This morning my walking began in the city as I had an appointment with my hairdresser and a few other things to do there. One spark of interest that crossed my path was an elderly gentleman dressed in a pale linen suit, walking with a stick and wearing a Stetson decorated with flowers. He had turned into a side street before I could dig my camera out of my bag and ask if he would allow me to photograph him. I am sure there would be a story to tell. I only clocked up around two miles in town so late afternoon and having packed up the car for tomorrow’s drive to Scotland, I did a circuit of some of the paths and lanes near my home. Farm animals were grazing quietly in the late afternoon sun and there were signs of spring everywhere.

The remnants of last year’s flowers are still hanging on. I love living in what Patrick Wright describes as ‘an old country’ and when walking, I think of the people who have walked the same route for hundreds of years. For these Lent walks I have now seven people walking with me in spirit. I have read that the more sunken a lane is, the older it is likely to be. This one has a hundred-year old badger sett in one bank and every so often the badgers clean out their accommodation and the lane is covered with sandy soil.

The insects are starting to emerge and there were gnats flying around which are probably not easy to see in this photograph.