Hot weather walking

It was hot this week. That might have been summer. If you missed it, it was Tuesday.

We’d decided to go for a walk, a proper one this time, rather than one which turns into shopping, and I’d selected one that we hadn’t done from ‘the book’.

We’d planned to set off about 1, but somehow 1 stretched to 2, and we didn’t actually get to Hovingham and start walking until 3. And we hadn’t even stopped for tea, or at a shop, on the way.

Last weekend in the sales I bought a ‘girlie walking rucksack’. Serious stuff. Anyway, it’s blue with a flowery pattern, and goes well with my V&A William Morris print water bottle* and so I decided to christen it. J was wearing a skirt, and a vest top, to gasps of shock from me and V (whatever the weather, J is always cold!).

We set off, and realised that we had to go uphill, and very heavy going it was in the heat. However when we reached the ridge the view was spectacular, stretching away across poppy fields with the Moors in the distance.

We continued into the woods, to a huge knarled oak tree:

‘It’s like something out of Harry Potter’
‘It’s the whomping oak!’

We walked alongside a stream, (there was mud), we emerged into a field, and I had to take a work phone call, loosing reception as we delved back into the woods again. Emerging from the woods we headed up a valley, but the route didn’t seem right. Heading up to a ridge to get our bearings, we realised we’d missed our turn (which I blame on the instructions not being clear, not our ineptitude). In the top picture, we should have been where the building is!

Rejoining the route, we realised we’d been walking for about an hour and a half, and hadn’t done even half the route. It was very hot, we were running out of water, and V had come out without either sunglasses or suncream. We were clearly not geared up for hot weather walking and we were coming to a point where we could head back to the village, and more importantly, cold beer in the pub.

‘We could do half today, and half another day?’
‘She won’t let us tick it off if we don’t do it all’

I muttered a bit, but eventually admitted I was pretty knackered too, so we cut it short and headed for the pub. We’d still done about 4 miles, but this time the heat defeated us.

*I now also have a V&A William Morris flask to go with it, as a belated birthday present.