A Walk in the Hills.

It has been one of those days when the cloudy skies looked as if it might rain at any moment. But apart from a few drops of rain in the morning it stayed dry with a good sunny spell later in the afternoon.

Today's walk was up in the hills behind the village and for me it was just a 3 minute walk to the meeting point round the corner from here.

From there we jumped in a couple of cars to drive half-way up the hill to another property to collect one more walker and dog which brought our numbers up to ten walkers and two dogs. 

From the highest points of our walk we could see the sea to the south and from a few minutes along the lane the coastline northwards.

We were joined for part of the walk by Mrs Farmer who walked with us through her mother-in-law's farmyard which saved us going through a couple of fields with cows in.

Quite a bit of our walk was along farm tracks and little used footpaths. This track was especially pretty with all the mayweed growing there.

Along the way we came across both blue and white harebells being visited by red tailed bumble bees.

It was on this lane that we met a couple of horse riders who were able to direct us to the invisible footpath through a field down to a dip and a small stream. Our leader had an OS map but it's always nice to get confirmation when the path isn't clear. (The farmer who owns that land doesn't welcome walkers.)

The stile by the stream was very overgrown with brambles but had a yellow footpath sign on it. Nowadays stiles are being phased out in favour of metal gates with a strong spring to keep them closed but this was the old wooden type and we had to lift both the dogs over it. 

The next field had heifers in which was a bit worrying for the dog owners as cows will sometimes trample dogs. Dogs and their humans went ahead as fast as they could while the rest of us ambled along in our usual fashion.

By this time the sun was out and we stopped to eat our snacks/lunch by the side of the lane with a view of the sea on the horizon. From there it was a gentle downhill walk back to the house where the cars were. There we had tea or coffee and biscuits and more chatting. These afternoons are as much about the socialising as the walks.

At home I thought I'd take advantage of the sun and sit outside for some crocheting but of course by the time I'd unpacked my bag, fed the cat etc it was turning cloudy again. I sat out for a while and then retired inside when it got too cool.