Last week Murphy and I finally ventured in new directions and discovered two new routes that are totally worth repeating in the future. This first one is really short, and currently it has no livestock at all therefore the crazy spaniel took full advantage of his free status and covered at least three times the… Continue reading Syreford Circular, 3km
On winter’s margin, see the small birds nowWith half-forged memories come flocking homeTo gardens famous for their charity.The green globe’s broken; vines like tangled veinsHang at the entrance to the silent wood. With half a loaf, I am the prince of crumbs; By snow’s down, the birds amassed will singLike children for their sire to walk… Continue reading * On Winter’s Margin * (Mary Oliver)
After what felt like months of rain, gray skies and mud, oceans of mud, the weather was finally sunny and bright and with clear sky came a drop in temperature that meant that the aforementioned mud would be frozen solid and therefore harmless. Thank the lord. I grabbed Murphy and headed for Croome Court which… Continue reading Croome, ‘Conservation Walk’, 6.4km
I get bored easily and I try to find new walks for Murphy and I whenever I can. The heavy rains this winter have hindered our explorations somewhat and forced us to stick to the usual routes, I don't think he minds as much as I do. A couple of days ago, on a day… Continue reading Sapperton Circular/Siccaridge Wood
The Camino de Santiago needs no explanation, but just in case you have never ever heard of it... here is the 'Wikipedia' description: The Camino de Santiago (Latin: Peregrinatio Compostellana, "Pilgrimage of Compostela"; Galician: O Camiño de Santiago), also known in English as the Way of St James, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint James the Great in the cathedral… Continue reading Camino Portugues: Tui to Santiago de Compostela,
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night;Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go;Ring out the false, ring in the true. Ring out the… Continue reading * In Memoriam (Alfred Lord Tennyson)
When the wind blows harsh and mean, Murphy and I head to our hidden valley. It's not really hidden, it's just off the Bibury to Cranham road, and it's definitively not ours, but we rarely meet people there so it does feel it's there for us and us alone. Also there is no phone signal… Continue reading Ebworth Estate
Skiing in December is a risky business, unless you go high you ran the risk of finding very little or no snow and while I love mountains in any weather... going skiing without then skiing can be a little disappointing. Verbier traditionally has a good record for early snow. The village is at a respectable… Continue reading Skiing in Verbier, Switzerland
Every dayI see or I hearsomethingthat more or less kills mewith delight,that leaves melike a needle in the haystackof light.It is what I was born for –to look, to listen, to lose myselfinside this soft world –to instruct myselfover and over in joy,and acclamation.Nor am I talkingabout the exceptional, the fearful, the dreadful,the very extravagant… Continue reading *Mindful* (Mary Oliver)
I knew from the moment I woke up that the light was different today. It glowed from behind the curtains, rather than simmer softly and grey like the previous weeks. November was bleak, or, as Alexander Armstrong said during one of his daily broadcast on Classic FM, it was simply "obligingly seasonal". Either way, as… Continue reading Sapperton Tunnel circular (4.5km)
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