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#nature #thursdayhike #springhassprung #contentgoblin

Patch of deep purple violets growing through the canal side vegetation and mossy masonry.

Looking along a canal through the arch of a brick bridge with metal railings. Dry reefs in the foreground.

Looking along a canal tow path towards an arched bridge. Trees on either side of the canal which has a deep edge of dry reeds. A figure in dark trousers and oranges jacket is on the tow path looking away from the camera.

Good evening! #ThursdayHike 12.3.26 along the Grand Union Canal from Foxton to Market Harborough and back. 11 very brisk miles (have to get that fitness back somehow). Only one moving boat but lots of birds including moor hen, mallard and a cormorant.

Scots Pine against a blue sky

Looking across a stone wall into the rough parkland of Bradgate Park, towards small woods on the horizon.

Entrance to the Forest Rock quarried cave, with sheer grey rock face above and to either side.

Good evening! First #ThursdayHike of the year, taking advantage of the warm, dry and sunny weather. 9 miles around Bradgate Park and Beacon Hill Country Park.

Collage of four photos. Clockwise from top left: 12th century church of Saint Edmund, Egleton; 16th century Brooke Priory Dovecote, glimpsed across a rolling green field; close up the leaves of one of four young ginkgo biloba trees planted in the village of Langham; 12th century church of Saint Peter, Brooke.

#ThursdayHike on Friday, 17.10.25: 6th and final leg of the #RutlandRound - also the longest at 15.25 miles. Whissendine to Belton, via Langham, Oakham and Braunstone. Overcast but dry, firm underfoot. One rabbit, two squirrels and lots of sheep.

Collage of four photos. Clockwise from top left: 13th century stone bell tower of Holy Trinity Church, Teigh; 14th century stone bell tower of St Nicholas Church, Thisleton; unusual brick built pill box gun emplacement on Teigh Lane; field of sunflowers in Rutland.

#ThursdayHike on Friday 10.10.25. Leg 5 of the #RutlandRound - Stretton to Whissendine via Thistleton and Teigh, 10.8 miles. Dry, overcast and breezy, firm underfoot. Red kites above our heads and acorns beneath our feet.

Collage of three photos. Top: Saint Peter’s, Tickencote (originally Norman, rebuilt in the late 18th century). Bottom left: carved and painted wood ornamental village sign outside Empingham, depicting thatched cottages, a church spire and white dove, with a sail boat on Rutland Water in the background. Bottom right: in Stretton, a red telephone box (now housing a defibrillator) next to a tall cast iron village hand pump, painted green.

Good afternoon! Our #ThursdayHike was leg 4 of the #RutlandRound - Empingham to Stretton via Tickencote, Great Casterton and Pickworth. Dry underfoot and mostly easygoing. Pheasants galore, gangs of blue tits in the hedgerows and a charm of goldfinches feeding on thistle seeds.

Collage of four photos, taken on a sunny day with blue skies. Clockwise from top left: Saint Mary the Virgin, Ketton (14th century, central square tower and tall spire, 15th century chancel); Saint Peter’s, Empingham (14th century, tall square tower with short spire); Normanton Church (deconsecrated church originally built in 14th century, rebuilt in the Classical style in the 18th, saved when Rutland Water was created, located on a stone platform that projects into the reservoir); 15th century stone bridge over the River Welland at Duddington, with the old water mill in the background.

Good afternoon! Our #ThursdayHike was leg 3 of the #RutlandRound - Duddington to Empingham via Ketton and Rutland Water, 10.3 miles. Breezy, sunny intervals, dry underfoot. Red kites, dragon flies and a grey heron.

Collage of three photos. Top left: pyracantha overhanging a stone wall, so densely covered with small red berries that leaves and branches are completely hidden. Top right: in the foreground, a field of wildflowers including wild radish, fiddleneck, red clover and tree mallow. Centre right: ripe maize cob on the plant. Bottom: rear elevation of the Grade 1 listed medieval/Tudor Bede House in Lyddington.

#ThursdayHike 18.9.25: leg 2 of the #RutlandRound. Lyddington to Duddington, 9.5 miles, firm underfoot, dry but incredibly humid. Berries in abundance and ripening maize.

Collage of three photos of Rutland on a sunny day in September. Top: overlooking Eyebrook Reservoir, across recently ploughed fields. Bottom left: church of Saint Andrew, Stoke Dry. Bottom right: church of Saint Botolph, Wardley.

#ThursdayHike on a Friday: leg 1 of the #RutlandRound, Belton to Lyddington via Wardley, Uppingham, Stoke Dry and the Eyebrook Reservoir. 13 miles, firm underfoot. Hedgerows dripping with rosehips and berries; red kites overhead and hares in the field.

Collage of seven photos of landscapes and berries. Clockwise from top left: straight, dry footpath under trees in dappled shade; string of bright red black bryony berries; bright red hawthorn berries; green apples and blackberries in the wild; view from a footpath over a fallen tree trunk across fields with woodland in the distance; bright red rose hips. Centre: deep blue sloes.

Good morning! For #SevenOnSunday 31.8.25, a selection from my first #ThursdayHike in 15 months 🎉. The paths were still bone dry despite recent rain and the hedgerows were full of fruit #Autumn