Ramblers Norton and Black Bourn Valley Walk

Today was my first Ramblers walk of the year. This was the listing.

We duly assembled at Norton Church. Here is Chris briefing the remaining 35 of us about the walk.

Chris set our expectations masterfully. I paraphrase... "It rained a lot last night and the ground was already very soggy.". "I've had to cut the walk a bit short as there is one bit that was just too muddy". "We're going to visit the Black Bourn Valley Nature Reserve, but it's better visited in the Summer"."Well you know what to expect, then". But she failed to add what, in retrospect, was surely an obligatory direction... "Follow me, follow".

This was our route.

Here are a few of my photos. Hmm. My camera was reset recently and set-up for bright sunny days, not gloomy heavy cloud ridden January days so a lot of my photos were, um, less sharp than they might have been, until I realised about half-way through the walk and adjusted it.

Consequently... A bit of a fuzzy picture of St. Andrew's Church, Norton as we passed.

As a group we got spread out a bit a times, but Chris made sure we let people catch up and we didn't lose anyone.

The landscape was quite wintery without being frosty or snowy. Will we get any of that this winter, I wonder? Can you see all the birds perched on the line?

The long exposure time turned this shot into a bit of an 'arty-farty' one.

Puddle alert!

We crossed the Black Bourn several times. It was rather full. Or is it the cool Shalimar?

Coffee break for the regular army of hippopotarmy.

Part of our route went through the Black Bourn Nature Reserve. Here is a sign with a map as we re-entered it

And now we came to the muddiest bit. I wonder what the bit Chris cut out because it was too muddy was like?

Fortunately, no-one dived in with an ear-splitting splosh. This is what my boots looked like after it. And not just mine. Definitely the latest fashion in ramblers' footwear the light chocolate-coloured sheen adds a certain je ne sais quois, don't you think?

It was at this point that that little singing broke out, of a well-known refrain. Yes. You know the one I mean. From this. And no. Don't tell me. I know I've not got matching socks on.

As we gladly walked on a boardwalk and solid path through the squelchy woods, we found that the Shalimar, that river so wide, had spread a little.

Soon enough we were back at the church.

Thanks Chris (and Julian). And thanks to everyone who helped get my car out of the car park! You can see more details of our route here on MapMyWalk and more of my photos here on Flickr.