I took my cat for a two hour foraging walk in the woods last week, we covered about four miles. I wanted to share some photos. She was very good, and followed me all the way.
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@Rups and ally. That looks superb.
You are lucky to have one another and even luckier to be able to make an expedition like that together. Long may you both continue and thankyou for sharing these delights with us.
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Lovely photos Rups that took me right there, was in the zone for a bit. Many moon rises ago we had a cat that would escort you down to post box half a mile away,used folks gardens as a Grand National course jumping hedges and fences to avoid dogs and foxes but only at night.
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I just foraged for mushrooms, I was hoping after the rain, I’d come across some porcini, which I did but I was a little too late and they were rotting. However, I did find an abundance of oyster mushrooms and some hedgehog mushrooms. Daisy wanted to come for the walk, I had shut the field gate when I started on my jaunt and expected her to stay behind but she jumped the gate and raced ahead of me.
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Diolch @Pds, before stroke, she used to walk with me around the fields. This was the first time she ventured into the woods with me. As we walked along unfamiliar territory, she mewed a lot but I think it was just chatter because she was clearly having a good time racing up bowls and massaging her claws into bark and she’d purr around my legs every time I stopped for a fungi scrutiny. She’s a hunter and a climber, not like her cat companion Horace who is a bit of a loafer. I didn’t worry too much about her, she has good recall for a cat.
@Rups that looks like a great day out & your cat is beautiful. They can be great company can’t they. It reminded me of a time our cat came for a walk with us. Part way along it wandered off & it was days later when we went for another walk that it came leaping out the field to us. It hadn’t made it home after the first walk & must have heard us talking. It never left the garden after that. So much for their homing instinct 
Enjoy your Sunday.
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When I forage, fatigue is minimal. If I were just to go for a walk in the woods, fatigue will set in but when foraging my brain is wholly committed to spotting mushrooms. It completely absorbs me and empties my brain of all thoughts apart from finding fungi. It’s very cathartic, it’s my version of Zen. The physical side gets a little exhausting but revives every time I stop to survey a potential fungi find, and when I do find one or some, I get completely immersed in it or terribly joyful, like digging for scones or drilling for cream and strawberry jam.
Diolch @Mrs5K, oh yes, in my experience cats have a poor homing instinct. I knew that if Daisy was left to her own devices, she wouldn’t have been able to return home but now she has explored that part of the woods, I know she could get back in the future if exploring alone or waking with me again. She mewed a lot when the territory was unfamiliar but when we walked back, she was completely confident and raced ahead many times or rolled on the ground as is shown in my photo with the basket.
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Lovely photos. Glad you got yourself and cat out and about.
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Rups- I love these photos! I love cats and didn’t know a cat could be so obedient and good-staying with you all the time. You have a super cat! 
She knows she is 100% safe with me. I believe she was taken from her mother too young, she had been given up three times by previous owners as a kitten before I got her. The last owners ditched her because, and I quote, “She doesn’t do anything”. In the rescue home cage, she had bite marks on her ears from the other cats and was cowering in the corner of a cage. When I got her home, she hid in my study for about a month, only coming out to eat late at night. I didn’t bother her. Eventually, she came and sat on my lap but still now, around unfamiliar people, she is skittish. When I had the stroke, she curled up at the back of my legs as I waited two and a half hours for the paramedics to arrive. She is indeed special.
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Morning @Rups. I’ve only just seen these photos, thank you so much for sharing them. You nearly have me as a cat convert. Tried with a rescue once before I got married but tearfully had to take it back as it wouldn’t leave me alone including when I went to bed so no sleep for a week. Love the foraging too, my Dad used to take us out for mushrooms (he grew up on a farm) but I’m not brave enough to try myself, you clearly know what you are doing. Enjoy, Julia x
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Because you are Missy’s mother 
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Shwmae Julia, I have a motto when foraging, “If in doubt, leave it out. If one hundred percent sure, pick some more.” I’m glad I nearly converted you to the joy of cats, I believe in every dog lover, there is a frustrated cat person trying to get out 
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@Loshy oh your cat is gorgeous. Lovely & fluffy. 
I’m a cat person but hubby a dog person so after we lost our last cat we decided not to have any more pets. I’m afraid of dogs so won’t let him have one & he just dislikes cats.
You have one clever kitty there sounds like she has found a really lovely home and is quite spoilt
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Hilary has been gently twisting my arm about getting a cat. Dunno about this, but reading what you say here, I’m softening.
I would really love to go foraging, but it would have to be with a Forage Master. I’d certainly poison myself if I tried this unsupervised.
Incidentally, I used to scuba dive regularly for a hobby and regret never bringing home a bag of scallops each time, which I could have easily done. Recent TV programs have highlighted the use of seaweed in the kitchen and harvesting mussels and cockles. Maybe one day, but more likely will be found with feet up in front of said TV with a cat in my lap.
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Oh I’m in love with your cat. She is gorgeous
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Delightful Missy, I have heard that cats use purring for many reasons, one of them is to heal themselves, so possibly it may just heal us too.
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