Well, about bloody time, eh?! The hundredth walk! We should've reached this a long time ago, many weeks, and be well on our way to two hundred now. But at least I haven't given up and I really don't intend to. It was always going to be tricky for me to walk every day in August and September when these are our busiest few weeks at work. I've walked when I've had the energy, and I've written my list of new and old places to walk when I've got time again. So it's all positive, which is the main thing.
I didn't intend for my hundredth walk to be the reboot one, the walk when I jumped up, tried to get my trainers on, sat back down, grunted a lot and finally did get my trainers on, then jumped up again and said, 'Right! Let's do a lockdown walk reboot!' But it was. Matthew was well up for it because he's been missing the regularity of those early walks. I've been missing them to. We didn't really care where we went, but Hest Bank canal sounded nice.
It was, very nice. It was raining here at the beginning of last week, but that didn't bother us at all – it was nice and refreshing. Matthew and James were back at school, so Matthew was in need of some fresh air after being stuck in the same classroom bubble for most of the day. In fact, he was so keen to get out for a stretch that he was going to keep his new school shoes on. But that would've led to blisters so he changed into his trainers. I couldn't persuade him to change out of his uniform, which was surprising considering that he really hadn't wanted to go back to school.
We hadn't been walking for long when I realised that Matthew kept laughing, seemingly to himself. 'What's so funny?' says I. He didn't respond. It was then that I noticed he had one earphone in. 'Matthew! What are you listening to?!' says I. He was listening to a totally not-age-appropriate but very funny comedian. I debated with myself whether to ask him to turn it off and pay attention to the nature, but in the end I decided it was quite nice to be able to walk along in peace and quiet. He does tend to jabber on quite a bit.
The level of the water looked really deep on this day; in fact it looked like we were actually in the water. But we were not, obviously. It'd just been raining quite a lot.
ELDERBERRIES! They are in magnificent abundance everywhere right now, and I'm sure you've seen a lot of them yourself. They always make me wish I was good at being creative with food and stuff, like, I think it would be a really cool thing to make my own elderflower cordial. I wouldn't make elderberry wine because I don't really drink, except on special occasions. In fact, I've been thinking about giving up drinking altogether and being teetotal, because why not?
What I quite like about visiting the same place at a different time is that it looks completely different. Last time we were here, it was dark and warm, and kind of twinkly and magical, with those orange fairy lights that I liked so much. This time, it was damp and grey (although it's always green around here), and was starting to feel a bit autumnal. Still delicious, and I loved it, but different. I love seeing the seasons change and I think it will be really exciting when it gets to spring again and we've seen a full year on our walks. Also it will be nice to go into pubs again if we feel like it when we're on a walk, just for a refresh. We're not going to do that yet because the pubs are a bit too full, but it will be all the nicer when it feels safe again.
As we ambled along past the pub, we wished we'd brought some food for the ducks and swans. I believe we're not supposed to feed ducks bread, but I'm sure we could buy some birdseed or something. I'll put that on my next shopping list. 'Urgh,' says Matthew, 'swans are really, really ugly.' As you know, he says this every time we see swans, but I think I can see what he means now; it's their faces – they do look a bit evil.
We carried on down the canal, very keen to walk a decent distance today because it had been a while. It was very pretty, a little bit wild, and very green. Matthew had had enough of not talking and decided to relay some of the jokes to me that he had been listening to. This took up about a mile of our walk, and I gamely laughed in what I thought were probably the right places. When Matthew starts talking, it is quite a good thing because I can trick him into walking further without him realising.
We found an interesting looking path that needed to be explored and this put an end to his joke-telling because we had to go in single file and concentrate on not tripping over roots. And it was very rooty here. Like so rooty that it seemed as though the whole of the little hill might be made of roots.
'Ooooh,' says I, 'this is very exciting – I wonder where we'll end up!' It turned out that we didn't really end up anywhere – this was a path to nowhere. We reached a bit of a cliff and had to turn back. But I would still always saying that if you find a path off the beaten track, you should probably explore it, just in case.
