Boxing Day Walk in Blackheath Forest, Surrey.

Merry Christmas all! I haven’t done a Christmas post this year, we had a quiet day; we opened our presents in the morning, then went to my Aunty’s for Christmas lunch (amaaaaazing lunch, so yummy!), then we opened more presents and watched some Christmas TV, then drove home in time for Doctor Who!
Today we’re just having a day at home lazing around watching films and eating chocolate, but we did get up pretty early and go for a nice walk in Hurtwood Forest to walk off our croissant-filled breakfast. I treated myself to a new prime lens recently and I’ll be upgrading my DSLR to the D5200 on next pay-day, and for Christmas my parents gave me a new zoom lens, so this Christmas has been pretty camera-filled! I thought the walk would be the perfect chance to test out the new prime, it’s a 50mm manual focus, and it’s not reeeeally meant for my current camera, but it still worked pretty well and will be even better with the new camera!
Our walk was rather foggy, it felt a bit like a horror film at times, and we came across quite a few fallen trees on the path so we had to climb under/over them – Dylan absolutely loved it and had a great time!

 

Sadly my tripod has broken so I couldn’t slow the shutter speed down to get a decent shot of the mini waterfall 🙁 I’m hoping they’ll have them on sale now!

 

What I love most about using manual focus is that you can control where you want to focus much more easily. On an auto-focus lens/camera it would have focused on the twigs closest to me, rather then the ones that are slightly further away and in the middle of the frame.

The forest really was eerie with all of the fog, scary!

 

Luckily we brought Dylan’s high-vis jacket with us so we could see him amongst the bracken and fog, he blends in so easily this time of year!

 

Such a dapper dog wearing his very own doggy bow-tie! It does have a habit of twisting around to the side though instead of staying at the front. His red polka dot collar was kindly sent to him from PetsPyjamas for his birthday back in September.

I hate wellies, so I wore my trust Timberland waterproof boots. They’re literally the best boots ever, when clean they can be worn in the city (my colleague thought they were Zara!), but they’re also perfect for stomping around in in the rain and snow as they’ve got a really thick ‘walking boot’ tread, and are completely waterproof!

 

 

After our walk we headed over to the pub for a drink and some pork scratchings. We sat by the fire, and Dylan tried to dry off a bit, before we headed home for an afternoon of food and movies.

Merry Christmas!
I hope you’ve all had a really wonderful week filled with family and friends.

 

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Catherine Lux
Catherine Lux

Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of SEO at Havas Media Group by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.

Find me on: Web | Instagram

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9 Comments

  1. Unknown
    December 30, 2013 / 12:57 pm

    Your dog is so bloody cute. I have a ginger cocker spaniel aswel. Great post. 🙂

    • Catherine Lux
      January 31, 2014 / 10:18 am

      Ginger's are defo the best! 😉

      C x

  2. Belphoebe
    December 30, 2013 / 9:42 pm

    How ADORABLE is your dog? Some seriously beautiful atmospheric shots here, thanks so much for sharing!

    http://www.ragsoflove.com/

    • Catherine Lux
      January 31, 2014 / 10:19 am

      Aw thank you, he is a little bit of a cutie!

      C x

  3. Warwick's Portas Pilots
    December 31, 2013 / 10:11 am

    Gorgeous photos!

    I love a good walk in the wood, especially when there's all that mist and late autumn colouring going on!

    • Catherine Lux
      January 31, 2014 / 10:18 am

      Yes, same! The colours are so gorgeous aren't they!

      C x

  4. pompompom13
    January 30, 2014 / 6:04 pm

    pretty boots
    have you ever tryed them in big puddle until the ankle ?

    • Catherine Lux
      January 31, 2014 / 10:17 am

      Yes I have – I've walked through a river in them, still waterproof! 😉

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