Getting Motivated

Jan said to me….”If you are going for a walk this weekend then you’d better go today because the forecast for tomorrow is worse!”  Eventually I motivated myself to get into some wet weather clothing along with boots and gaiters, before setting out to walk some of the hills to the south-east.  Last week I took the heavy and expensive camera; but also decided to save some weight by leaving the camera memory card behind. 

This time I left the camera behind rather than risk it getting wet.  700 metres later and I’d just crossed the River Kennet by the Salmon Farm when I turned a corner in the track to see this. 

Yes a grey wet and overcast photo of English countryside in the spring.  But did you see it?  OK, I’ll cheat slightly and manipulate the photo.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.  There I was without the camera and for the first time a damned pheasant was prepared to pose for me.  Then I remembered the gps has a very poor quality 3mp camera in the back.  Hence the photo.

You can see the resolution is very poor.  As I walked towards the bird it just scurried along in front of me.  Murphy’s Law!

After all the recent rain the ground on the surrounding hills is starting to get very waterlogged.  This had me slipping and sliding whilst trying to retain some traction.  Eventually I diverted into one of the local pine plantations where the ground was firmer.  As I turned a bend I got my second surprise and immediately stopped taking out the gps for another photo.

The lens on the camera probably doesn’t have the necessary resolution for you to see what is at the end of the track.

Very blurred………  Two small deer had wandered out into the open and stopped to look at me from a distance.  So on the day the good camera is left behind I get to see some local wildlife at a reasonably close distance <grrrrr>  Oh well…. Next time perhaps!

Made it back to Molly before dusk and peeled off all the wet clothing in the cratch just to make sure Jan has some washing for tomorrow.  (I wouldn’t want to deprive her of the “highlight of the week”).  Meanwhile she had made a steaming hot YMCA pie for our dinner.  Delicious!