There's a circular walking route that I have plodded countless times. It's on the southern edge of the city and it is where I go when I need an hour of solid walking - just a seven minute drive away from this keyboard. I have written about this particular walk before, for example here and here.
And I was on it again today. I met a married couple from the Derbyshire village of Holmesfield. The man said that it was the very first time that they had walked in the area. Then he asked me how often I had walked round there.
It was a bit of an exaggeration but I said, "Roughly once a month for the past thirty five years". But it wasn't far from the truth. I have seen many changes even though the walk stays exactly the same and of course, I have followed the route in different seasons and different weather conditions. I think of it as my personal walk for nobody else told me where I should go.
You pass Hallfield Farm, the country retreat of a successful dealer in precious metals. He has used some of his excess wealth to create wooden animal sculptures - both on his property and in the woods by Strawberry Lee Lane. Today I noted the addition of two rutting stags, apparently made from driftwood. They were impressive and are pictured at the top of this blogpost. And here they are from a different viewpoint, still locking horns:-
from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/fBrncKJ
