Winter walking

We have been very busy walking, trying pack weights (again!!!!) and testing our cold weather layers. January was fairly good for walking so we had a mix of 8km and 15km walks.
The past week has been bitterly cold and with some snow so the  'great log fire' was more attractive. The one advantage of the freezing weather was that the tracks were passable as the mud was frozen.
However this morning we were back on the road again although it is still quite cold.
One of our late January walks gave us some interesting photos:-

The church on the hill top

A sunken ancient trackway

An unusual view of thatch from underneath

Thatched tithe barn

New Year 2012

A happy new year to you all.

At last we can say 'This year we will walk the Camino Primitivo again (DV).' Walking practise continues, although not today as it was raining. Packs are being checked, what to take is being considered and weighed (yet again!!). Basically we expect to use the same kit as last year but we'll list it later once we have decided. All we hope and pray for is better weather than in 2010, especially as we feel that this will be our last time on the Camino as pilgrims (although not our last visit to Spain).

Photos

There is a poem on wikipaedia about the common cormorant or shag which lays its eggs in paper bags. Once considered a rare bird there are many near where we live.

A young cormorant on a nearby lake.

One of the hills near our home with lovely autumn colours.


A Victorian letterbox with an interesting note about the posting of coins in letters.

Autumn sights

We continue to make plans for a return to the Camino Primitivo in 2012. We now have our tickets to Spain and our Credenciales, to start in Tineo, and we are planning a rough guide to each day. This helps to work out how long we will need to reach Santiago as well as where we can find accomodation, food etc along the route. We are using the CSJ (Confraternity of St James) guide, as Terry did in 2009. There are updates, more accomodation in some places, less in others.
We intend to use the ferry and the FEVE again and finally the ALSA bus to reach Tineo before setting off to walk. It is over 200km from Tineo to Santiago through the mountains. Hopefully we will reach Santiago with time to see some more of western Galicia, maybe Padron or Coruña before heading for home again.

Meanwhile we have been walking as much as possible locally, while the weather has been good, to keep ourselves in practise. Walks are varying between 7km and 15km, up and down hills, but chiefly on the road now as the paths are very wet. On the shorter walks we have been carrying full weight packs and lighter on the longer ones.

The highly poisonous Fly Agaric toadstools are a bright splash of colour.

The heron was waiting and watching for his dinner.

Walks around Clumber

Our preparations for next year continue with a variety of walks. In Clumber we found a beautiful walk; down the lime tree avenue, past the house, right around the lake, through the woods and back to the lime tree avenue. A total of 12kms. There are no steep hills but we can find them elsewhere.

The weather has been kind to us until this week - although we did manage a 12km walk, with hills, before the rain set in. We tend to carry about 3/4 of our Camino pack weight at present, partly as we are using our small packs which hold less. We'll put the weight up early in the New Year. We are also checking out our gear, for wear etc. New mid layer socks as they are the ones which wear most but otherwise we'll take the same basic kit that we took last year.

View across the lake

The lime tree avenue

Autumn Views

Some unusual sights on a couple of our latest walks. One could be tagged ' well I left my tractor here some time ago'. The other could be called 'disdain' as the alpaca was definitely not talking to us!
More normal sightings for this time of year were the spiders' webs along the hedges, with the dew still on them as the early mist was just beginning to lift.
There have been mushrooms in the fields, picked and eaten, as well as the last of the good brambles in the hedges to go with our apples.
Our latest walks have varied between 7km and 12kms with some fairly steep hills for added interest and practise.

The tractor wheel has been there for so long that the tree has grown right through it.

Alpaca are still an unusual sight in the English countryside. The other one hid behind the tree.

Spiders webs are more common. These were along the hedge sides earlier this week

September walking

The weather has not been very good lately. However we have managed some walking, chiefly around Dulverton. Steep hills, streams, wooded tracks. Very like the Camino. We even found a granary (hórreo) when we visited Arlington Court
We are aiming to walk 7-10kms on an average walk with one 15km per week for the next few weeks. This is really to keep us fit and then we'll build up the distance again in the New Year. We are carrying 2/3 of the Camino weight in our rucksacs, again with the idea of building up to full weight later on.

The hill from the workhouse, at river level

The old packhorse bridge with the 'new' road bridge in the trees

The view forward and back along the track

A green 'speckled bush cricket' sitting on Terry's hand

The old granary in the grounds of Arlington Court