Tag: Fungi

Less Hiking, more city walking – first published 6 February 2014

Guest photo from my friend Jill
Guest photo from my friend Jill

There wasn’t much interesting walking going on in early February 2014, no hiking through the woods wading through burst riverbanks. The guest photos above and below may give you a clue why. That’s not to say there was no walking or interesting things. There just weren’t any of those meandering walks where I stumble across plants, animals and pretty scenery whilst carrying emergency supplies in my rucksack. There wasn’t even any getting lost in the woods. This is mainly due to the fact that I’d been city walking. Continue reading Less Hiking, more city walking – first published 6 February 2014

Lordswood boundary stones and finding Utopia

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31 August 2016

Most of July and August has been taken up with zebra hunting but, this week, with almost all the zebras found, CJ and I decided it was time to revisit the boundary stone hunt. Since I stumbled upon the first of these curious stones, back in April 2013, I have managed to find eight out of the twelve there are supposed to be. Not all the stones have been where I expected to find them and there have been several fruitless hunts. When we set out today I had my fingers crossed this would not be another.  Continue reading Lordswood boundary stones and finding Utopia

Floods and fungi – first published 3 February 2014

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When I pledged to walk one hundred miles every month in 2014 I forgot about February with its pesky twenty eight days. Of course this meant I was going to have to up my daily average if I wanted to hit my February target. WIth a few sums I worked out it was just over three and a half miles a day. Walking the Christmas weight off wasn’t going to happen before summer unless I made more effort.  Continue reading Floods and fungi – first published 3 February 2014

Weight loss and the giant boat in the garden – first published 28 January 2014

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January 2014 was all about walking off the unemployment blues as much as the weather would let me. My penultimate January walk. took me to some of my childhood haunts. Some surprised me by being very different to how I remembered them, others surprised me by being much the same, if a little older. One in particular had me thinking about how weight goes on without us noticing and, more importantly, how it stays there. Continue reading Weight loss and the giant boat in the garden – first published 28 January 2014

Red tape and good news – first published 24 January 2014

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Hard as I might try,  the routine wasn’t really happening. Every morning I started with good intentions of getting this or that done but the days seemed to be running away with me. Some days I spent so long searching for a job I could do and hadn’t already applied for the whole morning was gone leating no time for a walk. It was all very well the job centre saying people have to apply for x number of jobs a week but what wawere you supposed to do when the jobs were just not there? It seemed fairly pointless to be applying for jobs as a brain surgeon or nuclear physicist but that appeared to be what they wanted. Continue reading Red tape and good news – first published 24 January 2014

A woodland walk, fungi, lichen and a surprise flower bud – first published 19 January 2014

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January 2014 and Commando was training for the Manchester marathon. While he went out for a ten mile run, I decided to spend the morning wandering in Hum Hole. This is a tiny fragment of the ancient woodland that, as recently as the nineteenth century, covered the area around my village stretching all the way down to the Itchen and the river walk. Why it’s called Hum Hole I don’t know but it is a deep dip with a stream running through. When I was young it was much larger but changes to the Main Road and a new bypass ate into it a fair bit. Continue reading A woodland walk, fungi, lichen and a surprise flower bud – first published 19 January 2014

Walking, talking and a seagull melee – first published 16 January 2014

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The beginning of 2014 was all about job hunting for me. In between scouring the job sites for likely work, sending off applications and fretting about the ones I’d already applied for, I walked. Sometimes there were great plans and long walks, other times just wanderings, meandering from place to place thinking and trying to find little things to make me smile. Continue reading Walking, talking and a seagull melee – first published 16 January 2014

withymead bridge at last – first published 28 December 2013

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My last walk of 2013 and I’d reached the final stretch of the Itchen Navigation before the new bridge at Withymead. There were bank breaches and I wasn’t sure whether to continue or not. I did dither for a moment or two trying to decide whether to go on or take the road route to Eastleigh. It didn’t seem all that sensible to go off down a muddy trail at almost half past two with a good three and a half miles of mostly unknown territory ahead and the prospect of darkness in the next hour or two. Then again, I’m not known for being sensible at the best of times and I really did want to see the new bridge… Continue reading withymead bridge at last – first published 28 December 2013

Winchester walking, ice and mud – first published 29 December 2013

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Early in December 2013 Pete, who runs Care For a Walk, happened to mention he’d walked the Itchen Navigation and there was a new, metal bridge at Withymead. Of course that meant I could, in theory, walk the whole Navigation. I say in theory because, in December, the chances were the stretch from the White Swan to Eastleigh would be too boggy to walk at all, if not actually flooded. Of course I was itching to go and have a look but, with the last fraught weeks at work and Christmas, I hadn’t found the time. Once Christmas and my job were behind me though I finally had my chance. Continue reading Winchester walking, ice and mud – first published 29 December 2013

A little Boxing Day walk – first published 26 December 2013

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Boxing day 2013, the sun was out, Commando was out on a run, it seemed like a good time to go for a little walk. Apart from anything it might walk off some of the Christmas food I ate before it had a chance to settle on my hips. At first I thought about trying out a new route but the river was calling and my feet were listening even if my head said try something new. Continue reading A little Boxing Day walk – first published 26 December 2013