The warmth was surprising. Gloved and hatted, I felt very overdressed after a couple of km of my Hawton-Frandon-Home route, and onto the Farndon road I was struggling a little.
Luckily a warm winter's day is a boon to some; as I reached the stand of trees just before the A46 flyover three magnificent buzzards took to the air. Initially they had to flap to maintain altitude, and looked rather ungainly, but as soon as they caught an updraft of some kind they spread their wings and sailed effortlessly upwards in lazy spirals.
I don't think 2014 has been a great year for buzzards locally, so it was a thrill to see these three together.
I tried to find adventure in streets of Farndon I'd never trod before, but this was never going to be terribly exciting. Willow Holt was also closed for grazing, so I had to wait for the Marina for things to get squelchy.
Fishermen were fussing over something in their net, so I had a look and found them happy to display a fine pike they'd caught.
Respectfully treated, the fish - in beautiful condition with its marked green body and red tinged fins - was returned to the river.
The rest of the run was uneventful; sheep filled pastures and damp ground. But I was glad I have done these 12km, for the moment I settled with my tea at rumbles, the sky went instantly grey, and a suddenly unwanted chill was at my bones.
 |
| River Devon at Hawton |
 |
| Looking the other way |
 |
| Where swallows skimmed the wheat in summer |
 |
| Farndon church tower |
 |
| The main body of Farndon church |
 |
| A closed Willow Holt |
 |
| The explanation |
 |
| Farndon marina |
 |
| Pike |
 |
| Only a small one, apparently |
 |
| Power station |
 |
| Back to Rumbles, and the grey closes in |
No comments:
Post a Comment