On a 10.4 mile walk taking just over 3 hours, the sun came out for a mere 20 seconds. Fortunately my camera was primed and ready to shoot.
The sun shone for 20 seconds
Headley Heath
Spring has sprung on a walk on Headley Heath,
on a lovely, sunny day but with a chilly wind.
A stroll around Dorking
A stroll around Dorking brought us across this unlikely town scene. I don’t think the sheep are permanent residents though I have seen them there on previous visits.
At the Oxfam Bookshop I was refused entry as I would have exceeded the ‘maximum of 2 customers’ restriction. They are also only accepting donations on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I have more than 30 books waiting to be donated which have accumulated over the lock-down.
A 10 mile local walk
This is the first blog post for three weeks and it’s of a 10.3 mile local walk that took three and a half hours. Mainly woodland paths, I discovered some new areas to explore further. It was a good warm-up for some long Autumnal walks including, hopefully, some legs of the Solent Way walk I began last year.
I’m uncomfortable around dogs and so a pack of 6 largish dogs forced me to hold back whilst they disappeared into the distance. A few minutes later a pack of 10 small dogs appeared some distance away. I was less concerned by them but they caused me to wonder what might have happened had the 6 largish dogs come across the 10 smaller ones!
Today, 8.2 miles
A deviation from the normal route took me along narrow and overgrown paths. A minor head injury from an overhanging branch was a consequence of my concentrating on beating the overgrown plants blocking the path. Incredibly I came across a prefab being used by a small car-maintenance business, and a rather pleasant church. Finally, just a couple of miles from home, I came across an attractive new area for exploring.
[Reminder to self for the next time: take an OS paper map – it’s all very well using the OS phone app to find one’s way (isn’t it brilliant!), but I’d be stuck if the phone failed or the battery died!]
Ashtead Common (last walk before a lock-down?)
Headley Heath (on a glorious morning)
A foggy, Autumn day
Yesterday, on a lovely, sunny day, I drove along a country lane from Headley towards Leatherhead and saw this amazing display of Autumn colours. Today I was determined to have another look and so I took a driver with me so I could capture the scenery. Well it turned out to be a foggy day, but with some help from Photoshop, the pictures taken through the car windscreen have captured some of the beauty.
By the time we had arrived at Polesden Lacey, our coffee-break destination, the fog was more obvious and the resulting pictures look better in black and white. And gosh, wasn’t it cold!
River Wey Navigation
A glorious Autumn day and I was hoping to see some lovely colours, this time walking from Ripley to Send. Success! A bus from Send back to Ripley, followed by a coffee and cake in the always reliable Nest Cafe, rounded off a perfect day.
Click the image below for larger images.
Autumnal Ashtead Village
I took them – I hate them
I’ve made this mistake this before – a walk along the Wey Navigation, expecting the Autumn colours and a sunny day and being disappointed that neither was (were?) present. And I underexposed the images to protect what little there was in the sky, and I just can’t get Photoshop to make me happy with the results. On top of that the riverside pub charged me £3.95 for a coffee with hot milk. I’ve no idea what the dog was hoping for with its pleading eyes – it obviously didn’t know I’m not a dog lover.
OK, so I’m tired and grumpy. It was a long day – two trains, three buses, and no cake.
Autumnal Reigate Park
things change 