Ham Woods/East Mendip Way

Clare wanted a walk in the woods this morning (the heat, you understand) so we drove to the adjacent village of Croscombe through the speed limits which walk you down from 40 to 30 to 20 mph and then deliver you to the mandatory police van with its speed cameras. We are wise - Clare has been caught here before - and so we passed at a crawl, safely.

The intrepid pair in the woods

Clare does that commune with nature thing

Once off the road our walk was nothing like as idyllic as you might imagine. We advanced along a thin, overgrown cutting tormented by nettles and flies - especially flies. After a hundred yards we met a lone colt semi-blocking our way. Its poor little head was covered with flies. Why, I mused to Clare, did evolution not equip the horse with two little arms so it could swat the wretched creatures off? We left the long-suffering animal and continued our climb through the woods.

Eventually we took a side path out of a deep cutting and sought the East Mendip Way. At last my Nexus 6 with its improved GPS and integrated Google Maps did its magic - after only two misleading detours we managed to find the road. How the SAS manage navigation is beyond comprehension.

Elaine en rose

Here's a bonus picture which the phone somehow dredged up from its filing system. Amazing, arguably, how chic close-cropping with poor lighting and poor image resolution can be.