Walking

 What a difference a good walk makes. 

I love to walk.  I am lucky enough to live near the river and green spaces in Cambridge and am able to take advantage of them.

I walk every day, My walk covers the same stretch of river, I vary it by crossing the river over different bridges or going downstream instead of upstream. I walk simply to get my limbs working and a little blood flowing through my brain to ensure that I can function for the day, but a walk in which the only incline is on the footbridges over the river, simply feels like exercise. It can be like a treadmill, a hamster’s wheel. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy my walks.  I’m not such a masochist that I would carry on going out if I didn’t. It calms my mind. The seasons change, but the people running, rowing, walking, cycling past me don’t. I know that a walk is going well when birdsong overrides my thoughts.

    

On Sunday I walked along the Cam to Baits Bite Lock. 

Many others were enjoying the sunshine, cycling, walking, running, rowing. Away from the city there were less people, less noise from the rowers involved in a race on the river but the birds were still having to raise their voices against the sound of the A14. In what feels like open countryside, this eternally busy road dominates.

Cygnets delivered safely in the man made nature trail along the new cycle path linking the two railway stations in Cambridge.

Last week, I travelled to stay with friends near Sheffield. I don't realise how much I miss hills until I am back amongst them. We walked around Moss Valley with its ancient woodlands, still pools lie alongside the fast flowing Moss river.  The countryside is very beautiful but evidence remains of a time when this area was busier, when waterwheels were used to power grinding stones to produce the blades of scythes and sickles.

Tuesday we visited Wentworth Woodhouse. https://wentworthwoodhouse.org.uk

It is hard to believe that the fabulous countryside is on the doorstep of Sheffield and Rotherham. I lived in Sheffield for many years and always headed to the well known and well trodden attractions of the Peak District, not realising what beauty lay in South Yorkshire. 

Wentworth Woodhouse is a work in progress. A massive stately home that has seen many changes and reincarnations in its lifetime.  It is now undergoing a 30 year programme of restoration and rejuvenation, having been was saved from demolition after it was no longer needed as a PE college.   It is being brought back to life not to be lived in but to be used, enjoyed and to benefit the surrounding community.

 The views are much better than they would have been at the start of the 20th century. The estate sits on a coal seam and was surrounded by pits and chemical works. The villages on the edge of the estate would have been shrouded in dust and the stonework of all the buildings is blackened by the coal that paid for its existence.

 Returning from the North, I visited Stowe, https://www.stowe.co.uk/house and was treated to a preview of the (nearly completed) dining room restoration. 

Here's how it looked on my last visit in October last year. 

Before

And now:

So, if you are lucky enough to go, you will agree that a transformation has taken place.

Suffice it to say, the renovation is amazing, well worth a visit.  

On a different note, I wonder why some feel the need to attack others?

 As I worked in the graveyard at St Andrews Church, Chesterton, a woman cycled past me and yelled,“Everyone knows Jesus wasn’t white.”  I would have perhaps liked discussion about this, if I could have straightened myself from my raking quickly enough.  I assume that she was referring to the fact the group of volunteers tidying around the gravestones were all white.  We were all pretty old too, she didn’t see the need to comment on that. We were not preaching to anyone, we are not all members of the church, we are simply trying to make a make a public area a more pleasant place to be...

Back happier thoughts, this week I am reading two books:

After my visit to South Yorkshire, I downloaded Black Diamonds by Catherine Bailey.

It is a very readable history of the Fitzwilliam family in Wentworth Woodhouse. Family feuds, the politics of the coal mining industry, the human stories from the perspective of mine owners and miners make for a fascinating read.

The second book I am reading is, Once Upon a Time World by Jonathan Miles.

A fact packed history of the French Riviera —essential reading for someone who hopes to live there soon!