Stalking snowdrops, wild neeps and other extreme horticultural activities.

In exciting news today after the torture of physio on my poor leg, I was given the heads up to walk 'off road' and even get out on my bike again on flat surfaces. Yay. We (the mutts and I) celebrated with a long clifftop walk and a scamp around the headland beside the Broch o' Gurness towards Tingwall, re continuing the attempt at walking the entire Orkney coast. 

 

And, in celebration of the newly freed leg, the sun shone. It knew it was a good day. The Peedie pup watched the Broch in case any local archaeology tried anything sneaky. There's so much archaeology here in Orkney, we do think it multiplies when no ones watching. With this in mind, when near to old stones and habitations, he keeps a canny eye.

 

When about to embark on leaving the local surgery, prior to the actual off road 'scampage' the lovely physio asked me if I indulged in many 'extreme' activities aside when breaking myself skiing.

 

I thought long and hard. Best to be honest I think.

 

Well, I said, I do like to sometimes grow vegetables WITH flowers, in gardening terms that can be quite EXTREME in some peoples views. She looked perplexed, so I continued, considering her to be really interested........ I'm thinking of how to grow perennials, herbs and veggies in containers this year to mix things up a bit in my small space. She looked more than a bit confused.

 

She clearly was NOT a vegetable gardener, so I thought I'd appeal to her creative flowery side as I like to grow both flowers and veggies. I'm very inclusive like that.

So I also confessed I've currently been stalking local snowdrops this week, as they're just coming out. But haven't climbed any (many!) walls yet, I said, you know until my leg was a bit better, as I didn't want to slip in the snow.

 

Well with snow drops you often need a better look OVER peoples garden walls (and to be fair I'm a bit short).......so when stalking other folks gardens I find I often need to scale tall buildings or at least the odd peedie dyke...........which can be a bit tricky in the current snow/sun/gales/snow/sun kind of weather we've been having lately.

 

She didn't look impressed at all, not that I think she doesn't like snowdrops, but, no wall climbing I was told. Gentle exercise only, no attempts at kneeling either, nothing extreme.  To be honest I don't find ANY exercise very gentle and currently I find kneeling highly overrated, it hurts.

 

So, I got my coat, not that it was needed today as it was gorgeous and headed straight to the beach, extreme gardening of any form clearly being off the cards for the moment. Thankfully she said nothing about NOT climbing fences, beside cliffs, to get photos of wild Orkney neeps, still in hibernation, beside the sea. The sheep on the hilltop keep a canny watch, hiding under their towering wind turbines.

Gardening or snowdrop or wild Orkney neep stalking, it would seem, isn't an extreme activity in some peoples eyes. Hopefully I'll get my wall climbing pass back soon, plenty more snow drops to find.

 

As for the wild neep stalking over fences, we'll just keep between us. They, (the fences) were more than a bit shoogly (wobbly) to be telling the nice lady physio about. I don't want my fence climbing pass taken away too.

 

Nice field of wild Orkney neeps though, basking in the February sunshine, languishing dormant before they head off north to Sweden on their annual pilgrimage back to the homelands for annual ritual of self seeding...........