A New Year's Walk

We're already well into January now but I'm taking you back to New Year's Day and a lovely walk we took. We'd spent New Year's Eve at Eleanor and Jacob's, Daniel and Jasmine were still staying with us, but Mick and I had come home after the celebrations at about 1am, whereas Daniel and Jasmine stayed until 3am. Consequently, all the younger members of the family had a good sleep in so Mick and I decided to head out for a walk with Archie.

When I was growing up, we lived a couple of miles away from the small town where I live now. A road at one end of our street took you directly there, but if you turned the other way out of our driveway, you were in farming country. We'd often walk down the back lane, which took us on a more scenic route to where I now live, past stables, farms and fields, and walk in a circular route, coming home via the road. Apart from the road, all you could see from the back of our house was farmland. It's all changed now, there's been so much development since the seventies and eighties. If you look out over the back of our old house now you can see a motorway, office buildings and a shopping centre. I find that so sad. That back lane no longer connects our old house to the small town where I now live as it's now a no-through road, owing to the buildings which have appeared.

We've lived in our small town now for over twenty eight years and have never walked that route that I used to take in reverse. I knew we wouldn't be able to reach my old house, but I wondered what it would be like from the other end as the new development hasn't reached that far down the lane. So that's the walk we decided to take on New Year's Day.

There's still stables at this end of the lane, though the horses weren't anywhere near the fences on this particular day, so no photos of them.

Walking down the lane brought back so many memories. I remember the walks we used to take when extended family visited, and the walks we took with the dogs that we had at the time.

Someone's left some treats for the birds.

It was a gorgeous day. I was wearing my coat but I really didn't need it. Apparently, it's been the warmest New Year on record. I can't believe how mild it's been.

Looking back you can see our small town. Like the surrounding villages, it prospered and grew as a result of the coal industry, and now the population is about 15,000. The town is about seven miles from Leeds.

Look across the fields and you can see a lake. You'd be completely unaware it was there unless viewing it from this point.

What a great little hiding place in the trunk of this tree. I can just imagine Winnie the Pooh characters in the Hundred Acre Wood living somewhere like this.

It's good to see that some farms have survived the redevelopment projects, though how long they remain here is anyone's guess. It seems that they're swallowed up by housing estates, roads or office blocks almost overnight.

This is more reminiscent of the view I saw on these walks as a child. It's good to see that some land remains untouched, and long may it be so.

We returned home to a lovely New Year's Day roast dinner, and Daniel and Jasmine went back to Essex the following day, however, while they were in Leeds they managed to find a flat to rent so they'll be coming back again at the end of the month, this time to stay.