Art Against the Clock II

I've done quick painting competitions before, but they have them in different places and I take any opportunity to walk somewhere new.

Mrs Hickory was painting outside a village only a few miles north of here, but next to an area that I'd never explored before, so while she worked, I walked through a kind of mountain pass, beside a river, where there were occasional cows, the odd bull, and quite a lot of young calves.

They cross them with fighting breeds here, to give them greater resistance, so you come across the odd surprise on the tracks (the most important thing to know about fighting breeds is that the cows are just as dangerous as the bulls).

I ran out of path on the way back, when I tried to take the other bank of the river, and I had to ford it, which meant a balancing act on slippery rocks on the riverbed and and fighting the current snapping at the ankles. It was a warm, sunny day, and it wouldn't have mattered much if I'd fallen in, except that the modern walker carries his phone, his camera and his GPS, none of which are keen on water.

The camera survived, as did the other equipment, so here are a few photos of the area and of the paintings people produced. Mrs Hickory didn't win, in fact she wasn't very happy with what she painted, but the point was to spend the day in the country and have a bit of fun, and that we did.