The real sign that winter is over isn’t the flowers or the flush of green on the tips of the branches. No, those are just the window dressing. The real sign that winter is over are the insects, the bees and the butterflies. In early March 2014 the insect seemed to suddenly reappear after their winter absence and I knew Spring wasn’t far off at all. Continue reading Bees, butterflies and regeneration – first published 8 March 2014
I’m always thankful that I live near the sea. There’s something about the sound of crashing waves and the taste of salt in the air that can’t be beaten. It may not be a beach of golden sands, with palm trees swaying and the sun beating down but, some days, the shore calls to me and, when it does, it have to listen. In early March 2014, I did just that. Continue reading The call of the sea – first published 6 March 2014
Usually one walk a day is enough but, in Fenruary 2014, with almost constant rain and floods all over the city I was struggling to fit in the miles for the one hundred miles a month challenge I’d set myself. A Staurday morning with blue sky was too good an opportunity to miss and I ended up with not one, but two walks. Continue reading A two walk Saturday – first published 9 February 2014
19 June 2016
Yesterday morning I slept in and didn’t go to parkrun. Commando rang me at about ten o’clock to say he was going straight into town because he felt like some retail therapy.
“I’ll walk over to meet you if you like,” I suggested, thinking there might be a coffee in it for me.
As it happened there was no coffee involved whatsoever. When I rang him to say I was walking through the parks Commando said he was in Ed’s Diner on the top floor of WestQuay having a milkshake.
“They are amazing,” he said, “like heaven in a glass. If you hurry I’ll get you one.” Continue reading A steep learning curve and a big change
Some of my walks are planned with meticulous attention to detail, lots of map looking and even lists of instructions to follow. Not many though. Most are hastily cobbled together wanderings with no proper aim. Quite a few end up with me lost and wondering what on earth I was thinking. At the end of November 2013, with my redundancy letter sitting on the coffee table I went for one of the latter. Continue reading a badly planned Sunday walk – first published 24 November 2013
The first day of August 2013 began badly with lots of annoying jobs and a call from a grouchy supplier. Then there were Bridge supplies. It seemed impossible to get my head round that minefield. Things started to look up when I went for my lunch time walk. The parks were looking beautiful and there was another rhino to tick off my list. Then I found the rhino motherload… Continue reading The rhino mother load – first published 1 August 2013
July 2013 was coming to an end and I had a date with a rhino. The plan was to walk to the airport, find the rhino there and walk back, a nice little eight mile stroll and one more of the out of town rhinos ticked off my list. Sometimes things don’t work out quite how you planned though and a catalogue of disasters meant a change of plan. Continue reading scorched earth – first published 27 July 2013
At the end of a busy day the last thing you want to see on the way home is a huge plume of smoke ahead between you and home. That is exactly what happened on the evening of 26 July 2013 as Gail and I were heading for the Itchen Bridge. By the time we realised what was burning it was too late to turn back. We’d just have to find a way around it if we could. Continue reading southampton’s burning – first published 26 July 2013
13 January 2016
A council estate in the centre of Southampton might not seem like a very interesting place to visit but bear with me because this particular council estate has quite a lot to offer. Besides, my recent attempts at woodland walks have been thwarted by mud and this walk involved no mud whatsoever, which could only be a bonus. What it did involve, along with being the place singer Craig David grew up, was history and art, two things I’m quite fond of. Plus there would be a nice walk over the Itchen Bridge and almost certainly a coffee. If I couldn’t have woods this was the next best thing. Continue reading Seven murals and some ice
At the beginning of July 2013 I was on a mission to explore a route that would take me from the shore to Millers Pond without road walking. At least that was the theory. For once I’d planned it all with precision on WalkJogRun so I knew exactly where I was going. When I say exactly, I mean, more or less because there were woods involved and they’re quite difficult to plot as you can’t see the paths on the satellite map. Still, how lost could I get? Continue reading an addition to the woodland route – first published 7 July 2013