Nature Blog

One of the great things to do in England (especially in the countryside) is go walking. When James was over in California he missed this because, well, we don't really have designated walking areas. We have hiking/jogging/biking trails, but nowhere designated to just have a simple walk about in the wilderness.

But in England these walks are EVERYWHERE. They are literally as common as stop signs. You hit a point in the road and you look out to the left or the right and somewhere, every couple of lengths, is a sign:

These footpaths, like I said, are everywhere and most of them give you the legal opportunity to trespass. I mean that jokingly, but seriously, these walks go through feilds, people's property, and as long as you don't scare the livestock and keep you dog on a lead(/leash) it's perfectly find and considered normal to go walking through other people's property. Weird, huh? But it's one of those little gems in England that I do love having at my disposal. James has shown me a few of his favorite walks around his house, there's even a 'short cut' public footpath that goes basically from the top of the hill where The Dam Barn is, down to where the bus comes to take people in that area in to town (which is only a 10-15min drive).

Yesterday we went to one walk that I've been DYING to go to. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows(Part 1), there is a montage of places that Harry and Hermione go, and one shot is of hermione walking through a feild, to the edge of a river, and bends down to get some water or something. It's only about a 3-5 second shot in the whole montage, but that River is the river Wye, in a place called Symonds Yat which is about 10-15 minutes outside the city Ross on Wye. This shot was taken just outside where James and I live, so needless to say...we had to check it out.

And we found it. :)

It wasn't too difficult to find, but we had to pass a load of livestock to get to it. Cows and sheep mostly, but there were a few Swans.

And Tilly enjoyed herself. We took her along with us and first sign of water, she had to jump in and get her feet wet.

I thought I’d take this time to talk about things I’ve learned from being out here, in case any of you sods decide to visit me (mum and dad especially).

1.This is a thistle:

It is one of the main plants that you want to look out for and make sure you don’t touch because they grow EVERYWHERE and they hurt and make you itch if you touch them.

2.These are the infamous Nettles:

Here you can see a few different pictures, sometimes they have these fuzzy things on them, and sometimes not. The way to look out for nettles is by their jagged leaf edges. These you DEFINATLY don’t want to get stung by. This quite possible is worse than poison ivy.

3. In case you DO get stung by nettles you want to get a Dot Leaf:

If you rub this on your nettles sting, it most often than not gets rid of the sting, but they are very hard to come by.

4. Beware of the weather, it will trick you.

You see that it’s all gloomy in the morning, and it may very well be gloomy in the afternoon, but it doesn’t mean that it will stay that way. We do get bits of sun here and there, and we do get bits of cloudiness, often periodically throughout the day. So, keep a LIGHT jacket with you when you’re hiking/walking Because some moments it’ll be hot, and 2 minutes later you might get a gust of cool wind and cloud coverage.....then back to sun 2 minutes later.

5. Make sure you know your routes.

There are many different types of fences you can go through, these are just a few, but most often than not they’ll always have a sign on them or by them that says ‘public footpath’ so you don’t get confused. Some are gates that you can open (and make sure you shut!):

Some are fences that you have to hop over with the help of these stepping beams:

There are other types, but know that you may need to wear comfortable clothing so you can swing your leg over a fence at any given moment.

Those are my tips for now. Tune in next week for The Vidler Saga.
-JV