
Circular walk out from Upham.
Part of the walk, a short way out of Upham, passes over a gallop. Interestingly, the gallop is only sign-posted if heading south, there is no signage heading north. For an un-experienced walker this could present a potential hazard as they would have no way of knowing that horses use the gallop for racing.
Just shy of a kilometre on from the gallop field, I took a slight deviation from the planned route due to cows and calves in a field. They were at the far end of the field, a good 200m away. However, as I entered the field they became extremely agitated. They headed for and congregated around the stile that I needed to exit the field, and as soon as they saw me, they started to head at me with some speed. I therefore calmly turned back the way I had come, exited the field and took an alternative route. I have walked through many field with cows and calves, and as long as they are at a distance, and one is not passing too close, or too loudly, then they can be passed by with no hindrance. On leaving the field, I came across two ladies who advised me that they had seen a walker with a dog off of a lead crossing the same field a short while before me. Perhaps this had spooked the cows.
Conditions underfoot were slightly drier than of late. Still muddy, though not to the point where paths were quagmires, bar a couple of small stretches.
Weather was cold and quite brisk when in open. Temperature around mid single figures, though with windchill I'd say more like low single figures.