Hello dear Sparkfriends,

As I got ready for my hike today, looking at the blue sky through the window, I realized that there is only one month left before Spring!... Woohoo! Still, today was a great winter hike, without snow as it is all gone.

I went to Crèvecœur-le-grand today, in the Picardie area, about 50 minutes North from where I live. I loved the impressive townhall, which is a 16th century castle...







The house below, now the local library, already existed in 1663! It is mentioned by Alexandre Dumas in his book ‘The three musketeers’, as ‘L’auberge de l’écu’.



I don't know whether the sundial on it was already there when it was built...



There is a horse’s head on a nearby house...



The one opposite is pretty as well...





... even around the corner!



But of course, the reason why I had come here today was to go on a long relaxing hike... in the countryside!







After last week’s hike, I was very much hoping I wouldn’t meet another stray dog today! I didn’t... I met GEESE in La Houssoye!!!



Geese can be very nasty and attack people (I know someone who has a big scar on the side of her nose because she was attacked by a goose as a child!)... So when they started running towards me, screaming, I didn't insist and immediately turned back to look for help!!!

There was this farm nearby...



So I entered the courtyard and called the owner, who happened to be cooking, with the door open. She came out and followed me on the path to scare her geese away. Phew!



I wasn’t sad to see the sideway cross showing the end of the village! No more geese!





Although it ended up being a very grey afternoon, I enjoyed walking through the countryside in the gentle light.





I tend to get bored walking in the woods in winter. Not that there is nothing to look at, but there is much less than in the summer... No leaves, no flowers...



No flowers? Well, there were actually some tiny yellow flowers, just blooming... I don’t have a clue what they were. They were on a little tree (not a bush). Do you have any idea what these could be?
Edit: Found it! This is simply a dogwood (also called 'Cornelian cherry' or 'European Cornel' depending on where you live... the Latin is 'Cornus mas' and in French, we say 'cornouiller sauvage'). Here is the link to the Wikipedia article about it if you are interested:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co
rnus_mas



When I left the woods, there was a small area with a bit of snow left on the side of the path... It felt colder there too, but maybe it actually felt that way because I saw the snow!



Before I embarked on the last part of my hike, I decided to make the most of the table and bench I found on the side of the path, outside a village called Catheux, and had my late lunch break! Whole bread with smoked salmon, a bit of lemon juice and Philadelphia cheese (I know, I already had one in Gerberoy a few weeks ago, it is a favorite!). At the moment, I can get away with just one bottle of water (0.6 liter = 2.6 cups) for a 4-hour hike. One of the advantages of winter, it is so nice to have less things to carry! (I have another bottle in the car too, which I can drink on the way back.)



As I was sitting there eating my sandwich, I remembered this week’s assignment for the Shutterbugs’ team: Look Up! This was my view...



The last part of my hike was on the ‘coulée verte’, a path which replaces an old railway which wasn’t used anymore. It is truly beautiful, and although I didn’t meet anybody, it might be busier in the summer.











As I approached Crèvecœur-le-grand, the sun was starting to disappear behind the hills...



I am feeling great and a little exhausted in a good way tonight! I know that as soon as this blog is posted, I’ll fall asleep! Have a great weekend, dear Sparkfriends, and thank you for reading!