Taking stock

After five days off from work due to the August Bank Holiday, Tuesday morning came as something of a shock. It was only just getting light when the alarm clock sounded at 5:45 am, whereas at the beginning of last week I'm sure it was a bit brighter. The main difference was the drop in temperature, which brought a real autumnal feel to the air that was noticeable, even before stepping outside the house. September, which marks the end of meteorological summer, is just a few days away, so with autumn just around the corner, and summer almost over, it’s worth taking a quick look back over the past few months.

June was certainly a warm and dry month and saw our local water company implementing a hosepipe ban. Shortly after the ban came into force, the weather turned, temperatures dropped and the heavens opened, putting paid to any plans I might have had for some serious hiking (see below).  

August has been marginally better, although the weather has remained rather changeable. Apart from missed opportunities for walking, this hasn’t particularly bothered me, but the main difference I've noticed is the nights have definitely drawn in. It happens every year of course and remains part and parcel of the changing of the seasons, but the dwindling light is the one things that makes these changes so noticeable. Back in June it would still be light enough to do certain tasks out in the garden until gone 10:00 pm, but now it is noticeably darker by 8:00 pm, a reminder, if one were needed, that it will soon be time to batten down the hatches and retrieve those winter coats and garments.

If truth be known I’ve only just finished getting over the unwanted bout of COVID, that came knocking at my door, and despite a quiet and uneventful Bank Holiday weekend, Monday saw me feeling tired and rather lethargic, after not sleeping well the night before. There was a dull ache in the pit of my stomach, which I attributed to me moving some heavy containers of compost, in the garden, but whatever the cause I didn’t exactly make the most of the last Bank Holiday of 2023. 

Mrs PBT’s has also been left feeling washed out COVID, and it wasn't until Saturday just gone that she finally returned a negative LFT result. She claims to have still not forgiven me giving her COVID, but unfortunately, it’s just one of those things, and a case of luck of the draw. With a long-awaited, and eagerly anticipated holiday coming up, in just over 5 weeks’ time, we are both taking things a little easier than we might and have been avoiding crowded situations.

I don't want to talk about Corona virus anymore, and instead want to take a look back at the rapidly fading summer and think what might have been. My biggest regret this year has been the absence of any proper, long-distance walking. After finally completing the North Downs Way last September, the idea of setting off on an eight-to-ten-mile cross country hike has been absent from this year's calendar, and it’s no exaggeration to say that I really missed the motivation and the challenge that went with completing such a walk. 

Looking back, I’d been walking the NDW for such a long time, that I found myself really missing those climbs up onto the hills, enjoying the magnificent views from the edge of the escarpment before making a partial descent through cool, airy beech woodlands, and on to the next part of the trail. Each section took me through a new and different part of the countryside, even though what I was walking through, was not that far away but also not quite on my doorstep. I also miss working out the logistics of getting to the various starting points and equally how to get home from the one at the end. There was often, but no always, the added bonus of finding a decent pub, either on the way or towards the end of the section.  Most importantly, I completed the majority of the NDW alone, apart from three sections in East Kent, where I joined a small group of friends at the point where one of them was close to finishing this long-distance pathway.  

By way of compensation, at the beginning of the year, I started out on the Tunbridge Wells Circular Walk, even though I'd tackled certain sections of it previously.  I’ve probably completed about 1/3 of it, but as I've probably written elsewhere the trail is not as well signposted, or as well maintained as the better known LDPs like the North and South Downs, which is why, and on three separate stages, I've ended up getting lost, after inadvertently deviating from the route due to lack of markings. 

The official guidebook was often lacking in detail as well, especially in those instances where the path divided, or the way ahead seemed uncertain. I might try and knock off a couple of sections, either at the end of this week or more probably the week after but being a circular route the TWCW lacks that feeling of walking towards an end goal. On the plus side the walk has shown me parts of the local countryside that I’d been unaware of, despite these areas being just a short distance from my house.

The other thing I've done quite a bit of this year, has been days out visiting towns and cities in the UK, that I either haven't been to before, or I'm revisiting after a long absence. So far in 2023, I have visited Henley on Thames, Norwich, Birmingham, and Manchester, and I was due to spend a day in the Black Country, visiting some of the areas classic pubs. Stafford Paul was all set to accompany me and point me in the right direction, and my train ticket had also been booked, but because of COVID I had to cancel, just four days prior to departure.

Having to do so was a major disappointment, but the trip is only on hold, and Paul and I will reconvene at a later date, after Eileen and I return from what will be the longest holiday we’ve undertaken together, and the lengthiest one for me since my student days, when a friend and I spent a whole month travelling round Western Europe by train, using an Inter-rail pass. Unlike 1975, the pair of us won't be slumming it, as we’ve booked a no-fly Mediterranean cruise, that’s just under three-week’s duration. "No-fly" means sailing from Southampton and return there, at the end of the voyage.

More details to follow, nearer the time, but at the moment I've got a few home and garden improvement projects on the go. The main one is getting the hall, landing, and stairwell repainted. This was put on hold partially due to COVID but also because the decorators I was using were engaged on a longer, and potentially more lucrative project, but there’s plenty of other things to do to keep, to keep me out of mischief. Rain is forecast for later today, and also for tomorrow, but after that we’ve allegedly got a week or more of fine weather. Time perhaps to dust off those walking boots?