I wanted to explore my strange fascination for small watercourses by following the Caunton Beck to the titualr village, and visiting the wonderful ford there that I always loved as a child.
To say that Nottinghamshire is mainly rather flat and boring, it was a hilly old ride out there, with some steep climbs rising into both Norwell and Caunton itself. Everytime I encountered the beck, I photographed it, as it winded around the villages in its leafy little cut.
The villages I rode through - Little Carlton, Bathley, Norwell and Caunton - are all old fashioned constructions, with lots of barns and gable ended houses, so they were obviously all popular breeding spots with hirundids. There were certainly lots of them in the air today, swallows and house martins, flying over the villages hunting like mad for the insects the muggy weather had brought out.
There were lots over the fresh cut pasture fields as well, swooping low where the machines had been.
I eventually get to Caunton and enjoyed revisiting the ford, which as ever seemed so much larger when I was a child. But you, know, cycling is a lonely business and retracing my route out of Caunton, it was lovely to make friends with a lovely furry cat of most unusual colouration.
No one else was going to give my legs a rub when I've finished.
Si
All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 05.09.16
Hello, it must have been such a pleasant ride... I love the photo of the bridge!!! Regards!
ReplyDeleteI would call that a tortoiseshell cat Si - and lovely long hair too.
ReplyDeleteSuper photographs - we used to go into Nottinghamsire a lot in my younger days when I lived around Lincolnshire and I always found it an interesting county.
Thank you both for dropping by! I've enjoyed having a bit of freedom to cycle this week.
ReplyDelete