Glorious

I had one of these 'it seemed like a good idea at the time' moments on Sunday. After our online church service and then watching the lunchtime football match on the TV, I decided to go for a walk. The sun was shining and the temperature was an almost balmy 7. I drove over to Denny and thought I might do a wee circuit along the River Carron.

That, of course, was not how it turned out. Having walked down to the river I crossed over the Dale Bridge towards Denovan but, rather than turn at the end of that path and do a circuit as planned, I instead decided to continue upwards and onwards along the path to Torwood.

Before long the Hippopotamus Song by Flanders and Swann came into my mind: "Mud, mud, glorious mud." Nothing else for it but to wade and squelch my way through the numerous muddy patches while enjoying the respite provided by the drier, firmer patches along the way. At least the path wasn't icy!

Quite a few other people of all ages out for a Sunday afternoon walk too, so several passing comments ensued about the 'fun' being caused by the underfoot conditions.

By this time the sun had disappeared to be replaced by low, grey clouds but I am glad the rain held off until I was through the worst of the mud and onto the gravel path near the castle (see extra).

As the light was fading (and conscious of the underfoot conditions) I decided to walk back to Denny along the country roads rather than take one of a number of other 'grassy' paths that in normal circumstances would have got me home much quicker.  It was a good decision as the rain got steadily heavier, but it meant that by the time I reached my car I had walked for 3 hours 20 minutes and covered just short of eight miles. It was also after 5.30pm and quite dark!

Not quite the lazy Sunday afternoon stroll I had intended when I left the house just after 2pm but satisfying in its own way. A shower and change of clothes was required before starting to make dinner.