As I’ve related before, because I do love to repeat myself, I moved to the country five years ago, and through no fault of my own, acquired four dogs. Back in the city, I never walked for pleasure. I was always going somewhere. But it seems in the country it's quite normal to wander around in circles going nowhere at all.
At this point I must confess that my Wednesday walk is exactly the same as my Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday walks. There’s one road. You either go left or right and either way, you end up right back where you started.
For the purposes of clarity, I have made this sketch.
Sometimes words are not enough.
To you city folk who imagine the countryside is brimming with quaint byways and scenic little tracks to explore… you’ve been sold a pup!
Of course I could take one of the roads leading to the motorway, but that would mean doubling back and I have this policy of always moving forward.
I live in a valley. And as the saying goes: what goes down must come up …or something like that. So whether I go left or right, there’s always a hill to climb. Perhaps you can see from my photos how steep they are, but I doubt it.
When I moved here, I bought a bike. I used to cycle everywhere in the city using the Dublin Bike Rental Scheme, and figured I’d keep it up in the country. But Dublin is fairly flat, while the hills around these parts belong in the Tour De France, and climbing them on the bike was almost killing me. It was months before my brother showed me that I’d been cycling with the brake on, and by then I’d abandoned the bike, believing that the country air had done for me.
You could walk this road every day for a fortnight and never encounter another living soul. But this morning, I came upon two workmen.
I knew they were workmen by their yellow hi-vis jackets.
“You’ve lovely dogs,” said one, as I passed, greeting him with a smile.
“Why is it always the dogs who get the compliments?” I replied, striking a mildly indignant, quizzical pose.
“You’ve got lovely dogs,” he said again, with a grin, “and they’re accompanied by a beautiful lady,” he added, chuckling.
“Ah, a gentleman,” said I, to which he made a bowing gesture as we both laughed and I continued on my way, thrilled to have such an exciting encounter to relate in my first Wednesday Walk post.
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