Crossing the Gulch

 'What on earth is a gulch?' I asked Mr GBT as we diligently followed the instructions for our latest waddle. Turns out it's a deep narrow ditch with a stream at the bottom.....in fact exactly what we'd just crossed over. Not that exciting perhaps, but it's another new word to add to my repertoire along with 'fenny' which was last weekend's walking revelation. There are many things you can learn, see and discover on any new walk it seems. Last Sunday I wanted to enjoy the dry weather, but not travel far....the quickest solution was to pick the new Fancy Free walk a scant three miles up the road. It's surrounded by new housing estates yet somehow we found ourselves within a few minutes in the middle of the countryside and hardly saw a soul. It might not be far from GBT, but it was all completely new to me [bar the pub that is😁] so perhaps you'd like to join me on my ramble whilst I ramble about it.

This first one of the garage door was a tad disturbing....one had to wonder what an earth was in there. 👀 I have my own personal theory.

Unexpected things often turn up in woods. This is the PArk Road Trails community who run the BMX/MTB [just had to look that one up....I'm not a cyclist and didn't know that mountain bike was shortened to this] dirt track. What a great place for people to let off steam and enjoy themselves. It's run by volunteers. It was the hand made gate I saw first.

Round here there are many pot holes. The council is filling them in gradually, but whilst they remain a hazard sticking a cone in them seems to have become an unofficial way of alerting road users to them. One local has taken it to another level and if they fill with water they've been adding rubber ducks to them. Sadly I haven't seen this yet with my own eyes.

A few woodland shots. Currently the floor is covered in a glorious carpet of flowers and the new leaves are the most gorgeous chartreuse green. We're just starting to see the bluebells and the one of the stream is the underwhelming gulch!

Is it just me or does there seem to be an endless amount of old pieces of farm machinery lying around in fields quietly rusting away. We guessed this was a harrow, but it is very likely that we are wrong so do please enlighten us if you know the correct answer. It was made very clear to us that the sheep were not to be fed...this fellow had other ideas and immediately rushed over to negotiate for a little soupson of something. Despite the pleading eyes I remained steadfast.

There are so many things that I like and this is yet another one. Stiles especially ones with a twist. My first ever turn stile which Mr GBT kindly agreed to demonstrate for me so that I could get appropriate blog images. Having been sensible he then decided that he wasn't going to obey the blue sign by cantering off down the path ahead of me guffawing as he went😈

I clocked the house name on the gate first. Being me I had to check that the property lived up to its name. Thankfully I wasn't disappointed. However, it's not as good a name as the pub which is now 'The Frog and Nightgown. It started out as two cottages which were knocked into one and was turned into a pub called the Royal Oak. It was so small inside that they could only have 10 drinkers there at any one time. When I first went there as a teen it had already had its name changed by the couple who ran it as the Royal Oak was the name of their favourite local. It was still tiny inside with frog ornaments everywhere and a pink chaise lounge in the corner for you to perch on. You'd walk in and there would be deadly silence as the other three punters with their dogs would turn and look at you. The 'bar' was a hatch across the kitchen and the snacks were a couple of packets of crisps in a small wicker bowl. If the landlady took a dislike to you then she'd just ignore you. Despite of all its quirks I flipping loved it and missed it when it closed down. Thank goodness here we are a few years on with it open again with new owners and a refurb which has retained its former history. Our boots were caked in mud so we didn't stop, but it looked busy and hopefully is thriving once again. 

As you can see from the sign we were in Faygate and its surrounds. This sign is opposite that garage door. I missed it on the way out, but I have to ask myself perhaps it's a big bear he's got stored in there in which case it would be very dangerous. I sincerely hope that I am wrong🐻🤯 Please excuse my brain....my wiring does mean that I make some weird connections sometimes😉

With that we headed home for a brew and crumpets. 

Arilx