The Dorridge Walk, Part 2

People seem to assume that since we live kinda in the middle of nowhere that there are a lot of places to walk. Not exactly! Unless I stay in the residential area, a lot of the smaller country roads don't have sidewalks. And people drive like maniacs. And we're a rather wide load. Anyway, the solution is the public footpaths - paths that crisscross the countryside (including private land) on which the public have a legally protected right to travel on foot. Some of them have been around for hundreds of years! They are marked, but sometimes not very clearly, so I'm going to buy a map that shows all the public footpaths in my area. I wouldn't care for an angry farmer to catch me walking on a "path" that isn't really a path. Since many of the paths cut through farmland, the dogs have to stay on their leads. You won't argue with me when I tell you this is why.

Here are some pictures from the particular public footpath I've been walking on lately.

The little green sticker says "Stile Free Path" - much easier with dogs.

I saw a fox on the path here yesterday.

Picturesque ruins. Or, if this was my country estate, I would call it a folly.

You can just barely see some horses in that one. The dogs haven't noticed them and we don't even bother trying to point them out to Plato. He will look excitedly and with purpose... in the exact opposite direction.

Blue sky!! A miracle!! These posts with yellow arrows keep you on the path, or at least headed in the right direction.

The paths are a little muddy and dreary, though empty, this time of year. I can only imagine how beautiful (and crowded) it will be in the spring and summer.

In other news, a central heating engineer is coming to look at the two non-functioning radiators this afternoon. I haven't quite let myself believe that he will be able to fix them...

Also, we have a problem.

Plato seems to think that now that he's been on an airplane he should get to eat with the grown-ups, too.