The pre breakfast health walk of generally 3.4 kilometres, is done at a reasonable pace that seems to get slightly faster each week, not a bad thing as it is sign of increasing fitness. Though I do tend to puff on occasions, especially when I attempt to breathe through my broken nose; with its narrow canals, the right side in particular is now more decorative than useful, as for the other 'tis only slightly better. Fortunately the mouth works wonderfully well, except it is hard to talk when going for a greater amount of air. Silence then is the answer: to walk in companionable quietness listening to the sounds of nature.

The sights of Nature though change with every bend in the road. High hedges on the margins and here our eyesight is thrown to a distant field gate, where the ground gleams cream after having its grass closely mown for silage, then rapidly drawn to the home farm and clamped.

Turning the bend the hedges are lower giving greater visibility, safer now for walkers. In a field on the right is a stick with a profile that looks for all the world to be a black Heron, easy to be fooled without the aid of binoculars. On the other hand, on the hills which form the northern horizon, are a group of trees that look like a large, chicken, those I named long ago as 'The Chicken on the Hill'

Just after the third bend the road rises to meet us with a gradual slope, on the left are the fields where the Hares can be occasionally seen with their long quivering ears risen above the long grass. Further along on the left is Bunny land, where timorous Rabbits of all sizes and ages, can be seen running for cover as they become aware of our approach. Two white mares with brown foals standing on long skinny legs, graze on land higher than the road. One thing I have noticed is the Horse likes a hill to stand on, just as the Goat likes a rock or even a barrel to raise himself above ground level. The silhouette of a horse on a hill is to my mind a fine sight and one that I greatly appreciate.

Our Road now drops away, a short nip of a hill to where the road and land levels out into a large plain, subdivided into several large fields, the vista is broken only by a small copse here and there.Our walk passes through a copse and it is here at the top of a tall tree that the Herons have a nest. Chicks have hatched and at feeding time they make a noise that sounds like bricks being slapped together.

All was very quiet when we walked through the copse today - I guess they were having a nap!

to be cont'd