My first regular Probus walk for a while, after an all too brief holiday in Italy. Since I’ve been back it doesn’t seem to have stopped raining, and our walk day opened to the patter of raindrops – with the web-based weather forecast suggesting a greater than 100% chance of getting fairly wet.

Starting our walk from the Tiger Inn, Coneythorpe, we made our way across attractive farmland, through and alongside large fields of wheat, oilseed rape and broad beans. The path was clear, if single file, and as the rain continued to fall …. the clay base of the path started to develop a distinct slipperiness (claggy?)

We also passed by a lagoon, where many hundreds of geese were flocking on the water, and through a field populated by a large herd of very nosy, skittish bullocks, who were fairly easily shoed away – though they quickly returned and crowded round us. Nervy times! 

Of course the usual banter took place as we completed the walk. Lots of Brexit- related talk, mostly despairing. Some concern about the World Cup cricket taking place that day between England and Australia (later found to be fully justified), and the usual discussion of our varied health and social related issues. It’s a great way to put your troubles in perspective!

Finally, after a surprisingly long walk (7 miles – really? It felt like more!), we made it back to The Tiger Inn, where the steak pies were marked as 8.5 out of 10 – a high rating compared with the substantial history on this subject kept over the years by our member Peter!

Good exercise, great fun and now I’m off the clean my boots and waterproof leggings of all that clay!