Monday 15 June 2015

My Daily Constitutional

For the last few weeks I have tried to be very good and go out for a 15 minute walk every day.  I mean, you can do anything for 15 minutes can't you?

It's something I've wanted to do for a long time but, while I was working, never really fancied it in the evening after work, as I knew it was something I would have to do on my own.  No way would I drag my dear husband out for an evening walk, just for the sake of a bit of exercise.

Well, a couple of weeks ago it suddenly dawned on me that, now I'm not working, it's something I can do whenever I want.  So, the first thing I've been doing each morning since, is heading out, setting the timer on my phone for 07.30 minutes and just walking until it goes off.  Then I know it's time to find a route home.

Obviously I've not ventured very far in just 15 minutes, but I have been very pleasantly surprised at what I've found on my wandering.

Whilst I have gone a different way every day, I have discovered a local nature reserve, literally at the bottom of the street.  Who knew?

On my wanderings through the nature reserve I have seen lots of really pretty and interesting things and one day last week I decided that I'd take the camera and capture some of the things I've seen, pretty much right on my doorstep.

I'll start off by showing you a picture of the street where we live, just so you can see that we don't live in the middle of beautiful countryside.  It's actually a pretty traditional street, a no through road for traffic now, but there is a walk through at the bottom, into a new estate. There are lots of traditionally built terraced houses down the one side and old semis down the other, with not much off street parking.

Right at the bottom of the street, just before the walk through, is a church, you can just see it in this picture, on the right of the street, behind the white car.  It can be a bit of a pain for parking on a Sunday, or if there's a big funeral on, as there's another church at the other end of the street too, but quite picturesque seen from the right angle in a good light.

It literally sits in between a block of pretty ugly garages and some terraced houses.  I think it's a really unusual looking church and it's surrounded by a tiny strip of garden, which is always beautifully kept. I sneaked in and had a walk round to take some photos, something I've never done before, even though I've lived in this street for over 20 years.

A really short walk through the new estate brings you to the nature reserve, which pretty much consists of a field with hedgerows and a lake.

Whilst the signs of civilisation are never far away and you can constantly hear the sound of traffic on the A5, at times it is hard to believe how close the humdrum of normal daily life is.
As well as the constant sound of the A5 you can hear the birds singing, the bees buzzing and, when you get to the lake, the ducks are definitely quacking.

I chose a really lovely day for my wander with camera and managed to get lots of pictures of the wildflowers in the hedgerows and around the lake.

The ducks were also happy to pose and perform for me too.

The light was brilliant.  It cast a lovely dappled glow through the weeping willow, it even made the nettles look prettier than normal.  Just stood feeling the warmth of the sun, whilst listening to the birds sing and watching the cow parsley waving in the breeze, it was easy to forget that the A5 was literally just the other side of the hedge.
It was soon back to reality and the bridge that leads me back home, in a roundabout sort of way. I wandered up the cycle path and came across this patch of thistles, which are going to look pretty darn spectacular when in flower, and in my favourite colour too.
I was soon back past the church and up the street and back home.

I'd been out for far longer than 15 minutes, but I'd enjoyed every minute and it really does go to show, you just don't know what's on your own doorstep, so get out, go down those back alleys and have a look.

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