Despite the forecast for heavy showers, Mr C and I set off after lunch for a walk along the River Ver, from where we live in Sopwell, along to How Wood.
We used to do the section of this walk down to Park Street quite often, but yesterday realised that it had actually been quite a while since our boots had taken us in that direction. Normally, we're fortunate enough to see one of the kingfishers darting along the river, but alas not today.
In fact, one of the few bits of "wildlife" along that section was this cow that has obviously decided that the river was the right place to get a long drink of water.
As we got closer she eyed us with more suspicion, and when we stepped onto the bridge the glare was getting even more intense. After a few minutes though she seemed to realise that we weren't competition and carried on getting her water before heading back up the bank and leaving us alone.
As we pressed on towards Park Street the weather started to close in even more and the waterproofs even had to come out of the rucksack. The section to How Wood isn't quite as familiar to us and we'd certainly forgotten how nice some of the lakes are. This particular one with lily pads was a pleasant surprise as we rounded one corner.
The camera had to go away for the last bit of walk as the rain became a bit too wet for electronic equipment. A shame as one area was lovely moorland, that, with the blowing wind, really did remind me of walking along the North Yorkshire (as long as you ignored the background noise of the M25!)
A couple of hours of walking through the elements left us feeling a bit worn out, so we took the easy route home and caught the Abbey Flyer back to St Albans. We certainly built up an appetite whilst out and were very ready for the tea and scones when we got home!
Lovely photographs. I think I’ve only ever seen one kingfisher, and that was years ago.
I think we must be really lucky here as several kingfishers seem to live very close to the Ver. There’s also been at least one living at the WWA, and some sightings suggest there may even be a couple there. The colourings on them is really quite something. It’s strange, but whenever I see that bright flash of slightly turquoise blue I can’t help but feel my heart jump!