This was pretty much a normal lunchtime loop. The weather was reasonable for the time of year but I was suffering a bit with the effects of a cold. I didn’t bother so much with the camera aside from grabbing a photo of a bit of frogspawn. Due to the activities of the frogs the previous week this was everywhere.

We took the longer of the two loops. This was unusual in that it was my first walk for a week.

183.5km

I got up the forest for a quick lunchtime loop and there were definite signs of spring about as we had frogs spawning in one of the pools near the top of the mountain. For some reason, they seem to go a week or so earlier here than they do lower down. I spotted this suitably engorged participant on her (or less likely his) way to the fun and games.

Anyway, it is good to see life beginning to return after the long winter break. We’ll be starting to move into dawn chorus territory in the next few weeks which will make for a couple of interesting walks.

179 km

After a damp morning, it cleared up at lunchtime for a nice dry walk. It was pretty clear outside with good long-range visibility.

This was the usual lunchtime long loop so not a lot of time for dawdling.

It was an enjoyable walk on the longer of the two loops.

Unusually we actually met somebody in the forest, right in the middle of one of the wilder parts. This is the first time in six months I’ve come across anybody up there.

142km

I got out for my usual unremarkable lunchtime look today. Not a lot of note really at all. It was a fairly decent day – did the longer of the two loops

137.5km

I had arranged to meet a guy in a nearby village who was setting up a walking group, so that was the initial plan for walking for the day. It was extremely misty so there wasn’t really much point with bothering with the camera. We did a pleasant enough little three 3km road loop in a little over half an hour.

When we got back, I decided to drag the children out for another walk as they wouldn’t have had any exercise over the weekend. So it was up to the forest loop for us.

It really was very misty but pleasant enough besides that. You can hear the faintest signs of life coming back to the forest – there are a lot more birds singing and quite a bit of rustling going on in various undergrowth. The gorse is beginning to come properly into flower.

We made reasonable progress around the loop and when we got done the mist was beginning to life. This year has been very strange for holly as there are still plenty of berries on the trees even though they would normally be gone a couple of weeks before Christmas.

I’ll call the two walks at 3km and 4.5 km each

133km

I went out for a lunchtime walk on a freezing day. Still, it was sunny, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was easy enough to wrap up against the cold.

There was a lot of ice about – large parts of the path had a nice thick layer which made the footing somewhat treacherous. Even the dogs were having trouble with it.

Further around the loop, it had thawed out quite a bit so it did get easier. I took the shorter of the two loops as I didn’t really fancy trying to cross the dodgy bridge when it was frozen.

125.5km

The weather is still pretty cold but there was very little snow left after our recent shower. So I got out for a fairly normal lunchtime walk on my own. I didn’t really pay a lot of attention to my surroundings or bother too much with the camera as I was using the walk as thinking time.

I took the shorter loop as I was a little late getting started but at least I got out of the house.

90km

It’s been snowing on-and-off for most of the morning but nothing has been sticking as it’s a bit warm. So we had a crisp day for the walk – the usual lunchtime loop.

Not a lot has changed since my last lap, there still isn’t much sign of life about the place. As the bottom part of the loop is under heavy forest cover, we had quite the surprise when we emerged into our bottom field in blizzard conditions – even if it doesn’t really show up in the picture.

So it was a pleasant walk, even it was a bit cold and I’ve even managed to complete my target for the month a few days early.

86km

We got ourselves sorted after a late Sunday breakfast and went for a walk despite drizzly misty conditions. Everybody was in a reasonably good mood for once and we had a grand time of it. Conditions weren’t the best for photography but I managed a few shots anyway.

The harsh weather of the past few has passed and it is now a lot milder even if it is a bit wet. This is kind of the pattern at this time of year – you can be either cold and dry or warm and wet.

The place looks quite bare at the moment but the moss is doing very well. This part of the forest looks entirely unmanaged and it is hard to see why it isn’t organised in a more productive manner. Still, it is a nice place to walk since it is so wild.

The moss always looks brilliant at a macro scale. The spore things are called devil’s matchsticks due to the fact that they develop a bright red tip for a few days of the year. Last year I managed to get a shot of them on one walk.

81.5km

The cold weather remains and there is still some lingering snow from the fall on Monday night. It really only remains in the shade but with the sun so low in the sky there is a lot of shade.

It was dry though, so I had a pleasant walk being well wrapped up against the cold. It is very quiet up the Mountain at this time of year – there are very few birds about apart from the odd wood-pigeon making its presence felt. One species of gorse seems to be having a bit of a think about flowering despite the recent cold weather.

It was very pleasant to get out for a loop in such fine weather. I ended up taking the longer of the two loops. I didn’t see very much of the dogs after letting them off the lead but they must have come across something along the paved bit of the lane as they both came running back to me and were reluctant to continue on alone.

71km