots of photographs and really looked around. It was the first longer walk, at 6 1/2 miles, that we’ve done since August because I’ve been feeling so unwell. We’ve managed the hour-long loop around the fields near home a few times, but this was a proper jaunt.

To begin with I felt quite unbalanced, especially as the initial part of the walk begins alongside a road. Walking along with cars going past felt quite disorientating. But once we were on our own walking along the footpath and bridleway, everything seemed easier.

The footpath is a mile or mile and a half long and was a green lane enabling farm workers and people wanting to come to the shops to walk between villages and farms.

I wish that I could go back in time, morph into an invisible being, to see the people and listen to what they talked about as they tramped along this lane. I’d like to know what they bought. A length of ribbon to decorate a new bonnet? A packet of sugar, or flour? A long saved for book? A twist of salt? Or did they just go to the pub and then stagger home again. Stumble, trip, stumble, trip!

Sometimes dark and leafy green, other times bright and sundappled. I really love this walk along the lane!

There are crabapples scattered at various points. I wish I felt like making crabapple jelly, or something with them. There are many more still in the trees which could be picked. It feels a waste of free produce, but jelly making is a faff.

Rose-hips and ivy flowers, what a pretty combination.

It’s a well used footpath and bridleway, things can get very turned up and sticky for walkers during the winter. Especially when it’s been rainy and the horses have churned it up.

Just look at that! So beautiful with the sunshine playing in the leaves

Common barberry, the red and green together are stunning, don’t you think?

A mossy log, crunchy leaves and glossy ivy leaves. If you stop and look around, remember to look up and look down there is so much to notice and appreciate.

Last time we paused by these trees there were waving stalks of oats and barley, in the fields alongside the footpath

Reflections in the water gathered in the dip between the conjoined beech trees.

I wouldn’t want to fall into this holly bush, steady as she goes…

High above my head the holly berries are beginning to look good.

We seem to have been walking along this lane for ages, it always takes longer than we expect.

I turned back to take this photo at the end of the lane and then enjoyed being out in the open again. Surrounded by countryside, with long views across newly ploughed fields, a distant village with smoke from a bonfire rising into the sky. At this point you are at a green crossroads and can go one of four ways. We have tried all, but our favourite is the one, which with several more turns takes us in a big 6 1/2 mile loop. It ends with a hill right to our front door. A downward hill, is definitely the best kind at the end of a good walk.

~~~~~

To be continued, part 2 coming soon…