Black clouds

To be perfectly honest i can't really remember what has happened on my walks lately. Most have been short ones of no real interest. I have seen the heron a few times.

Today i walked to get my magazine. I came across some cows who were very shy apart from one. It came over to the fence and had a good sniff of my hand with its very wet nose. I obviously don't smell nice as it then promptly walked off. I did manage to briefly stroke its head.

At the shop i bought a latte to go with my magazine. I thought i would treat myself as i hadn't had one in a while and very nice it was too. I timed my visit to the shop very badly as school had just finished so the shop proceeded to be filled with little people. I quickly made my escape.

I stopped at the garage to book my MOT and nose at the jet ski on the forecourt. They are bigger than i expected. Well i don't really know what i expected but i did discover that they are bloody noisy.

On my way home the skies were a mass of black. I had my umbrella with me but i hoped i didn't have to use it. I walked at a fair pace in the hope that i wouldn't get soaked. I'm not sure i can walk faster than a rain cloud. Would you believe it i got home with only a few drops of rain landing on me. I honestly thought i was in for a drenching.

Just down the road from my house i saw a butterfly on the road. When i crouched down i could see that half of its left wing had been torn off. I thought it was dead but gave it a poke and to my surprise it moved. Being the kind soul that i am a scooped it up and put it into a flowery bush. It would probably have been kinder and certainly a quicker death for it to be run over but nevermind. I think that was my good deed of the day.

In other news i saw a goth looking caterpillar. It had huge black spikes along it's back. I also rescued this from the middle of the road. Two good deeds.

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Welcome back

Well it's been a long time since i last wrote a blog. Nevermind i'm back now. So what's been happening? Well i've been walking. Not quite as much as i should have for certain reasons but i'm picking up the pace again now.

At first i thought the web in my picture was a huge spiders nest which obviously i wasn't thrilled with. I noticed that it had long black things on and when i got closer i realised it was full of caterpillars. I don't think i've ever seen so many nevermind a nest.

I mentioned in my last blog that i saw a heron flying overhead. I've seen it quite frequently of late. On one trip i saw it in the river but it saw me first and flew off. A few days later i walked a little more cautiously when i got to the same point and there were two. They are obviously very shy birds as they both flew off as soon as they saw me. I still can't get over how big they are.

There are lots of horses around where i live and they keep themselves to themselves. Very rarely do they come over and say hello. One day when it was raining i took an umbrella and two horses that i regularly walk passed looked at me as though i was the oddest thing they had ever seen. It was almost a look of what the hell is that?

Talking about odd things, one of these horses was just stood around eating grass as they do. As i carried on walking it sudddenly dropped to the ground and started rolling on it's back just like a dog. I have never seen a horse do that and i must admit it did make me chuckle.

It has been raining a lot lately which is part of the reason i haven't been out. The other day i just thought sod it i was fed up with waiting for it to stop so i just put on my waterproofs and off i went. Of course half way through my walk it stopped raining.

On this particular walk i was minding my own coming down the hill. I had my head down in an attempt to stop my glasses getting any further wet. Glasses with windscreen wipers now there's an idea. Anyway as i was looking at the verge i spotted what i assumed was a penny. I bent down to pick it up but it felt thicker than a penny. It was a pound coin. It was filthy and had some dents in it so it took a while to work out if it was a pound or not. It was dated 1985, i don't think i've seen a pound coin that old. I wonder how long it had been sat there. So my walk turned out to be a profitable one.

I must try harder not to leave it so long between blogs. I probably keep saying that and the time between them is probably getting longer but i must try harder.

Total so far: 452890
Total left to go: 547110

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Pterodactyl

Well today i felt like i could walk for miles and miles. The other day i could barely walk anywhere. That could possibly be because my other walks have been after work and today i have done absolutely nothing.

I've seen a lot of bambie's around lately. Yesterday i got quite close to one but it ran off before i could sort my camera out. They are proper deer not these muntjac things.

I haven't been savaged by that dog on my recent walks. To be fair i haven't seen the devil dog. I have been taking my hiking stick with me just in case still. It has made me quite anxious about walking in certain places. I don't really want to come face to face with it again. I like my limbs as they are thanks.

The other day on one of my walks i was just walking home from the river bridge when i looked up to the sky. The was a huge bird flying above me. When i say huge i mean huge. I have not seen a bird that big. Anyway initially i thought it was a pterodactyl but then i realised that was a laughable thought. It turned out to be a heron.

It was extremely windy today but when the wind dropped it was like standing in an oven. I wore a jumper because it looked a bit bleak outside but i wish i hadn't. I should have worn a hat though. I may have caught the sun a little. Where did that phrase come from?

Total so far: 425050
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Sluggish

So since we last spoke i've done a lot of walking. During the week i did my usual walks. At the weekend i was in London. Unfortunately my GPS doesn't work underground so it never got measured therefore i can't add it to my total.

Today was tough. I think it was to do with my post weekend slump. It was a mission to get my bum outside and then the walk was so hard. It's a walk i can usually do with absolutely no problem but boy did i suffer today.

At the start of my walk one of the railway engineers started chatting to me. He asked me if i was excited about having a double line. I told him as long as it improves services then it would be worth the disruption. I also had a little rant about the cost of having to replace lines that had been taken up years ago. I'm sure he regretted talking to me after that. I tried to be plesent despite my mood but i made a comment about being forced into the hedge as he drove passed. He apologised and i felt bad.

It has been raining all day so i took my brolly which must be the first time i've used it. On the way back it stopped raining but i expect it will start again.

