Hm...

I'm still breaking in the new running shoes and I thought I'd take them up to eight miles today. I fancied a run out to Barbon and back, which would be slightly further than that, so I found a footpath across some fields to lop off the far end of the run.

Given my propensity for getting lost I had a good long look at the map before setting off and I found the start of the footpath without any problem. It was a nice run through two or three fields before I came to a driveway that bisects the path. Over one style, across the lane, and then these: "Bull in field" and "Cows with calves in field".

Well, that's enough to give any sane man pause for thought! 

I could see some sheep off to my right but nothing of a more bovine nature. I climbed over the style and jogged up the gentle hill towards the trees. As I approached the ridge, I could see some cows in a field ahead of me and I was just trying to work out whether that was a field I needed to run through when I caught sight of a solitary beast.

I'd like to tell you whether it was a bull or not but I can't. In fact, I'm not sure it was even in the field I was running across; there might have been a fence between us. And the reason for this lack of information is that there was no hanging around; I simply turned tail back to the style at a brisk pace and then jogged down the driveway back to a road that I would have eventually joined anyway. 

Part of the reason I was doubtful about the presence of the bull and/or cows in the first place was that the bull sign looked very weathered and I must admit it had occurred to me that the farmer left the signs up all year 'round to deter ramblers (and, indeed, runners). To be honest, it doesn't seem right to me to use fields with footpaths across them for grazing short-tempered livestock. Anyone know anything about that? Is it allowed?

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-11.1 kgs
Reading: 'Circe' by Madeline Miller