A Woodpecker Walk to Work

By: Blonde Two

FACT: I can see my current place of work from my bedroom window.

FACT: I love walking.

You would imagine that given the above Blonde facts, I would have walked to work for most of the nearly nine years that I have worked there/lived here.

I haven’t though (hangs head in shame) … that is until recently.

I am not sure what decided me to change my habits, but I am pleased to announce that for eleven of the past fifteen work-days, I have walked to work.

Mr B2 has been doing it for ages; cycling that is, not walking. His bike ride would take him five minutes if he went straight down the hill, but in a usual week he clocks up over 100 miles along road, through woods and up hills on his daily commute. He has been saying to me for years (and don’t tell him, but he is right) that building your exercise into your daily routine is the best way to make sure that you keep on doing it.

My walking-commute (although urban) is just about perfect for a bit of morning and afternoon exertion. Twenty minutes with a big hill up and a big hill down, on the way there and on the way back. Short enough to allow me time to eat my porridge and steep enough to get me out of breath (although not as much as I did when I started). I have been arriving to work more wide-awake than usual and arriving home much less wound-up (teaching can do that to a girl!)

Yesterday I decided that the mud would have dried up enough for me to do a bit of ‘off-road’ walking. I adjusted my route home to include our local copse. Not the most beautiful or cared for piece of woodland, this copse has been the scene of some fun over the years for family Blonde Two. Six-Foot-Blonde still disappears up there with his hammock for an afternoon whenever he comes to stay.

I was so glad that I took my detour. Not only did I enjoy the smell of ‘green’ and the feeling of mud under my feet (a slight miscalculation on my part) but half way home, I heard a woodpecker as clear as day. I had no idea that they were so loud. I looked around and listened for a while, but I couldn’t see him. Of course now, I am looking forward to my walks home next week even more. I might even pack the binoculars in my school bag!