A country walk

The trick to enjoying a walk on Saltspring is to get off the main roads, which are narrow with hardly any shoulders. Traffic zips by your elbow, and you're uncomfortably aware of how dependent you are on drivers watching where they're going. Fortunately, there are lots of side roads, virtually untravelled, where people walk their dogs and themselves in relative safety. Here are some of the sights along one of my favourite side-road routes:

Walking this road reminds me of the scenes I grew up with -- wild-flower and weed-filled ditches, quiet fields, and scattered homes and farms along the way.

One of the side roads off the side road is Meadow Lane. What a wonderful address to put on an old-fashioned envelope!

In the years I've walked this road, Sugarland Farm  seems to have undergone several different incarnations, some more serious about farming than others. The current owners seem to be quite serious, with a thriving greenhouse and nets over a field to keep the birds away.

And what do we have here? A cow in an idyllic field with a second one munching away in the background. It looks like there is an open gate, but there is actually wire over it to prevent escapes. 

John was with me on this walk, so he was able to get a "real" cow photo, by tramping through the ditch and using his proper camera. Notice the bugs all over the poor cow's face and shoulders, and the little bird eating away at them.

I love this photo of the cow with the bird on its back to eat the bugs. Everybody has a role. Photo by John.

A chair by abandoned to the elements by the side of the road. The seat is unpeeling layer by layer, like an onion.

Weeds and grasses by the roadside.

Along the roadside, "brand new second hand" books; $1 apiece. All were older titles, some quite famous.

Ayn Rand and Aldous Huxley were among the authors on the table; I noticed Huxley's book was gone the next day I walked past.

Another view along the way. It doesn't look like much is being grown in these fields except grass.

Another cow; this one minus the flies. This little statue is in the front garden of a house we passed on the way back from our country walk. Photo by John.