The joys of walking

It’s great living here. I’ve just got back from a brisk walk, nearly all of it around fields, alongside hedges full of bright red rosehips and glossy dark elderberries. Breathing in the smell of warm earth, hot hay, and in places the less pleasant smell of slurry. Feeling the energy that comes from the blood pumping round my veins as I get into a brisk rhythm of walking. Hearing the birds chattering in the hedges; a blackbird scolding; ravens calling. Feeling the occasional brush of daddy-long-legs’ past my arms. There was a beautiful dragonfly, electric green and aqua-blue stripes. And a tiny coppice of young trees, big enough to cast a dark shadow to walk into, yet still slender as my own limbs. A flash of white as a rabbit bounces into the ditch, tail aloft.

When I reached the bridleway, I saw a woman with her dog and car. She was busy looking for something in the hedgerow. Possibly just brambling. When she saw me, she got back in the car and drove a little further along past me, with the hatchback open and the dog sitting in the boot. She looked strangely furtive, but smiled as I passed her.

On the way back towards the church, I saw the baby cows that we’d seen last night. They are in a tiny triangular enclosure next to the farm. So small that I’m sure they must still want their mother. Maybe something went wrong and they are being reared by hand. The one we met last night was black-and-white with big dark eyes and a soft, inquisitive nose. It was tearing leaves and berries from a bush by the fence, munching thoughtfully. The other two are a pair, light fawn, quiet and timid and very small. Today, they were lying down, curled up together.

As I was walking, I decided I wanted to knit again. Where this impulse comes from, I have no idea. But I shall give into it and get my knitting out again. Any creativity will do.

Oh – and I’ve booked on a Reiki evening course. It starts next Thursday. It seems like things are starting to come together. Knitting together the different coloured strands that make up the things I want to do with this next stage of my life.