After breakfast, we took advantage of the fine weather to sneak in a quick loop of the forest. The weather over the weekend really has been fantastic but this often happens at this time of year.
We weren’t really exerting ourselves as it was just such an enjoyable experience to be up the mountain on such a beautiful day. That being said, it is still quite cold.
We took the longer loop today for a 4.5 km walk.
300km
It was an absolutely beautiful day to day and was really a joy to be out walking. Although we’ve had a few sunny days so far it is beginning to warm up properly. So we were greeted with blue skies when we went out today at lunchtime.
There had been a bit of mist earlier but this had cleared away nicely so there were clear views to the distance. We took the longer loop around today.
So, a very pleasant walk today – at this rate I’ll be discarding my fleece quite soon.
295.5 km
We all got ourselves organised for a walk after breakfast which was very welcome as a means towards loosening my legs after yesterday’s exertions. It was a fine dry morning and as we weren’t in too much of a rush, we decided to have a bit of an explore of the work that the forestry people were doing back in the autumn.
For some reason, they dug this rather large hole and there is a corresponding huge pile of spoil just by the entrance.
After that we went off on the normal double loop but I took the shorter branch as we had a very tired little girl on the walk with us. It was a nice morning for it. It was a fairly unremarkable walk though – we even made it round quite quickly considering.
I had noticed quite an interesting orange tree-fungus earlier in the week in the ditch on the boundary of our land so I took a couple of pictures at the end of the walk as it was quite pretty.
291km
We’ve had an amazing swing in the weather over the last couple of days so at lunchtime today I had an absolutely fabulous spot of weather for my walk.
I didn’t really notice a lot going on as I spent most of the walk lost in thought about what I was doing for the day. I took the longer loop but that’s really about it.
243.5km
This was just a quick lunchtime loop after a horrible morning. But luckily enough it cleared up around 11:30 and it was actually quite sunny by the time we were ready to go.
As we were late, it was the shorter loop again. Amazingly the holly is still in berry which by far the latest I have ever seen it.
I wonder if it is something to do with the tree felling work that was going on a few months back. I had noticed that the forest was uncannily quiet this winter with no birdsong at all. So perhaps the work scared a lot of the birds away.
But at least they are coming back now. We’re almost into dawn chorus territory but not quite yet.
239km
I had a few bits and pieces to do during the day and it was really looking like I wasn’t able to get a walk in. But luckily enough, I caught my moment in mid-afternoon and got out before I had to make the dinner.
It was a fabulous spring day with blue skies. But it was still a bit windy and quite cold as could be expected at this time of year. Still I got a nice walk in.
The willows are in fine form – we should start seeing leaves quite soon I reckon. I took the short loop as I was in a hurry.
235km
Today was a fairly slow ramble around the loop with a gang of boys who were over for a bit of adventure after soccer training. It wasn’t the fastest walk ever but it was nice leg stretch after Friday’s efforts.
The gorse is getting well into the flower now and is looking pretty good. Although there is a lot more life about in terms of birdsong and frogspawn, there isn’t a lot of plant life stirring yet.
We had a nice stroll on the longer of the two looks and we all made it back in good form.
231km
We nipped out for a quick lunchtime loop over the shorter walk. The snow was mostly cleared except for patches up the top. The place is quite a bit wetter than a few weeks ago.
We took the shorter loop due to time pressures but it was nice to get out anyway.
200km
After a stinking wet morning, we were all surprised to see a sudden dumping of snow come across. Over the space of an hour we got about 5cm of snow which is very unusual for this time of year. So we wasted no time once it stopped getting our boots on and getting out for a walk.
The landscape was fairly well covered but you could tell that it was melting quite fast. Still it was lovely to see for a change. This year has been a bit odd for snowfall. We’ve had about 6 snowfalls which is unusual but not one of them lasted for more than a few hours.
The early flowers are struggling a bit with the snow but it won’t be much bother to them. The frogspawn might have a bigger issue but since it wasn’t really freezing, it probably won’t really have an effect.
We do make rather a mess of the place when we have a group up the top – it was just us that made these footprints. Right up the top, we get a great view of the suddenly frozen countryside.
We trundled on around although it was quite wet under the tree cover due to the snow rapidly melting from the trees. Just before we turned for home off the main track, I spotted these willow trees putting out their catkins at just the wrong time.
I don’t think the snow will do much harm as it had mostly cleared by the end of the day.
196km
I had a fine afternoon for my quick loop of the forest today but it is not forecast to be quite so nice over the weekend so I may not get a lot of walking done over the next few days. There is even snow forecast for next week so we could be looking at a very late spring.
Anyway, I took the shorter of the two loops as I still have a bit of cold and so was feeling a bit lazy. Not a lot else to see in terms of signs of life but it won’t be long now before the spring starts coming in nicely.
187.5km
