Walking: Minster Lovell to Crawley
Jan. 6th, 2019 03:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
white_hartDespite feeling utterly miserable this morning I managed to drag myself out for a 4-mile walk from Minster Lovell to Crawley and back via the Windrush and the ruins of Minster Lovell Hall (route from the AA book of 50 walks in Oxfordshire, also online here), and I did feel more human by the second half of the walk (even if stopping at Waitrose on the way home seems to have undone most of the good work).
There's not a lot of colour around at this time of year, but I did spot some bright lichen in the hedgerow. Lots of birds (robins, chaffinches, bluetits and the inevitable red kit circling up above the fields).
It was also a good opportunity to try out my new boots (exactly the same as my old boots, purchased at 30% off in the sale, because while the old boots aren't completely dead they have done getting on for 600 miles, have a split in the upper of the right boot and not a lot of tread left, and it seemed silly to pass up the chance to replace them at 30% off when I'm pretty sure they don't have another serious walking holiday in them, and besides, they're French and I might not be able to get another pair at all after the end of March, or not without them costing much more) and new walking poles (also exactly the same as the old ones, purchased at 50% off because I am a total muppet and went for a walk over Christmas with my poles strapped to my backpack in case I wanted them to negotiate muddy patches and didn't realise that the joints weren't tightened up all the way, and apparently at some point the bottom section of one of them fell off, which I didn't realise until two days later when we were about to go for another walk).
There's not a lot of colour around at this time of year, but I did spot some bright lichen in the hedgerow. Lots of birds (robins, chaffinches, bluetits and the inevitable red kit circling up above the fields).
It was also a good opportunity to try out my new boots (exactly the same as my old boots, purchased at 30% off in the sale, because while the old boots aren't completely dead they have done getting on for 600 miles, have a split in the upper of the right boot and not a lot of tread left, and it seemed silly to pass up the chance to replace them at 30% off when I'm pretty sure they don't have another serious walking holiday in them, and besides, they're French and I might not be able to get another pair at all after the end of March, or not without them costing much more) and new walking poles (also exactly the same as the old ones, purchased at 50% off because I am a total muppet and went for a walk over Christmas with my poles strapped to my backpack in case I wanted them to negotiate muddy patches and didn't realise that the joints weren't tightened up all the way, and apparently at some point the bottom section of one of them fell off, which I didn't realise until two days later when we were about to go for another walk).
