The main event is less than a week away. 60 miles walking through June is just around the corner. A sponsored event to raise funds for Pancreatic Cancer UK. To term my current activity as “training” is going too far but it has been a while since I did any serious walking so I do need to get the legs working and get some miles under my belt.
One of my favourite training walks is very local. Literally at the end of my street lies the flood plain of the River Arrow and if I walk keeping the field hedge and the river to my left I can manage a quick couple of miles before breakfast.
The fields are mainly used by dog walkers and I have never really taken much notice but recently as I stroll immersed in my thoughts, I begin to notice the nature around me. Fish bask in the deeper river pools. Fields of buttercup, cow parsley and nettle begin to give up more interesting species of speedwell and mallow. A copse of saplings gives up Aspen, Grey Willow and Ash among the Hawthorn and Oak. I even begin to notice the odd animal; a rabbit, a squirrel a buzzard under attack from a crow.
There will be time for two or three more training walks before the main event so lets hope I continue to see the world around me.
The Hermit's Cave 