Walking

Somehow when I am at home and especially now over the Christmas period, though I take the dog out regularly each day, often meeting up with her friends, going for really long walks with her, tramping over the countryside and clambering over stiles, is not a regular occurrence. There seems to be so many calls on my time, being out and about and enjoying the countryside gets pushed way down the list of priorities.

There are some lovely walks around here.  I do remember going on several, after Ruby died, with only Amber.  Somehow these  long quiet walks with just me gave Amber a serene contentment which in turn enhanced my enjoyment and made the memory of these walks special.
I so wanted to have a photograph of Amber
and me walking the countryside. I found this very difficult. On one of our outings in the van I stumbled across a man taking macro photos (photographs of insects and other small things.) Anyway I asked him to take a photograph of us. Little did I realize this would be the only one I would have of Amber and me. It is not the best photograph but it has a special poignancy for me.




During my expedition to Luxembourg and Switzerland with Pearl this summer (2016) we, or rather I, managed to do several mountain walks. It was just "fab-u-lous" as a certain TV celebrity would say,  Since then I have wanted to do regular long walks.



I thought the ideal would be putting aside one day every month or so for a new and different walk locally. Well over this holiday period I have managed not one but two extended walks.  The first was delivering Christmas cards in the surrounding area. It was a lovely sunny day so I meandered about ending up at our local shopping complex.  In the short time since my excursion to Switzerland I have become unfit as this gentle amble exhausted me. Time to reinstate my daily fitness workout in preparation for the summer jaunts.
The second walk was the usual Boxing Day outing to the pub in the next village. This time I was accompanied by a friend. On the way across the fields we saw a group of men clay pigeon shooting. It was just as well I was wearing my hi-vis jacket. The pub was full of people and dogs. Very lively.  We had a couple of drinks and then took the shortest route home along the bridle path. Then we had some food.  A wonderful day and the weather was bright though the dog did get dirty as the ground was soggy.