Having slept well, I woke to no pain, no discomfort and another beautiful day. What could I do but walk. This time I headed north along the Grand Union, deciding to do the northern half of the Hillingdon Trail. Again I had to walk a long way just to pick it up but the canal walk had its rewards. Coots, mallard, swan, geese, heron, tufted duck, cormorant, black headed gull and mergansers were the easily spotted water fowl. I heard the cuckoo, the green and (saw a) great spotted woodpeckers. Swallows appeared today, I saw none yesterday. The hedgerows were alive with chaffinches, robins, dunnocks, wrens and blackbirds all calling and singing. Chiffchaffs and tits added a wonderful counterpoint.
Unperturbed by a lack of a map yesterday, today I carried nothing - I decided that house keys and money were the only things the iPhone couldn't replace. The GPS on the phone played havoc with battery so I couldn't really use it. But I used the money to buy myself soup and a rib-eye streak at the Coy Carp on the canal, in competition with Little Britain-like hordes; tattoo's were obviously big at Christmas and many were getting shown for the first time. And sorry, I think builders bum has become the new cleavage; no gender discrimination perhaps? Feeling re-energised and re-hydrated, I headed back down to the ANZAC cemetery across from where I used to live in Harefield, passing just below Edwinns where Lia and I had lunch recently. Then climbed up to Ruislip Common which includes Mad Bess Wood and the famous Ruislip Lido. I enjoyed a 99 there along with thousands of families who thronged the banks and beaches.
