Waltham St Lawrence

What a great way to start a new year - going for a walk. The rest of my family is still sleeping, so I took Summer, my faithful companion. She's the one who's always walking with me, or actually running. Even after couple of hours running around, she is still full of energy. Don't think I could ever tire her off. And that "always" is actually not true either, cause I had to leave her home once. She used to be really good walking to the car without the lead on. But after some time she started to run away, not far, just into the bushes. I think she finds something to eat there. So first time it happened, I took her back inside (after I finally caught her) and pretended to leave her home. After 5 minutes I went and took her out again. Next time it happened again, so that time she really stayed behind. Although I don't think she learned anything:) That's enough of my Dog now. Need to write about the walk. Waltham St. Laurence is a little village, only about 20 minutes drive from where I live. The walk was 5 1/2 miles long, it took me about 2.5 hours. I guess I lost some time trying to teach Summer walking heel and going back every time she pulled. It starts off from in front of the church. Then some roadwalk and off to the fields. You could easily say that a synonym for walk at this time of year is mud. It really was bad, reaching up to my ancle in places. But with good waterproof footwear and gaiters it's not that bad. All the ditches are full of water, which makes Summer very happy. I've done that walk before, but couldn't remember it without the map. I only got lost once at the beginning and realised it quite soon. My favourite part of the walk was Shottersbrooke Park. There is a medieval church of St. John, built in 1337. There is history involved in every walk, I think, and I love it. Behind the church there is a ha-ha. Does anyone know what it is? You learn every day:) it's a cunning device of fence in man-made ditch, to preserve an open view. It is very warm for this time of year. 11 degrees today and cloudy. The other half of my walk was in a downpour of rain. Don't think I had a dry spot left on me. I was thinking of my sisters, who went skiing today:) As the walk is a circular, it finishes by the church too. I forgot to mention that there is a pub right next to the church and when we ate there in summer, they served lovely food. Me and Summer both had hot shower at home.