The Hills might endeth

There’s little sign of a town in front, but you get the feeling that years ago, there used to be more trees. At least they’re facing whatever’s approaching us to offer us some cover. Someone’s been busy. But the diggers are approaching them from behind while they’re distracted. I don’t know how you can tell the front of a tree from the back, but you just get the impression that they are. Maybe they’re scared of the sun, and they’re using the hills to shelter from it. How far back do those hills go? Just when you think you can see the sky, another one fades in just behind it. Each one gets steeper as you go up and down to face the next one. Fortunately, we’re not going that far. We continued west alongside a stream, then our footpath shifted ninety degrees and we started to climb north-west. We passed over a track into the next field, then turned immediately left.

How do you tell someone their name is wrong?

You take a deep breath and speak to them. Or you can write it in a letter if you prefer. You don’t even have to post it to them; you could send it as an email. It all depends on how direct you want to be with them and fast you want a response. It depends on how urgent you think this is. If you wanted to be novel, you could splash out and hire a skywriter. But the name that they’re using could be a nickname or it’s shortened for something else. The parent could have really liked the sound of the name but was unsure how to spell it. Or maybe they wanted to be unique. It might be for religious, family or cultural reasons. The person in question might not like their real one. But do you really have the authority when someone’s been using it for so long? Does it offend you?

Watch your Step #bentley 3

At least someone’s made an effort to aid our progress across the brook. A simple plank mounted securely on two bits of wood makes all the difference and we don’t have to worry too much about getting our shoes wet or muddy. I suppose in winter the whole thing floods, but no-one would venture to come out in that anyway. There’s still someone who’s going to be overly cautious though. They just can’t bear to get a speck of mud on their shoes. I can’t stand that type of person. What’s the point of venturing out into the countryside in the first place? You’re there to enjoy it and should expect a bit of dirt. At the T-junction, we turned right and headed north along the road. We crept up a small incline until a farm appeared on our left. Turning left, we headed south-west through the farm to reach a footpath at the end.

More tonne bags of Crushed Granite conveyed to site and unloaded by workboat 'Swinton' this morning. Plenty for the volunteers to work with

I suppose it’s another way of telling us that the towpath is going to be closed for a while. But whereabouts specifically and for how long? When will it be safe to plan a trip out there again? Maybe we can track the boat to find out. Is this a call for volunteers to come and help get the job done quicker? It’s going to take more than one morning, but there’s no call to arms here or indication of how long it will take. Will a morning be a whole session? It sounds like everything is organised and is divided by a number of teams but we just have to wait and look out for future tweets. In the meantime, we have to hope that the work doesn’t get in our way. Maybe we have to revert to previous tweets to find out. Hopefully, nothing got vandalised in the first place.

On the Bench #bentley2

You come across certain features on a walk that look so good that you just have to pose with them. Some places are so popular that people even queue up for them. Spring was in bloom and this was a perfect spot for a weary traveller; though we hadn’t clocked up much mileage yet. We continued past a junction on our left, then just before a barn on our right we took a signed footpath bearing east through a steel gate. Here, we bore right through a field alongside the edge of a thicket, then passed over a stile and through a second field to reach another stile. Instead of crossing, we headed south and followed the outline of the wood and continued directly south through a section of it before emerging into another field. This footpath ended on a small track and we turned right to head west to a T-junction.

 

Left Behind #dream 222

I’m visiting a theme park with a friend. I wouldn’t say it was a childhood friend; it was more like a bully that your Mum had paired you up with for the convenience since they lived up the road from you. But we’d both had a good day out at the park looking at all of the models on display. When it was time to go, the exit to the station was a lift made of lego with red, yellow, white and green bricks. I’d stopped for one last photo, and when I’d put my phone away, my friend was nowhere to be seen. I assume that she must have gone up without me. I pressed the call button and ascended alone. But when I got to the top, there was so sign of her there either. It was an empty walkway with a concrete floor and colourful barriers made of lego to look like those sturdy iron gates with the curves.

Bentley Book Store #bentley 1

This walk had an interesting start and we were quite lucky with the weather considering the time of year. There were also a lot of lambs about which made it fun. There’s been some great use of red phone boxes across the country to keep them in their place as part of our English heritage and this was a good one that we’d stumbled across. Unfortunately, we didn’t bring any cash or books to purchase one. They also don’t seem to be published on the map. There was also no official car park, but we found a lay-by on the edge of a corner which seemed to be suitable without blocking anything or getting in anyone’s way. Bearing east, we followed the road alongside private cottages with pristine trimmed hedgerows as it slowly curved to the south. We came across a beautiful bench placed underneath an oak tree that was begging for a pose.