Serious stuff first. Here we go again, folks - all LDWA social walks in England are suspended for at least four weeks from 5th November to 2nd December. So who can we walk with? The rules state that exercising outdoors is only to be undertaken with people from your household, your support bubble or one other person from another household. Meanwhile, the LDWA's National Committee is going to review the impact on 'anytime challenge events' and will  clarify what can and can’t be done bearing in mind the restrictions on travel during this new lockdown. You can, of course, take part in virtual challenges - Julie Cribb, Local Groups Secretary, has come up with another tempting one that you can access on the LDWA Facebook.

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It was definitely an 'if only' weekend for me. If only I'd been there at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium to witness Gareth Bale score the winner against Brighton & Hove Albion - his first goal for Spurs since he left them for Real Madrid in 2013. And if only I hadn't been too busy meeting a deadline to bag a place on Lonica's Saturday walk, which was based in Epping Forest and Loughton, where I grew up. It would have been lovely to see my old haunts again. Even the prime Essex mud brought pangs of nostalgia.

PHOTOS Paul Lawrence

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Meanwhile, here's something to look forward to: 

The beer group! This from Julian White:   We've now launched the second new national group, this one is about beer and pubs (especially those in the Good Beer Guide). The groups are in addition to local groups and not instead of. We haven't been able to begin the engagement in the way we wanted by listing lots of walks because of Covid-19, but we'll get there. The aim of the new group is for existing LDWA members to see which walks groups are operating around the country which might welcome other members who fancy a beer during or/and after the walk. There will also be weekends away (and maybe even holidays), with a beer and pub theme. I've even got a couple of national trails in mind here. The beer bit is optional, it's just another way of getting members to meet others in new areas of the country. And they can discover new walks and new pubs. Because our aim is to allow LDWA members to meet each other in person and via social media (this will have its own Facebook group), it's LDWA members only who can join. Sorry. The Meetup group is at: https://www.meetup.com/long-distance-walkers-association.../ The already launched history group (with some sample walks, but we don't know the dates) is at: https://www.meetup.com/Long-Distance-Walkers-Association.../ Please bear with us whilst we get these groups going properly, but this is a start. If any LDWA walk leaders have a walk they can put on in 2021 (don't need the date confirming yet) which features some excellent pubs during the walk (or you can host a post-walk pub visit) then message me at jw@julianwhite.uk. Thanks Cheers, Julian.

Last week's fungus challenge was so laughably easy (fly agaric, in case you're among the 2% who couldn't identify it) that I'm crossing the big pond with the mushrooms below. They were sourced in the Northwest Pacific, so my question is this: does this part of the world sprout specially colourful OpArt mushrooms or were they simply dyed and prettily arranged by the photographer?

Mushroom medley
PHOTO Jill Bliss

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The picture below is by Patrick Woodruffe (1940-2014), an English artist, etcher and illustrator who specialised in fantasy and sci-fi and designed several record sleeves (remember them?). I really like its combination of the bucolic and surreal, though these frisky cows are a lot friendlier-looking than most of those I've met on walks, starting with the recumbent one I tripped over in the night section of my first challenge event, the Three Forests Way, in 1997. Anyway, your cow anecdotes, please, funny and/or scary, if you have any.