Simple and Free

At the beginning of the summer this year, I deceded that each week we (Rog and I ) should set aside one day and do something together. I work shifts and Rog is theoretically retired so it should be possible for us to find one day. It has worked out well and we have taken advantage of cheap train travel, using our camper van, going on a paddle steamer and various day trips.. Recently we camper vanned in mid Wales which was bitterly cold but beautiful and last week we went down to Lyme Regis to see a friend. The last two trips have given me an opportunity to do some walking and I relised how much I have missed it.

This morning I was lying in bed and listening to Radio 2 - it was Aled Jones and his theme was 'Simple and Free' so I decided to make use of the extra hour and go for a walk. I think that I, probably like many others, forget that I live in a beautiful area and there is no need to 'go' somewhere.




This boundary marker is a couple of hundred metres up the road from me. I didn't think that we lived in the Cotswolds, but there it is , set in stone, so I must. As it was a wet morning, I decided to try and find a circular route of about an hour that would not be too muddy. Unless I walk along the canal, I am faced with a hill in whatever direction I walk. I decided to go up to a place called Muirhill and on the way, stopped to get my breath back and look at 'my' valley.




This is the village where I live but my house is over to the right , off camera. Just above the lowest trees is the old railway station, no longer functioning as a station but is lived in. This is where the film 'The Titfield Thunderbolt' was set. I had a lovely walk and discovered many footpath possibilities for another day.


This is on the way home again and although this is a main road, it was empty at 8 o,clok on a Sunday morning and very pretty to walk along. When Andy was at playgroup, 22 years ago, I walked this route every day with him. When he was tiny, he sat on the back of my bike and I pushed him up the hill and then rode on the flatter part. The footpath that you can see was wide enough in those days to walk along and have room for my bike beside me. Today it is hardly wide enough to walk along.

I was out for about an hour and had a really lovely time. I came back and had a mug of tea and planned the rest of my day. I could spin some more, knit some more of this blanket (which I re-discovered yesterday while looking for something else)

knit some more Christmas presents, get ready for my November socks and November Cranford KAL http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cranford-mitts - Oh so many things I would like to do...............

Then the dream ended and back to reality, bed for me this afternoon ready for a night shift, but I have at least achieved my aim for today, an activity which was 'Simple and Free'.