I went meandering...

I went walking by myself on Wednesday and did 8 miles. I didn't fancy the Rambler's walk as it was a woods walk to see the bluebells. I'd seen lots of bluebells already- but it was the thought of all that mud that put me off. Woods seem to stay very muddy long after everywhere else has dried out. I tried a different route - variety is the spice of life after all! 

The different route took me across a couple of fields and I came out close to a pig farm and anaerobic digester plant called Twinwoods - it's this place that's responsible for the horrible odour that permeates Bedford from time to time if the wind is in the 'right' direction! This is what their website has to say:

Processes 35,000 tonnes of food waste and 12,000 tonnes of pig slurry per year. Generates 1.6MW of green electricity enough to power approx 3,500 homes

Twinwoods is also the site of an old RAF airfield used in WWII.  It's where Glen Miller took off from and from where his plane disappeared. The control room is still there and part of the runway is a public footpath today. Somewhere along the way I must have walked in cow s**t because when I got home I had green splashes all over my trousers, jacket and top! Oh, the joys of walking in the countryside...

The tunic is from Save the Children about  2 weeks ago. Leggings Store 21 sale. Top, Primarni years ago; loafers charity shopped. All jewellery charity shopped.

I wore this to go walking  meandering on Thursday. I just put walking socks and boots on. I tried a completely different, new (to me) route;  it was interesting trying to work out where I was based on the map. I'm very glad I did the map reading course! At one point on the walk,  I spotted a peacock and a peahen in a sort of chicken pen. I went over to have a closer look (should peacocks be penned?) and to take a photo. A rather irate man shouted at me that I was on private land and to stay on the footpath. He was quite right - I had strayed from the footpath  by about 15 feet -  and I apologised, but what a miserable bugger he was!

I do feel bad sometimes when we're out walking and we seem to walk through somebody's garden, but public footpaths/bridleways are exactly that. Public. Often they are paths that have existed for hundreds of years, long before any buildings or even people occupied the space.

Unfortunately the beautiful blue of the peacock doesn't show in this photo but it was that beautiful shade of blue that caught my attention.

The oil seed rape is blooming!

On Friday, I went to the new charity shop. The prices were reasonable and I bought a lovely blue cotton dress for Spain, and two pairs of earrings; 1 blue and 1 green. It was very crowded and busy understandably, so I'll need to go and have a really good rummage one day next week.

This is Friday's outfit. I brought out my white jeans from winter storage but had to resort to boots as it was too cold for loafers! I was going to wear the grey speckled tunic that I bought on Tuesday, but unfortunately it was too big for me. Back in the charity shop bag it goes.

White jeans charity shopped. Tunic charity shopped. Boots; Tesco outlet store. Beads and bangles, charity shopped. Earrings are from ebay - I have another similar pair but bought these recently as I thought they were larger - they weren't! I've since relegated these jeans to the charity shop bag too; too long in the leg and cuffing them doesn't work...

The jacket is a vintage one - 1980s, I think. It's by Geiger of Austria and made of boiled wool. Originally, they made ski wear. The jacket was lovely and warm, although maybe not best paired with this tunic, but I can experiment with it for the rest of the year. It's the sort of jacket that could still be worn on summer evenings...

You can see the cute gold buttons and the embroidered details in this photo. I bought it in the British Red Cross shops a few weeks back for £1.99. I just love the colour - a rich cobalt blue.

My daughter is away for the weekend so I am having the youngest grandson to stay for part of the weekend. One of the things I plan to do with him is make a cake on Saturday - he likes making cakes and I really fancy a nice Victoria sponge. This is why I'll never be a size 10 again!

On  Bank Holiday Monday I am going walking in London on a Rambler's led walk. We are starting from Marble Arch and following the course of the Westbourne River; one of London's lost rivers. OH has plans for the garden and allotment so I'll be walking on my own but with the group. Part of the walk goes through Chelsea where my brother lives so I might be calling in for a cup of tea...