The picture i took and have used was really to represent how i felt. Unfortunately i didn't see a slug so a snail will have to do.

I start back at work full time next week so i don't know how this is going to affect my walking. Hopefully it won't. I'm behind schedule as it is so i could do without any delays.

I haven't seen that dog on my latest walks. This i am happy about but i do get a little anxious that i'm suddenly going to have it's teeth clamped around my ankle.

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Mad dog

After i wrote my blog on Sunday i decided to go for a walk. Not the most logical way of doing things i must admit.

It started out quite a nice walk. A fox ran out in front on me then quickly vanished when it saw me coming up the road. I hadn't seen any foxes and now i've seen two. Do you think it would work if i said i haven't seen any £50 notes lately? Wishful thinking. After the fox two bi-planes can spluttering overhead side by side. They were red and i wondered very very briefly what it would be like to wing walk. There is of course no way i will ever know because there isn't the money in the world that would make me do that. A strange thought that popped into my mind as they do. When i was coming down the hill a little dog started charging up the hill towards me. It was a shy little thing and went around me and carried on charging up the hill. A few minutes later i could hear the owner hollering it's name.

This is where things went slightly pear shaped for many reasons. As i was walking i noticed the stalky growly dog coming up the hill. I stopped and thought oh sugarcrumbs. This dog had already stalked me and run at me growling what the hell to do? The dog started coming up the hill and i walked very slowly looking away from it trying not to look a) a threat or b) scared. As we got closer the dog crossed over to the other side of the road and i started speaking in a nice voice as you should so i've found out after the incident. Just as i thought i was safe because we had passed the dog came charging at me teeth and all and went to bite. It was barking, growling, snarling and all i thought was get the hell out of there. It took all my energy not to run. I was shaking like a leaf and almost in tears and i didn't dare look back in case it was following me. Eventually i turned around and it had gone. I got to the river bridge and just sat there trying to calm down. After a while i did and carried on home.

It was about 10 metres into my walk home i realised i had dropped my glasses. I had my sunglasses on and my glasses in my pocket. I can't see without them and loads of cars had gone passed. I pressumed they were squashed. I started walking back up the hill frantically looking for them then it dawned on me, i may bump into that dog again. This stressed me out even more. After a short while i spotted my glasses and thankfully they were intact.

I got home a stressed out gibbering wreck. In my opinion that dog needs to be kept tied up or have a muzzle because it is bloody dangerous.

I'm pleased to say my walk today was very uneventful. I got my magazine and i had a sit down in a field. That i can cope with.

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Total left to go: 603250

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I'm not being lazy...honest

I have been walking! I may not be blogging but i am walking. It's very slack of me not to blog i know and i apologise. I've been for three walks since Tuesday but as they have been late in the evening i have chosen to store them up and write about them all in one go. Let's be honest there isn't a lot that can happen in a couple of miles so i would be writing hardly anything.

On Thursday as i was walking passed the the river before i had a chance to try and remain hidden i disturbed a heron. It was a big brute of a thing. They look large when they are flying but they are rather on the large side close up too. It took one look at me and made it's escape with what looked like a fish dangling from it's beak.

As i walked passed a driveway staring at my phone from behind came the bark of a dog which made me jump. When i turned around i realised it was stalky dog from the other day only today it was running full pelt growling at me. As you can imagine i was a little anxious i was about to lose an ankle or arm but it stopped and went away. This made me slightly nervous for the return journey so i tip toed passed the driveway in the hope stalky growly dog was safely locked in the house. Luckily for me it was.

On Friday there were plenty of people out and about including one chap jogging in a shirt. Who goes for a jog in shorts and a shirt? A country gentleman it would seem. I'm not having much luck with dogs. As i was walking up the hill there was a couple walking down with their black lab which as soon as he saw me came at me like a greyhound being released from it's cage. The woman hollered down the road 'Don't worry he's friendly. He just wants to say hello.' I thought yea you would say that, your not the one with a huge blur of black tearing towards you barking! Anyway this dog called Jerry according to his owners very kindly jumped up at me bearing his teeth in what i assume was not a friendly smile. I had a chat with his owners for a few minutes which was nice by which time he had calmed down as had i.

On Saturday not much happened apart from two idiots racing through the village with their music up so loud i could hear it 1/4 mile away. I did bump into one lady who i regularly see walking her dog. This time rather than the customary hello she actually struck up a conversation with me. So people are obviously getting used to seeing me wandering through the countryside on my rambles. It's nice talking to random strangers sometimes.

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Troublesome tuesday

I struggled today i must admit. I went to get my magazine as per usual as it's tuesday and getting to the shop was fine. My legs seemed to be in perfect working order. I did spend rather a long time chatting to people in the village. It makes me wonder if i seized up a little during these chin wags.

On the way home i thought i would never make it. My left leg/ankle was so painful for reasons unknown to me. I did do a lot of walking last week so i wonder if it was putting up some sort of protest. Anyway i did get home, obviously as i am writing this and i don't tend to carry my laptop around with me.

It was a bit of a race against the clouds as well. There was a horrible darkness hovering above me and it did begin to spit. Like a seansoned walker i went equipped for every eventuality. I had sunglasses. I didn't think it was going to rain so i didn't take my waterproof jacket and fortunately for me it didn't rain because everything including myself would have got rather wet.

Yesterday i went for an evening stroll. It was nice. I wasn't stalked by any strange dogs nor did i see any interesting wildlife. Actually i didn't see anything so it was a little boring.

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