Little Lambalot

This little lamb was a bit adventurous. Rather than running away, it was curious and decided to follow us. At least it didn’t chase us. I wonder how it got the guts to do that. How can something so small and fluffy be so confident? Maybe it’s been shunned by the flock and just wants to make friends. Maybe it’s mistaken us for the famer who’s going to feed and nurture it. Or maybe it needs our help and wants us to follow it. It could have come from a different land. The hole in the hedge behind it looks a little warped like a portal. The branches could even be made of bones of previous lambs and we can still see specks of their fur. The one in front of us could be a ghost. We climbed the hill in a northeasterly direction to return to the road where we were parked.

Bric-a-Brac #titannabell 27

Finally, a breeze came through. The more she moved towards it; the smaller it was; until; suddenly, she burst through the brick and she was outside. Her next thought was where her small friend ended up. She quicky remembered where she was place and fished her out and placed her on top of the ramparts. She then realised how big she was in order to achieve this simple action. Her hair had also grown and some of it was still inside. Then she realised that she might have drawn a bit of attention to herself over the course of this interaction, and the best thing to do was to clean herself up. There was only one other way to ensure her safety. She wrapped her hair around herself as if it was a golden dress and headed off down the hill, still shaking the foundations of the castle as she walked.

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.