Schmidt Adventures: Bull or No Bull?

Last Sunday we explored our first “footpath”. There are thousands (total guess) of miles of paths – foot, cycle, or bridleways – that run along rivers, connect towns, and/or just ramble through farmland. Katherine gave us a map of all the paths in Cambridgeshire, and we saw that one runs right through our neighborhood. The trailhead was between two houses and immediately put us on a narrow path through a rapeseed field. (Cold-pressed rapeseed oil is an alternative to olive oil – it has high omega 3’s and low saturated fat.) At the end of the field the trail turned and continued right through a cow pasture (see photo). Okay, I need someone like Bret Wise to laugh at me right now, but I’ve never really hung out with cows… and realized I’m scared to death of them! Chris wasn’t any better – he made me walk about 20 paces into the field before he even crossed the fence. Anyway, about a quarter mile in we confronted a juvenile male right in the middle of the path. He stared us down, flared his ears, and trotted a couple paces towards us. I almost peed my pants. He may have been young but he had to have weighed a thousand pounds! Luckily a 65+ year-old couple was also walking on the footpath from the other direction and the monster started towards THEM. In the most anticlimactic of scenarios, the old Scottish dude kinda moo’d at the calf and it ran away. Lesson learned. He did warn us, and I quote “there have been a few fatalities lately”, so either he was messing with us or my fears weren’t entirely unfounded. Anyone up for a walk when you visit? Hehe. I was hooked after the first adventure and have explored a few of the other trails around here.