We headed back after this because it was getting a bit nippy out and we were also hungry. And now there's homework and stuff to do, so we have to keep the walks short on weekdays.
ELDERBERRIES! They are in magnificent abundance everywhere right now, and I'm sure you've seen a lot of them yourself. They always make me wish I was good at being creative with food and stuff, like, I think it would be a really cool thing to make my own elderflower cordial. I wouldn't make elderberry wine because I don't really drink, except on special occasions. In fact, I've been thinking about giving up drinking altogether and being teetotal, because why not?
What I quite like about visiting the same place at a different time is that it looks completely different. Last time we were here, it was dark and warm, and kind of twinkly and magical, with those orange fairy lights that I liked so much. This time, it was damp and grey (although it's always green around here), and was starting to feel a bit autumnal. Still delicious, and I loved it, but different. I love seeing the seasons change and I think it will be really exciting when it gets to spring again and we've seen a full year on our walks. Also it will be nice to go into pubs again if we feel like it when we're on a walk, just for a refresh. We're not going to do that yet because the pubs are a bit too full, but it will be all the nicer when it feels safe again.
As we ambled along past the pub, we wished we'd brought some food for the ducks and swans. I believe we're not supposed to feed ducks bread, but I'm sure we could buy some birdseed or something. I'll put that on my next shopping list. 'Urgh,' says Matthew, 'swans are really, really ugly.' As you know, he says this every time we see swans, but I think I can see what he means now; it's their faces – they do look a bit evil.
This young lady doesn't look evil though. How pretty is she? I think she's some kind of mutant duck – I've Googled grey ducks but I can't find anything that looks like her. (I probably shouldn't assume her gender, but I don't think she cares.)
We carried on down the canal, very keen to walk a decent distance today because it had been a while. It was very pretty, a little bit wild, and very green. Matthew had had enough of not talking and decided to relay some of the jokes to me that he had been listening to. This took up about a mile of our walk, and I gamely laughed in what I thought were probably the right places. When Matthew starts talking, it is quite a good thing because I can trick him into walking further without him realising.
We found an interesting looking path that needed to be explored and this put an end to his joke-telling because we had to go in single file and concentrate on not tripping over roots. And it was very rooty here. Like so rooty that it seemed as though the whole of the little hill might be made of roots.
'Ooooh,' says I, 'this is very exciting – I wonder where we'll end up!' It turned out that we didn't really end up anywhere – this was a path to nowhere. We reached a bit of a cliff and had to turn back. But I would still always saying that if you find a path off the beaten track, you should probably explore it, just in case.
Here's Matthew, in his school uniform, trying not to fall on his bum as he picks his way carefully down this steep and slippy path. It is steep, honestly – cameras do lie, all the time.
Next, we came to the greenest green we had ever seen. It was such a thick carpet of the green weed stuff that we both said at the same time, 'It looks like you could walk on it!' I could see that Matthew was very tempted to try so I had to keep my eye on him. Several times recently he has expressed a desire to jump into the canal. He thinks it will be funny. His dedication to my blog is admirable, but I don't think he needs to go that far. Instead, we contented ourselves with looking for a long stick to pick up some weed and write our initials.
We headed back after this because it was getting a bit nippy out and we were also hungry. And now there's homework and stuff to do, so we have to keep the walks short on weekdays.
Finally, for your absolute delight, here is a little video of some ducks eating the weed. I don't think you're likely to say anything better on the internet today.
Since I now have six walks to write about (I am very far behind and want to catch up quickly because I'm under doctor's orders to walk a mile every day – the posts will soon pile up again if I don't take drastic action!), I am going to rush through the next ones and possibly even just show you the pictures. I can't just do nothing, you see – I have the photos, so I HAVE to show them to you!
Until later, faithful few.
WQ
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