Another Coddington Walk

Finally, after 4 fruitless days of waiting for a boiler to be fixed - apparently I'm getting a new one next week which I will believe when I see - I've got a bit more freedom during the day and was able to get outside and walk.

I needed a long one, as I feel a bit far this week - too many jaffa cakes I think which I've become addicted to in lockdown as they are cheap as anything. I've not been able to run this week either as I have a slight calf strain and need to preserve it for cricket tomorrow.

After a visit to my stepfather, where we discussed an all action police car chase that took place in the next street down this morning, I carried on towards Coddington, just for the sake of wanting to go a bit further out - serious walking is planned this winter, I hope.

It was cool but not cold, pleasant enough. There wasn't a lot to see as all insect life seemed to decide to keep out the way today, I was reduced to photographing a very colourful garden next to the cattery that looked rather cat unfriendly, filled as it was with scrap cars and farm machinery while a mad doberman barked next door.

It was really just one foot in front of the other stuff, nothing eciting, just the joy of being out there, bimbling along, listening to the radio.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 04.09.20

Spitfire Hunting

Today, in honour of the NHS, a Spitfire did a fly past of our hospital, watched by a fair crowd of socially distanced folk who gathered on the green opposite.

Trouble with aeroplanes is that they are rather difficult to photograph, especially when they are whizzing by quite quickly! But I got a few decent ones, although you can't make out the NHS message that was painted on the underside of the wings.

This little bit of plane spotting followed a long two hour walk out to Coddington village. There's a medieval fishpond there, but alas it's on private land and you can't get to it, as with the other pond in the village that I'd like to look at.

Tonight I will be hunting for Comet Neowise, which I failed to spot at 3am this morning. The noctilucent clouds were amazing though.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 11.07.20

Trekking to Coddington

Trekking! Ha! That's probably far too grandiose a word for what I've been up to today, but it was still a decent 7 mile trek, on what was actually a very pleasant day now the wind has dropped; it actually felt a bit too warm to be wearing my fleece and my padded jacket.

An insect flew by my head quickly at one point, but I've got no idea what it might have been.

The walk was further illuminated by a happy doggo pleased to see me, and the fields by the windmill were a beatiful red colour, brought about by some agricultural procedure unknown to me.

There are other new flowers out now; violet and lungwort (I think), and the gardens of the cute cottages are filled with primrose.

These are scary times I guess, and it is causing me a lot of anxiety. I figure that I'm not going to catch anything in the open air on my own, so walking is a pleasure that is not to be denied me.

Si

Sunset to Coddington

So my Race to the Stones training continued today, with a long walk out to Coddington and back, on another day of cloudless skies and crisp temperatures leading to icy puddles and frost dusted pavements.

I've not been out this way for a long while, and such a trip would not be complete without being held up at a train crossing, luckily it was only the one LNER train thundering through, sometimes I've been held up for over twenty minutes at Barnby crossing!

i've not seen any winter thrushes until today, but in the trees alongside a farmer's field there was a flock of about 30 Fieldfare - I think - flying about, their pale bellies glowing orange in the lowering sun. Lots of sparrows in the hawthorn hedgerows, chattering away in their endless grey squabbles.

I'd timed the walk so I could get to the top of Coddington Hill as the sun set, and for once my timing was on; I had lovely views and was able to follow the sun until the moment it set; not long after Venus began its Evening Star role, shining brightly as I walked down Beacon Hill.

I've made over 20000 steps for the day, Race to the Stones will need probably 70,000 on consecutive days. It's daunting, but I'm looking forward to it.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 20.01.20

No Fields of 'Fares

I went for a seven mile walk today, going the back way into Coddington to see if there were any fieldfares in the field by the windmill, which is where I have seen large flocks of them in the past.

Of course, they all heard that I was coming, and packed their luggage and headed off for anywhere that I wasn't.

But walking in the countryside is never wasted time; I coast along, listening to the radio and taking in the sights. There wasn't a lot of nature, but there were a lot of cyclists; full club chain gangs swishing past at speed, couples in black pootling along on his and hers Treks, folk on mountain bikes, a guy struggling up Beacon Hill at barely walking pace against the steep slope.

I was glad not to be riding myself because of the cold, but it was great to see all the cyclists out. Balls to all those who moan about them - all these bikes were sporting blinking lights as recommended these days.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 14.01.18

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