A Stroll in the Woods

This morning the scales showed I had lost 3lbs, which for one small moment I thought was good news before I remembered that I gave blood yesterday. So this is my weight with an empty arm.

As exercising with too little blood is not a good idea I needed find something gentler that would nevertheless count towards Juneathon. Perhaps a walk in the woods?

I am lucky because Ashridge is near and it is one of my favourite places, somewhere that always refreshes . Beech, oak and birch, deer and who knows how many birds, away from the main paths everything is tranquil. Sometimes when I feel completely alone I like to stand completely still, just listening and looking. I wish I could identify birds by their song but I have no idea. All I hear is the texture of interweaving calls and the best I can do is to try to count the number of different songs. At moments like this time passes, but I cannot stay too long or it would not count as a Juneathon.  One has to stride on.

In the distance I see a patch of blue flowers and think it unusual because bluebells should be finished but getting closer is see the flowers are quite different. The petals start as blue and bell-like but are then forced apart as the green seed-bladder grows larger (if you click the picture to see a larger version, this can be seen more clearly).

I have no idea what the flower is so if anybody knows this inadequate naturalist would be pleased to hear from you.

Stats for Juneathon Day 3:
Time walking: 1 hour

Photothon 20: Open countryside

Run date 30 June

The rules of Photothon are that at the furthest point from the start I take a picture. There is a bit of latitude in this because I never know the exactly where this is (even my out and backs tend to have little loops and the odd diversion). Usually I find something and then declare it the furthest point. In this I am a bit like the Texas sharpshooter who shoots at the barn door and paints the target afterwards, but only a little bit.

I thought the first run might be a challenge because there was no way of fudging the fact that I would have to take a photograph in open, very open countryside. However, and please do not laugh at me when I say this, I found the agriculture and field pattern interesting.

There are areas of wheat, vines, corn, sunflowers, potatoes next to each other. It is the reverse of the monoculture which would have trampled similar land in the UK or America. Looking at this you can see something important in the way France has retained its food culture and the link between growing and eating. The Charante grows an incredible variety of fruit and vegetables, all available in the local markets. Iowa in comparison has some of the best agricultural land in the United States but effectively only grows corn and soya and so cannot provide a decent diet for its own population.

This photo is not however about crops it is about attention to the look of the landscape. Where there are no crops there are wild flowers. The verges are full of them and even fields,when they are being left fallow, are decorative. Here is a field of wild flowers abutting a field of wheat.

The run itself was quite quite tough and I should have acclimatised myself with a shorter route first. But hey ho I was enjoying myself and only realised the problem when it was too late.

The roads are quite exposed and straight, which makes them a little bit relentless. When I run at home there are always twists and changes to make the distance feel shorter; "oh I am here already" sort of thing. On a long straight road you tend to wonder when there is going to be a change. However the really hard part was the rolling nature of the land. Going out it was gently downhill but coming home was an incline that went on and on and on and on.

I consoled myself with the thought that it would do wonders for my endurance