First Plants in Flower - January 2015.

1st - Daisy  Bellis perennis
        Dandelion   Taraxacum Agg

2nd -  Groundsel  Senecio vulgaris

4th -  Gorse   Ulex europaeus

11th -  Yarrow   Achillea millefolium

12th -  Snowdrop  Galanthus nivalis
           Hazel   Corylus avellana

15th -  Creeping buttercup   Ranunculus repens
           Red clover   Trifolium pratense

19th -  Petty spurge     Euphorbia peplus

27th -  Red deadnettle     Lamium purpureum
            Lesser celandine     Ranunculus ficaria

Bimbling on foot

Too windy today to comfortably cycle the route I had planned, so I caught a train to Hitchin and walked back the pretty way. The weather was not so bad; I was warm enough and the rain restrained itself until after I arrived home.

The going was not so much muddy as extremely wet. Although the River Hiz in the centre of Hitchin appeared no higher than usual, the fields and footpaths on the way back were saturated. In some places ditches were so full that water was flowing out of them sideways.

Views of Hitchin town centre

Oak apples

Gosmore

Houses around Gosmore recreation ground

St Ibbs Lodge

Ippollitts Brook, above the dam

Ippollitts Brook, below the dam

St Ippolyts Park

Little Almshoe Cottage. I love this house

Sunlight on waterlogged field

Footpath requiring wellies

Bluebells

Flooded field at Titmore Green.
The water is flowing in from a ditch
on the left

Not the most inspiring countryside, but it could be worse.
Looking north-west towards Hitchin

Field of sugar-beet.
One plant has bolted.

This lane once ran from the Crooked Billet pub
at Symonds Green.
It was severed by the building of the
Stevenage bypass in 1962

West of Sandy

At the beginning of December I caught a train to Sandy in Bedfordshire (only four stops) and rode around lanes to the west of the town, also taking in the trackbed of the old Sandy to Bedford railway line.

West of Sandy on NCN15. 
This is the trackbed of a railway which 
once ran between Cambridge and Oxford.

Three views of the pretty village of Great Barford.

Castle Mill Lock on the River Great Ouse.

Willington church, stables and dovecote.

Remains of a railway bridge.

A very overgrown picnic table and bench.

The River Ivel at Blunham.

Whittling

 I had planned to cycle but was put off by the weather.

This is what I have been doing this morning.

I got the knife for Christmas. I am finding the carving enjoyable but very hard going. I think that the wood is blackthorn. By the way, that is blood on the fourth photo!

Update :  the wood is field maple -  Acer campestre.

Sunny new year ride.

 A little jaunt around local lanes. I took a photograph every 1km along the way.
Many of the photographs were taken back in the direction I came from owing to the low sun.

2km. Jessop Road, Stevenage.

3km. Durham Road.

4km. Great Ashby Way. Shared footpath/cycleway.

5km. Tilekiln Wood. The very edge of town.

6km. The house used to be a pub.

7km. Warrensgreen Lane.

8km. Dane End Lane.

9km. Dane End Lane.

10km. Between Halls Green and Weston.

11km. Between Halls Green and Weston.

A Christmassy hedge at Weston.

12km. Weston School.

13km. Hatch Lane,  leaving Weston.

14km. Hatch Lane further west.

 

Two views over Letchworth from Hatch Lane.

15km. Looking north along the Great North Road.

The old road from Weston to Willian. Out of use for forty years, yet a better
surface than many Stevenage cycle-paths.

16km. Bridleway adjacent and parallel to the A1(M).

17km. Letchworh Greenway.

18km. Road to Roxley Court.

19km. Great North Way.

20km. Great North Way north of Graveley.

21km. Great North Way south of Graveley.

22km. Hitchin Road, Stevenage.

A crap junction. It is necessary to look sharply over one's right shoulder while simultaneously using x-ray vision to see through the fence on the left. 

23km. Franklins Road. Cycleway onto quiet road, then back onto cycleway.

24km. Lytton Way. 

25km. The Great North Road has been replaced by the Tesco car park.

26km. Fairlands Way. 1.5km to home.