An unexpected find

Despite the walking ban I snuck out for a little stroll with Ny this evening. On one of our previous walks we had come across a mass of wild raspberry bushes so we decided to head back there and check on progress. We were mildly disappointed when we arrived because not only were the first ones we came to completely unripe but nettles had grown up to chest height all around them. That's ok though we weren't planning on picking today, only assessing what stage they were at.

Further up the hill however we got lucky, there were little red jewels amongst a sea of nettles. I had a carrier bag with me so we picked a few that were close to the edge. By that point though we were in the zone and we decided to try and stamp down the nettles and reach the next bush, then the next bush, deeper and deeper in to the nettles we waded, gathering more and more berries. Now all this would have been fine if we'd gone out prepared for picking: heavy jeans, long sleeves and gloves. But no, we'd gone out prepared for a walk in the sunshine: cropped trousers and bare arms.

Thankfully the antihistamines for my hayfever have provided a slight relief and instead of the huge painful nettle rash I merely have a tingling sensation. It paid off though, there is now a pound and a half of rasps in the freezer waiting to be turned in to wine.

All in all I did about 4 miles, nice gentle pace. Slight niggle in the foot at the start but it soon went/was forgotten about.