Back to Gentle Running

I really thought I'd gotten away with it too, but no my ankle has decided to start aching afterwards, even though I've rested it for a month.

It had gone so well, although the cycling jacket is not going to work as a running jacket. Not breathable enough. I don't mind winter running, as I've said before it can be rather refreshing, and the views in a low sun beautiful.

The black headed gulls have returned to town for the winter, black heads now molted away to leave the two little spots they sport for winter. On the flipside of the coin, the local mallards are resplendent and acting like it's breeding season already. I walked along the River Devon this morning and there is a lot of quacking and scrapping going on already, stirring up splashes in the glittering river.

Getting home the local friendly cat was pleased to see me, unlike the other local cat who I caught skulking past with a mouse in its gob last night.

I realise I haven't used my bridge camera for a long while; I just never got the results I wanted with it, my bird shots were usually awful and very soft. Shaky hands, and could never get the hang of the manual settings. I really must try and work it again.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 11.11.17

The Invented Bird

I've been messing about with a kiddy doodling app my sister showed me on her little Amazon Tablet, and now finally I've got it on mine.

While my sister is a very competent artist, I am not, but I still love doing the odd scrawl. The stylus I've borroed off my mum is like "My first infant school pencil" in being the width of tree trunk, so that makes things even trickier for captain clumsy here.

Still, it's fun to scrawl in bright colours without getting paint all over the place. I remember making a blue tit out of papier mache at school when I was about 6 and in Mrs Thompson's class. I rather overpainted it.

That's what I was thinking when I drew this bird. That and worrying about having eaten too much haggis tonight.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 08.11.17

The Warrior of the Wet

It's been a little while since I've had a wet ride home, and indeed as someone I spoke to today said, it really doesn't happen very often.

It also meant I had a chance to try on the Ridge waterproof I got with my love to shop voucher, in an actual wet cycling situation. I thought with it being rather shorter than the unsexy kag, I'd end up with water running off the back of it down the back of my equally unsexy waterproof trousers and give me a wet and cold backside.

Luckily it didn't, and it wasn't as sweaty as I worried it would be. It wasn't mega rainy however, but at least at this level it kept me warm and my buttocks dry. A bit of good news for winter.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 07.11.17

Out for the Long Haul

With my stomach in better order today, I felt I needed to really get out there today and make up for the rather pathetic weekend I've had.

So, as soon as I was up and ready, layered up, fleeced and brushed of tooth, I decided to head out for Barnby in the Willows again, to attempt a route I had messed up last summer from the opposite direction.

It was a cobalt bright day, but a very chilly one at 1030am. I needed those layers! Judging by the noise, I also might have needed a steel helmet, as a pair of USAF F15 Eagles practiced for the invasion of North Korea overhead as I struck out along the country lanes. They were really going for it with their mock dogfights, and were noisier than they entire WW2 Luftwaffe.

I watched them for a good 15 minutes!

About 3.5 miles I was in Barnby Village, and rather than heading for the River Witham as I usually do, I took a left onto Long Lane, to be met by a friendly yowly cat pointing me towards the footpath I missed last time.

This initial path went through a field of sheep, and I was really happy to discover within it my first badger sett. Bloomin 'eck they dig big holes these badgers! Apparently it is an active sett, but Brock was entirely asleep when I rumbled by. Rightly so.

It wasn't the most scenic of walks, but it was good practice, and I only got off track once when trying to find my way through Brown's Wood on the way to Coddington. Apparently wild boar have been seen in this wood (!) but none today. No toadstools either, which was disappointing.

There was a couple of geocaches on the route as well, which I totally failed to find. The last one was in a another field full of sheep, and thus also full of their droppings, so I was hardly going to get down on hands and knees to look for the bloody thing. Plus, the sheep looked hostile and likely to kick me.

Still, I ended up doing over 10 miles in the end, so the exercise was good, if not the dropping dodging.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 06.11.17

An Ugh Sort of Day

Been well off my best today - something appears to have irritated my stomach and I was in a really bad way until about 1pm. At first I thought it was a bug, but my stomach seems to have settled quite quickly.

Suspect something I've eaten or drunk has had an effect. I have a crazily sensitive stomach at the best of times. Feel slightly woozy in my head but I'll see.

So, not much to report today. I did make it out for a walk today, and found at Rumbles cafe that their bee hotel has a few holidaymakers!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 05.11.17

A Riverside Walk

Yes, it's another Saturday where exhaustion, and an overhearty lunch, took their toll on me as yet again two hours of afternoon suddenly disappeared.

So yet again, low was the sun when I set out for a second walk of the day, heading down to the park to enjoy a cup of tea and the sunset views.

Sometimes you get the golden light on the river, but the angles were all wrong for that! We ended up with a pinky river, what iPhone manufacturers would call "Rose Gold" I suppose when they were having a moment of artistic inspiration.

Let's be honest. It's pink.

It's cold, but with decent clothes on, it's not a problem. It can actually be refreshing, walking during the day is not the same as my sometimes painful commutes to work in the darkness before dawn. This is why the supposed romance of snowy or frosty days actually fills me with dread - I have Raynaud's syndrome and my hands are agony in the cold.

But when not commuting, I always enjoy being outside. Though it is the time when everything dies or goes to sleep, in a couple of months, the flowers will start to shoot forth again. That's what I look forward to.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 04.11.17

The Lights

As ever, when you hope you are going to have a relaxing Friday at work, everything goes as manic as hell in the afternoon, right up until 529pm.

Someone I follow on twitter is having #anhouroutside campaign which I'd really like to be a part of: rather difficult when you are working until long after the sun has set and an injured ankle is not letting you run. But I suppose I have my commutes, and my weekends, and my evening runs, if I can ever have them again. That would add up to an hour.

Instead of running, I've been trying an exercise bike on quite a resistant setting. That also hurts my ankle. It wouldn't matter so much if I wasn't such a terrible snacker and grazer. Zeppelin levels of obesity probably await.

The moon and the cars made for a nice shot tonight.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 03.11.17