Cowpath

My first Blip for a while and for this year, is from todays long walk. 

I live in the south of Sweden on an island called Öland which have a nature-type called Alvar, limestone with a thin two cm layer of soil on top. Plants tend to be specialized, small and stay close to the ground. There are occasional trees and bushes as well but mostly grass. Cows graze and move freely over the landscape around the year apart from shorter periods of snow in the winter. As you can see, winter hasn't arrived yet, we still have 6 degrees celsius and no snow. Snow and frost usually arrives during january-februari but tend not to cover the ground for longer periods at the time. Today, I followed the cows paths in the landscape. They wind on, split in two or three, stops by a tree and devides again. At first I didn't follow the paths, thinking I wasn't going to follow the herd, I wanted to make my own choices and to make my own path. I found some hard walking ahead, since the paths I was making usually led me into deep water holes, thick bushes with thorns, stone fences difficult to get over and marshy ground. So, I changed strategy and started following the cows paths. They seemed to avoid all the obstacles before you could see them and I had a walk where I could enjoy the scenery instead of fighting my way through it. There might be a lesson here about being an individualist versus following the group but I leave the conclusions to others. I do think though, that the collective mind has gained some common knowledge that the individual can make use of to get an easier journey. 

Anyway, I had a lovely walk in the end. See for yourselves.