New Year, new explorations

We usually head away over the New Year period - it's such an anti-climax with the grand change of numbers, that we try and make more of a thing of it. This year, we went to Perranporth in north Cornwall.

We've been there before, but that doesn't stop us wanting to explore the beautiful coastline - certainly a very different place to walk than the Wiltshire and Hampshire lowlands. Dramatic though the weather was (Storm Eleanor arrived on our final day - check out what happened to the beach here), we had enough breaks in the rain and gales to admire the beauty of the wild, and rocky cliffs.

Which made all the greater contrast when we headed into the Wiltshire countryside yesterday for my birthday. As our group of friends is scattered across Wiltshire and Hampshire, I picked a point roughly halfway, and which none of the party had been to. This was the village of Wilton - who knew there were two in Wiltshire?! - famed for its working windmill, the only one in Wessex apparently!

The lovely sunny walk took us through wide woodland rides among open access young woodland, across the Kennet and Avon Canal - where we saw a rather epic battle between an angler and a pike (the angler won) - and along ancient tracks and sunken droveways. Even the drive there was interesting - so many red kites shining in the sun, hanging low in the sky.

A beautiful walk with varied scenery, history, oh, and a lovely pub!