Day Eight (18 February 2009)

Empingham to Belton in Rutland (13 miles)

Part a) Paul and I walked on Thursday 19th February, the first day of the Rutland phase. I had chosen my participation carefully. A flat bit, I said . . . actually Rutland is surprisingly hilly, but, not, I’m pleased to say around Rutland Water. So, on a misty twisty Thursday morning, after a surprising efficient meeting within 5 minutes of each other, we set off.
Rutland Water also provided a helpful resting strategy since its opportunities for bird watching were guaranteed to slow the Beaumont down while binos came out. As it happened, there were fewer birds than we had hoped, and, sadly, the ospreys weren’t around, but we saw coots, pochards, goosanders, tufty ducks, pelicans, flamingos . . . and then turned our attention to trees. I decided to sponsor Paul for every tree he was able to identify. We discovered, for example, that there are a lot of ash trees around Rutland Water, since, fortunately, in winter their black buds are very distinctive. The only slight problem with the exercise was that that my identification skills are less than perfect (although it was fairly easy to persuade the Beaumont otherwise) but, between us, there were a few dodgy declarations. When I gave in, it was because it meant more money in the kitty not of course because the Beaumont was right. For aficionados, there was a lot of discussion around the differentiation between hornbeams and beech so you can see we’re talking sophisticated tree identification here. Anyway, he did get a few right although chose a soft option as his tree of the day. I, however, think the actual tree of the day was the alder because he learned how to recognise it. For those of you unfamiliar with the alder, it is a deciduous tree usually found near water and has lots of little cones.
So, apart from the birds and trees, we wondered who could afford the boats, saw lots of muddy cyclists, enjoyed the sun shine and had a rather fine lunch in Oakham, after admiring the Tudor school house and the stocks (they’re an unruly lot in Rutland). We talked about music and film (he knows more about the former; I know more about the latter), discussed the kids and the meaning of life. We decided not to solve the world’s economic problems cos we wanted to leave something for the rest of you to do.

Part b) Dropped by Annie at 5pm. 4 miles to go. It's dark at 6!! This is going to be fast. Along a lane and then along a path which goes down into a valley and up the other side. Fortunately it's pretty much in a s straight line. Then have to descend into Belton. Can see some light so know I'm heading in the right direction. Going down the last bit with light failing, it's just good enough to see the path is a quagmire. Duck under into next field and walk down beside the path. If it had been pitch black it would have been a nightmare. Into Belton - a few street lights - not the light pollution an urban dweller is used to - but a friendly dog walker can tell me where the Old Rectory is.
Bird of the day: goosander
Tree of the day: hornbeam? - need to check this with Annie