A new friend

I have recently bought a new walking stick......well a trekking pole really. Following my test drive of a friend's Leki stick I took the online plunge and my purchase arrived this week. It came from headtothehills.com, is fully adjustable and with the option for using different tip attachments, including a snow 'basket'. Some Leki enthusiasts walk with two sticks as if training for the Winter Olympics. I have decided to stick to one! Holding the pole requires a new technique as the handle grip is totally different to my conventional walking stick. The pole has to be angled to optimise its effect; as a trekking pole then it will be useful when I take to the byways or head for the hills and a great addition as a walking friend.

Oxford has few hills so its maiden walk was on the level to the University Parks. I set off looking for signs of Spring. The bulbs outside our front door are up but flowering is still some weeks away. The snowdrops in Kew Gardens have been flowering for some time now, apparently the earliest sign of Spring ever and used by some as evidence of environmental change.

Last week's thaw meant the river Cherwell, which borders the Parks had begun to flood nearby fields.

A lonely coot, standing on a muddy patch of grass, looked bereft as it preened its feathers.

Whilst two noisy geese rushed towards us expecting titbits of food.

We walked further and finally, just as we thought Winter was keeping them hidden, we saw what we had come to find, a wonderful clump of snowdrops, protected by leaves. Spring can't be far away....