Our daily walk usually takes us through this cemetery. A local friends group has been looking after it for the past two years and the transformation is lovely. It was designed as a ‘garden cemetery’ - so before the days of public parks people would have come here to stroll or have picnics. But the whole site basically got swamped with ivy (which as well as covering the stones also damages the carvings and kills trees). Many stones were knocked over, some deliberately for safety reasons. The friends group have cleared most of the ivy, mapped commonwealth war graves, built a pond, and put up bird and bat boxes to encourage wildlife.
Oh - and planted spring bulbs

Another lovely 5K walk today, down towards the river, though a biting easterly from the North Sea meant that it was a fleece and woolly hat day. It’s good to see old Ma Nature doing her thing and everywhere getting greener. I passed Moly’s place but didn’t see him, Badger, Ratty or Toad. I did see a cheeky chappie smuggling his lunch up into a tree, however.

Came across this little fellow on my dog walk this morning.

Early walk this morning in Dorset before work. Managed to get this pic which I am quite pleased with!

Back home after a week in north Devon. Haven’t yet sorted through the scenic pics, but here are a few of the others.

Braunton Burrows is an important nature reserve that backs onto Saunton sands. It has also been used as a military training area from WW2 onwards. The day before we walked the section of the coastal path alongside the Burrows the MOD were apparently conducting a training exercise for Ukraine troops. There were still military aircraft in the area when we were there. When we were later walking on Saunton sands we noticed quite a few stranded Barrel Jellyfish. Neil

My wife and I went for a walk yesterday with a few friends in the Pentlands, the range of hills just to the south of Edinburgh and not far from my house.

We visited the site of a German Junkers bomber that crashed in 1943 on the way back from an aborted mission to bomb the docks at Leith. All 4 airmen were killed in the crash. In the 1990s a local man erected a small memorial to the men, alongside the wreckage. It’s in a fairly remote location and not that well known about. Over the years much of the wreckage has been removed by souvenir hunters although a pile of twisted metal remains at the memorial. I believe the 80 year old son of one of the airmen visited a few years ago and met the man who created the memorial.








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A moon shot taken at about 22:15. Still sufficient light for walking. Neil

Out for an early walk today.

If anyone has driven between Manchester and Leeds on the M62 they might have seen this valley. Once you pass Stott Hall farm in the centre of the motorway you go over the top of Scammonden dam. If you look to your left you will see a great view down the valley, this taken from the opposite end looking back towards the motorway. Next you drive over the M62 give me a wave.

Out for a cycle and walk yesterday, stumbled across the Gumball 3000 Rally that begins in Edinburgh today and heads across Europe. More supercars about than you could shake a stick at. I believe it costs £35,000 to enter and seems to involve some YouTubers, celebrities and rich boys with their toys. Raises a lot of money for charity each year.









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Out for a walk at one of our local haunts. A nice 3 mile jaunt around a pond.

Walking is my other great passion so a bit remiss of me not to have posted anything here yet. Here are a couple from my latest proper walk a couple of weeks ago.

A few from a recent holiday in the Lake District.

The view of Ullock Pike (with Skiddaw in the background to the left) from our accommodation on a farm. A low level walk from the farm to Bassenthwaite lake, with a pic of fungi, flora and fauna. Fortunately the water in Bassenthwaite is safe to swim in, as was Derwentwater. Handy to cool off during the sunny weather.

Neil

A higher level Lake District walk.

The Edge, onto Ullock Pike, Longside and Carl Side, before descending to Carl Side tarn for lunch. Time to decide whether to take the left or right scree path to climb to reach the Skiddaw summit plateau. Thirty minutes of trudging up the right hand side path and we are on the top. As is always the case with such paths, each time you think you are at the top, another bit (not visible from the bottom) comes into view. A short walk left from the top to the summit trig point. From Skiddaw it was over to Bakestall and back down along part of the Cumbrian way to the pub in Bassenthwaite village. Neil

Walking a shady woodland footpath, along the banks of the River Wye in Hay on Wye, with accompanying friends.









A view across the river, to the West at the end of the path.



Water level is quite low.



Guy

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