New Year’s Resolutions, how are yours going? Can you even remember them? Err same thing here, my first one, to give up eating carbohydrates, lasted till Jan 1st teatime – phew what a relief, nice cake.
For my second resolution though I have better hopes. I decided it today and will explain. Looking through the
Daffodil Line Walks book over Christmas, I saw Number One walk, Ledbury to Dymock, I had not done
even though I live here and thought, what a good way to start the year, walk to Dymock, and come back
on the 10.44 bus in time for coffee in Ledbury, but, to catch the 10.44 it meant starting at 7.00.
Okay I can do that! So on January 3rd in the dark and as it happens extreme cold, I set off from the railway station, the official start point of the walk. As I did not know the route it was a little difficult, reading instructions by torch, glasses steaming up, peering at the arrows on gates, so I got lost. Luckily I had my compass and this got me
broadly on route, and the early start was worth it.
I saw the sunrise bringing to life the frosty land, empty of people once I left the town. The ground was rough ploughed, brown, hard and rocky in one large field, covered in spikes of wheat somehow surviving the cold in others and short marshy grass with frozen puddles in lower ground.
Flocks of finches came to life bobbing and diving into trees in the hedgerows, sheep moved off in groups as I walked over a large open field. By nine o’clock it was bright and warm sunshine though the lanes were icy still on puddles, sheet ice in places.
I did the walk in three hours (thank you authors, that is what you said), and as it was Friday, the Beauchamp Arms was open at 10 and they made me a cup of tea. Sadly the pop up shop selling local food was not running on this first week in January but will be by next week (Jan 10).
So my New Year’s Resolution? it is to do this same walk once a month on the first Friday, and note the changes, in the seasons, in the wildlife and farming.
We travel far and wide to in search of new experiences, but I have a hunch that if I stick to my resolution, i will discover plenty, every month, in the these miles close to home – wish me luck!
