I’m having a very pleasant Christmas break so far, with lots of catching up with friends and family, lots of good food and sociable drink, and I’m even getting a few things done around the garden despite the often very soggy weather we’ve been having. Unfortunately, while all this has been really nice, it has to a small extent been spoiled by yet another bout of seasonal lurgy, this latest a wonderful racking cough that sounds like I’m about to lose a lung, but in actuality is just a nuisance and an irritation.

Now despite the cough, which feels as though it might actually be on its way out finally, yesterday was one of those truly lovely winter’s days with bright sunshine and crisp clear air, so having got a few other things out of the way in the morning I took myself off for a walk in the afternoon around a local country park called the Otley Cheven Forest Park here

Here are a couple of picks

Both pictures are taken in the Cleaver Wood area looking uphill to top of the ridge, and despite my occasional coughing and wheezing it was a lovely afternoon out which just felt good.

In many ways this kind of woodland walking is my absolute favourite, and while I can enjoy a stroll across the open moors, the rolling grasslands or along a wide open seaside beach, given the choice I’ll always plump for the woodland with its constantly changing mix of light and shadow, of near field and distance, not to mention the wildlife, which in a woodland always feels that much closer and more numerous.

If I can, I’m going to try and get out to stretch my legs again at some point before I go back to work on Monday. Not sure where yet, but it odds are it will be another woodland somewhere.