Through the billowing mist of October

 

24:55 — 4.8 km (3 miles)

A brisk walk with Simon Jones through the billowing morning mist.

And a few brilliant ceps!

Belka had a whale of a time running around and sniffing out the trails left by the creatures of the night.  

Where have all the mushrooms gone?

10.24 km - 63.34 min., 17ºC.

Cool, misty, smells of Autumn. 

While running I've checked all the usual mushroom places - none. What's going on? The global talk is about the coming food shortages, with drought in America, Russia and the Ukraine, floods in the UK, and drought in France too, but not as severe, she will still have a surplus of 5 mln. tons of wheat. Could it be that it also affected the mushrooms?

But nuts, hazelnuts and beechnuts are a-plenty. I see lots of red squirrels skulking in the hedges. And - excitement for me and the dogs! - pine martens. One yesterday and one today. Maybe they're out chasing the squirrels. Oh dear!

Photo: ©A.Anichkin

Runners and Hunter-Gatherers

9,4 km - 60.01 min, 9,748 steps. Mild and quiet.


It's Indian Summer, warm, sunny and quiet. In the wooded sunken lane I run past an old man with a wicker basket.

'What are you gathering?'

'Blackberries'

'Oh, that's nice, lots of mushrooms here, too'

'No, don't do them, don't know much about mushrooms'.

Which is good for me, because I know about a dozen edible mushrooms and only pick the ones I'm sure of. On the sides of the lane and buried in the banks there are plenty of those, including ceps and birch boletes. They grow in the same spot year after year. Once you've discovered your spot, keep it secret and come back to pick your bounty.

As I run past my 'secret spot' I stop and give it a quick check. If there are fresh fungi, after the run I come back on a bike or in the car and do a harvest. The other day it was two pounds of delicious brown birch boletes, enough for a large casserole of soup and a filling fry-up with bacon, onion, garlic and potatoes, or parsley and cream.