Adventure Walking! Sort of...

So today I burst out of bed with sheer joyous wonder! This was not because I had won the lotto, sob sob, or felt the need to glorify in a bowel movement, but because today I was going to do a new walk route! (What? It's fun dammit!)

I love trying out new walks and seeing where they take me, what's to be seen and marveled at, and how badly my feet get bloodied and mangled!

I set off at 7am, with a satchel containing some water, a note book (for toon ideas) and a borrowed rain jacket because the sky looked a bit ominous. (It wont rain if you're carrying a brolly or raincoat, but if you forget one? It goes Monsoon on your ass!)

One thing about a new walk is you have to pay attention. something I always seem short changed in! (I was rather shocked to see a huge pylon on my walk! I'd been past that area a few times and this was the first time I had noticed this giant, not easily missed by anyone else, wire structure!) Pay attention Jo!
[What? It's hardly noticeable!]

I'd figured the walk would take about 4 or 5 hours but discovered that I was rather a speedy devil. A walk that took an hour with other people (and a small sausage dog with an inexhaustible bladder) took less then 30 minutes!

[I think I would have gotten on famously with whomever named this street!]

I got to go past an area that appears to be natures attempt to recapture a little bit of land for herself. My amigo calls it, 'The Swamp', but I rather like it. It has tons of birds and it's own unique watery charm. I must admit if it hadn't looked like a flowing ad for 'Bilharzia R us' I would have liked to slap on some slip slops and go crashing into the water, on the hunt for crabs and other small squiggly things! Large bodies of water always awaken that aquatic acquisitive urge.
[I bet if one of those power-lines was to snap and fall into the water, the ducks would certainly find it shocking!]

I did a little shopping at one of the centers, (to satisfy that acquisitive urge) and started heading back homewards. Which of course was when the heavens opened and the rain came pelting down. I managed to yank my borrowed jacket out the bag (Naturally it was right at the bottom), and get it over my most important bits.

Luckily the rain didn't last long. Just long enough to leave me with very soggy pants, that, when the sun came back out again, left a warm, moist feeling on my legs similar to that a small kid leaves when it makes an 'oopsy' on your lap. But the sun was warm, as it often is, and my bits and bobs dried out fast enough.
[The titanic struggle of darkness vs light! Just let me get to shelter before this gets ugly!]

I was rather sad that it seemed I'd only get a 2.5 hour walk instead of the usual 5 hours. Now don't get me wrong, when I eventually get a job and I'm putting on my nifty suit, or only slightly grease stained MacDonald's uniform, I will give up walking with a small sigh and get on with it. But until that happens I am a Prima Donna and expect long hours with much enjoyable suffering brought on by fatigue and sunstroke!

Then I got lost.

Ironically I figured that back tracking would be the easiest way to remember where I went. I was here, I'm here again, simple right? But everything looks surprisingly different when you are seeing it from a southern rather then northern approach. You start to think, now did I really see this gate before or do I just think I have?

The first time I got lost was due to recognizing a street name but forgetting that I was supposed to go over that street not down it. It was a lovely street though and I got pretty far before my daydreaming self informed the rest of me that we weren't anywhere recognizable and that should this course continue, it would be recommending a large scale dose of panic! I got back to the main road and carried on down it, feeling rather proud of my tracking abilities. Only to get lost again.

This time to be fair, the street had an identical name to the one I was looking for, only slightly shortened. (Its a pretty good excuse hey?), Since I am typing this you can be assured that I didn't get completely lost and die of starvation at the side of the road. It's actually rather fun being lost though in a way, don't you think? (this being easier to say at home and safe then out there and hopeless). But I wasn't worried, if I got too lost I knew I'd keep my head, calmly pull out my phone, dial my chum up and say that, "WAAAAAAAAAH! I'M LOST! I'M LOST! I'M GOING TO END UP DEAD, HEEEEEEEEEEELP MEEEEEEEEE!!!!"

So in the end I made it home alright feeling pleasantly warm and tired. I had a snack, played on the computer some and now? Honestly? I could do it all over again! Want to join me