Moses & I went to a workout walk (minus stops for pix which I cannot help 😂) We did close to 1 mile I think. It’s cloudy & cool so weather perfect for exercising.y cardiologist wants me to do a fast walk daily, but I have very limited energy with lots to do so I find it very challenging fitting it in. But not only I did it today, but it’s 2 days in a row.
Walking on roads through the open forestry land near us means solitude. I rarely meet a soul. The dog and I have the place to ourselves. No sheep or cattle here and so Brodie can be off the lead. Freedom to roam means peace and quiet. We did see a Roe Deer yesterday. He stood quietly staring at us. I took a photograph before he leapt into the trees and was gone. A moment of complete happiness.
Day 38 of #Running recovery break. Today was a 12km #walk through #Ottawa. The greenery is really popping after the rain. Nice and cool morning makes me really appreciate the weather. Must have said good morning twenty times today, including chatting with two "regulars”.
Start with the tech stuff. I'm a #programmer. Mostly writing web apps using #ReactJS and #NodeJS with some #mongodb. Been dabbling with #mui for a recent project too.
I've been messing computer since a child and have fond memories of being asked to spend £1000 of my dad's friends money to build him a computer. The look on his face when he walked into his dining room to see bits of computer scattered all over the table and me, age 9, ready to put it together. Not going to say my age now, but it was a 486DX2-66 with a whole 8MB of memory.
Outside of tech, I'm outdoorsy. I like a good #hike, or #walk in the woods. I love nature and campaign to protect the #climate and #biodiversity.
I #cycle lots of places but just to save on petrol and parking. My #bike was free and I don't own lycra.
I have an #allotment where I grow a lot of my own food. I eat a mostly #vegetarian diet, so that keeps the food bill lower.
Learning #guitar and #French... Sometimes at the same time!
I come onto the lane via a small Tor and am greeted by this ruin. This lane is scattered with remains of farms and settlements from various eras. Lots of cool foliage, violets a plenty, which I can never capture the colour of!
And this beech tree which was HUGE! Wider than my arm span!
I decide the lane is not adventurous enough, and although I wasn't going to go "up hill" today, I veer off up to Down Tor, as the path leading off looks more exciting, and the Tor not TOO high.
It's a fairly easy #walk up to this low Tor, probs where it's name comes from. The land is littered with Tinners gerts, gullys cut into the earth to mine tin from just below the surface. Some are quite windy and fun to explore. Some are just dead ends with troll boulders left to defend them. #walking
While I'm traipsing up to the Tor summit, a family of 3 emerge. I spot the dad first, stood, arms spread wide (he's not spotted me) singing at the top of his lungs in something that sounds like Arabic. His wife is #walking ahead of him, laughing. Later I spot their little girl, taking inspiration from her dad, shouting to the sky in the same language.
The three of them are joy filled and honestly this might be the highlight of the #walk. More singing loudly to the heavens on #hikes please.
Having reached the top I decide the Tor is a good pit stop for my snack.
I notice that the trees across the valley, while mostly pines, have a circle of lime coloured beech growing amongst them. The OS map doesn't give me many clues, it doesn't seem to match the land boundaries, but maybe these are outgrown beech hedges?
This is Roughtor Plantation and my vague plan involves going back through it.
As I'm having my snack I hear a cuckoo...
And then I realise I spotted something on the map.
Yes mates. Actual Cuckoo Rock!
Well I'm going to have to head out to find that aren't I?
I can see across the moor to Combshead Tor and the smattering of rocks bewteen that must be the land of our cockoo... also promise of "settlement" and "cairns" and other snippets entice me to head off towards the next Tor
I read an article years ago on how the maps we use shape the way we see the world, the choices we make and our relationship with our environment. I believe this is entirely true.
When I'm out #walking I like to use a mix of Google satellite view and a good old OS and this because as great as OS is, it doesn't paint the entire picture. Likewise Google is flawed. But together I get a good overview.
The settlement is amongst newer drystone wall enclosures, many with tinners pits in them. But this ring of stone wall contains small stone rings amongst it, clearly marking where dwellings stood.
I spot 2 cuckoos strutting in and out the blackthorn, calling loudly.
I stand and admire the settlement a while and try and imagine what the landscape looked like.
I crest the hill and it's clear we're on the moor proper. The grass changes to swathes of sandy tufts. The wind is freer.
And here, beyond the crest in a dip, hidden from Down Tor, is the circle. A few cattle graze nearby, but other than them there is suddenly a sense of isolation. It's welcome. The stones seem to demand it.
Respects to to circle builders paid, I head to Combshead Tor.
This point is higher than Down Tor, and you can see the circle from here, aswell as other Tors more prominently than from Down.
I imagine someone from the settlement climbing up here. Did they have a preferred vantage point? There was bracken and bluebells close to Down suggesting woodland. Perhaps Combshead peeked out the trees further?
I feel its time to leave the moor. I find a path that skirts Cuckoo rock back to the valley.
This track is very boggy and serveral springs ford it. There's this whole stepping stones over mud situation(the mud is much deeper than it looks here).
There is moss on EVERYTHING
Here it is growing on both Hawthorn and Blacktorn. Nb. You can tell your thorns apart by when its flowering. Blackthorn flowers before it leafs. So the blossom here is Blackthorn. Hawthorn blossoms after leaf so the leaf with buds yet to flower is hawthorn.
OK, the local elections are history now, so back to the important stuff - enjoying life. Just back from a 4.8 mile #walk before breaking my fast.
Today may be a house-cleaning day as it's forecast to be wet most of the day. It will be good to get everywhere "tidy" again, before I head off for a few days #walking, #fossil-hunting and #sketching in North Yorkshire. Always nice to come back to a tidy house.
Even if it does look like a hurricane's hit it once I unpack my car when I get back!