I Still Find Unknown Paths to Run On

Today I made it back into my knackered running shoes and headed out running today. I thought the rest would have done me good, heaven only knows my aching body needed it.

However, as soon as I got going, my cold wrecked lungs felt they had shrunk to the size of golf balls, so plans to run to Cotham and back, or to do the Owl Road, were soon forgotten. Pity I couldn't do the same about the wind, which scythed through my jacket like the least hottest knife you could ever imagine.

I ran through the cemetery, slowly, taking in the feeding squirrels and increasingly luxuriant carpets of flowers. Balderton Lake was lit by the low sun, but you can tell the seasons are changing; there weren't large numbers of gulls on the water, and there was no sign of any interesting ducks like goosander or pochard.

I had planned to run as far as Flowserve and turn along the path, that leads to the the road, that leads to London Road. Instead, I was so taken with a "Footpath" sign I'd never notice before, I ended up running behind the little terrace of houses, and onto what was for me entirely virgin territory, a little urban path that had I followed it would have probably led to the new development behind Sainsburys. But I couldn't let it lie, and took another path, a parish one, across some fields that lead back to that road, that leads to a road that leads to Londno Road.

Only a short hop of terra incognita, but I still love finding untravelled roads. The temptation when I find a new signpost, is overwhelming.

Si

Munching squirrel

Crocus carpet

Rubbish in the snowdrops

Balderton Lake

Halo across the fields

Corrugated fence, Flowserve

I love finding these little honesty box roadside produce stalls

Meet the shopkeeper

And the assistant

The new path

Across virgin fields

The parish owns all the paths in the worrld