Tuesday 12 January 2010

Walking with Pippin...

In spite of having a London postcode, I consider myself really quite lucky that every day I can go on an almost rural walk with Pippin.  Within about 10 minutes on foot, from my front door,  I can allow him off the lead to run ahead and do doggy things.  Mainly sniffing and rooting about!

My usual walk is UP my road, turn the corner and reach the path that takes me DOWN through the allotments.  See the poles at the bottom of the path?  That's where I fell over last week.  Not once, either, twice!



Once we are through this pathway, it's back on the lead for another 5 minutes walk UP the hill until we reach one of my favourite local places - The Mill Field.




I love this tree, so battered by the elements.  This is a Serious Slope for Sledging.  If it wasn't such a grey, misty morning, just to the left of this photo you can usually see Wembley Stadium.  When I sit on the bench in warmer weather, there is a steady stream of planes going from left to right on their descent into Heathrow Airport.

Next, it's back on the lead for another 10 minutes or so, for a precarious journey DOWN the hill until we take another footpath through some fields before home.  Just through the trees is St Joseph's Abbey, which I can also see from my kitchen window - you can see it in the photo in this post.

         


This is a great walk for burning off the calories with all the hills - my legs are killing me by the time I get back in my front door!

It's not often that I think to take photographs of my local area and it's funny that I decided to today as Alice had a similar idea when she showed us around the grounds of her place of work.  The snow changes the landscape so dramatically.  I can't remember it ever lasting so long in London - it usually turns to horrid black slush, but this morning I was still crunching through what felt like fresh snow.

How can I resist these pleading brown eyes for a minute?


                                     



10 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, can I have your dog please??!

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  2. You don't get hills like thaat in these paaarts (you'll have to imagine the Oxfordshire accent!)

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  3. I walked up our local hill today(and I bet it's the smallest incline ever to have been called a hill) and was stunned to see snow 6 inches deep up there - down in the village it only ever reached 2 and is rapidly disappearing.

    Pippin is gorgeous - but then you already know that!

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  4. what a great walk, a real calorie buster, unless like me you have to restorative chocolate every time you go up a hill...... cc

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  5. Oh that handsome boy!

    I love being taken around someone's 'home patch', thanks for the walk! So beautiful in the snow, too.

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  6. I'm late coming to wish you Happy New Year, but wanted to come and say it anyway.

    Sorry to hear you slipped over - it's so icy outside, isn't it? As always, lovely photos.

    Take care. x

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  7. It is worth getting a dog just to go on such lovely walks! Pippin is lovely! x

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  8. Love your walk! Great to see peoples day to day trips that they take for granted!

    Vanessa x

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  9. Pippin is so gorgeous. I couldn't resist those eyes either.

    We were in the brown and slushy stage yesterday, but more flurries this morning mean a white field again--hooray!

    K x

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  10. I was lucky to have lived in Richmond and Kew Gardens in the latter years of my living in London, and I loved that within 10 minutes walk of our flat, we were on the Thames or in Kew Gardens or Richmond Park. So beautiful in all the seasons. I miss it even now... 13 years after we left.
    Enjoy!

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