By River and Canal

The field have been harvested, the nights have turned cool and touches of colour are appearing in the trees.

River Kent, Levens Bridge

I went to see if the row of oaks at Levens were turning colour. The answer was, no, they were almost as green as summer with the leaf edges just starting to turn. Being English oaks they no doubt think it is still summer as the warmth is still in the air.
The sunny day tempted me on through woods, and along the Lancaster Canal near Hincaster where the water was so still that the reflections and trees almost merge.
You can walk a long way along this part of the canal so it is very popular with dog walkers. Both they and their dogs comes in all shapes and sizes.

On the way back the long haired goats were by the river bank. There were a couple of young kids of which this was one with its mother keeping her eye on it, or maybe not, they are not as skittish as sheep.
These are the Bagot goats, a rare breed brought into England around in the time of Richard the Lionheart, 12th century.
Reaching the end of my amble fell into conversation with someone I had seen on the other side of the river earlier in the day with a camera in hand. She was doing a photographic project on the River Kent from its source onwards. (Its a very short river, only about 20 miles long). The stillness of the day was a delight for her and was about to dash to Kendal to photograph the Kent as it cuts through that grey stoned town.

What and interesting project. This set me thinking which river I would choose. My favourite local river is the pretty Crake which runs from Coniston Water to the sea but is even shorter than the Kent. Perhaps this is something to do in those short winter days to come, brrr, what am I doing thinking of winter in October.

First Day of Spring

Today, in common with the rest of the week, after a overcast start a brilliant blue sky and bright sunlight lifted our spirits. Celebrated the first day of spring with a walk through Levens Park and the avenue of oaks, emerging at the end to head towards the old disused canal towpath and Hincaster Tunnel.
Reaching the other side of the tunnel the sound of traffic from the A590 reminded why this canal is no longer. Still we walked away from noise and down the the pathway where we caught a brief sight of a pair of large butterflies.
Heading now for Heversham Head a tempting seat was placed in memory of a couple who loved the view and what a view. The sun was warm, sheltered from the breeze we gazed on the Kent Estuary. The day was very hazy but could see the Kent as sun glinted on it as it snaked its way out to the sea. We stopped here for some time taking in the rays but eventually made our way to the top and looked at the monument. Here is one side of it and its lovely depiction of sheep
We set off down hill to Heversham busy with cars as parents collected their children from school. We walked through and up the road to the bridleway through an avenue of trees emerging from which we could see Leven Hall in the distance. Walking down hill we eventually came down to High Barns Farm and down to where we had started.

The day was still warm so headed for Milnthorpe where looking for tea, nothing doings, so bought a couple of cakes (yellow Easter chicks) from Greggs to take home but were tempted into a glass of Everards in the pub instead. The chicks were eaten later (they were a sort of biscuity marshmallow).