A Nice Quiet Walk

view of Glentham church from the farm lane

I hurt my knee a couple of weeks ago and, although it’s much improved, I have been opting for the early morning dog walks because I’m less likely to meet people and traffic and therefore less likely to twist my knee trying to restrain Rick.  Usually if I go out just after seven the village is wonderfully quiet and I rarely meet a single person.  Today was different.  

I turned left out of the driveway to avoid the large crane that was delivering to Mr Jellyneck’s building site (he is building a big, new house for himself) and promptly bumped into a portly, bearded gentleman out for his morning walk.  Then I met a neighbour and his two dogs, Finlay and Poppy, so we had a chat, being careful to keep our distance from each other.  Rick was behaving well until the crane drove back through the village.  I managed to keep hold of him as he lunged towards the lorry but then he and Finlay started howling in unison.  When another lorry then came into sight I decided it was time for us to make a hasty exit. 

We were almost at the top of the hill by the church when I heard the loud, rumbling sound of a tractor in the distance and so I broke into a trot, if you can call it that (more of a hasty hobble) but failed to reach the back lane before two, massive clanking tractors passed us.  I hung onto Rick as tight as I could as he barked himself into a frenzy.  It was a relief to get away from the main village road and onto the footpath that runs back down the village from the church.  We then walked up Washdyke Lane and lo and behold, the portly, bearded gentleman was heading towards us.  We greeted each other like old friends and fortunately Rick was more interested in sniffing the hedgerow rather than savaging a stranger.  My knee was starting to ache by now and I was hoping there would be no more obstacles ahead.

Just as I was starting to relax and enjoy the walk I turned the corner and an oil delivery tanker was parked in the centre of the road, engine running and noisily pumping oil to a house.  It would have been tricky getting Rick past such a monster and then it was just as likely to catch up with me down narrow Middlefield Road.  So we turned right along the lane to Prospect Farm and Rick had fun watching rabbits that were hopping along the grassy verges.  By the time we came back the oil lorry had moved off so our walk home was clear and Rick trotted along next to me and behaved beautifully.

“Did you have a nice, quiet walk?”  Paul said when I staggered through the doorway.

rainbow painted stones have appeared in the village