Not a lot to say about this one – I got out for a quick loop on a lousy wet Saturday. I was on my own so did this one quite quickly

150 km

I had a fabulous day for walk on Wednesday with some fine wintry sunshine even if it was a bit cold.

I got out again on Friday when it wasn’t so great. But still it wasn’t raining which is always a positive. Not a lot to report as I was somewhat lost in thought and away with the fairies while walking.

146 km

We had yet another fall of snow overnight and there was a bit of it left in time for today’s walk which was nice.

It was quite cold but dry for most of the walk aside from the dripping of the melting snow in the forest.

96 km

Over the last few weeks I’ve really go into the swing of getting out at weekends and have been averaging more than 3 walks a week. I nipped out on my own for the longer loop immediately after breakfast.

It was a fine winter’s morning – a bit cold but it was dry. Indeed it would have been a very good day for hitting the hills but I wasn’t organised enough. I’m hoping to get out for the day next Saturday. The new boots are still behaving themselves – dry feet again today. I could get used to this.

92 km

Normally I’ll have company on the weekend but as it was a bit wet, nobody else wanted to come so it was just me and my regular companions. We don’t mind a bit of rain.

We had a nice walk – it was quite peaceful aside from the distance sound of a chainsaw for the last kilometre or so of the walk.

88 km

This was my usual lunchtime walk but as I had company I took the slightly longer route. It was real luxury as it was the first walk with a new pair of boots so I had dry feet. This feeling should last for a couple of months – or if I’m really lucky into the summer when the ground dries up reasonably well.

I tend to save my good hiking boots for day-long walks as the regular walks tends to ruin even the  best of boots. With the best will in the world, it isn’t really feasible to look after boots properly if you’re wearing them every day. So I buy the cheapest I can get and discard them after three or four months.

Due to the exceptionally mild winter, we still have holly berries. The same happened last year and it is very strange as they are usually gone by early December.

84 km

After the brief interlude of spring, we had a morning of heavy snowfall and it finally began to stick around 12. But by the time I got out, it had turned to sleet and rapidly disappeared

It was actually quite a miserable walk as my boots really are past it at this stage so I had soaking feet within seconds due to the slush on the roads. Hopefully I’ll be able to sort myself out with some Lidls boots in the next couple of weeks.

By the time we emerged from the forest at the bottom, the snow was mostly gone and a couple of hours later, there was no sign of it at all.

79 km

We got out fairly early this morning ahead of the band of rain that was looming in the form of dark clouds overhead. It was just the children, the dogs and myself for the loop today. The main feature of this week is the start of frog-spawn season. They were actually spawning on Friday but I didn’t have the camera with me, so I’ll have to content myself with a picture of the resulting product.

The other sign of spring is that the early gorse-flower is firmly in bloom. There are a varieties of gorse up on the mountain, so there is generally some of it in bloom for all but a couple of months of the year. Anyway, it is back and nice to see again.

The rain was just starting by the time we got back so it was a bit of a lucky escape.

75 km

The weather over the last few weeks has been somewhat mixed so I’ve not got out for a long walk. However, the local walks have been going on and I’ve managed 12 since my last long walk.

Anyway, it’s been good walking in the forest and the weather for the most part has been holding out so it is quite dry up there.

However, autumn is really upon us now and the leaves are well and truly turned. One good autumn storm and that will be the end of them.

This set of walks puts me near the 850 km mark so it looks like I won’t have too many difficulties reaching my goal for the year.

840 km