Thursday 23rd September 2021

Back home, and from now until 21st December, days will get shorter and nights, longer.

But for now it is still summer. Or looks and/or feels like it. And I was still on holiday.

I had an idea, rather than going up to Windy Ridge to hunt for butterflies, why not go to Kingsdown instead?

Why not, I thought, do both?

I didn't go for a walk on Wednesday once home, so would do for two day's walking, I thought.

I gathered a water bottle, tied by shoes up tighter and after Jools had gone to work, I finished cofee, second cofee, made some bread and left to rise in the oven, had a third cofee and breakfast, I was ready to leave shortly after nine.

It was going to be a good walk. I hoped.

A fine day, if a little breezy, so I thought I would go on a walk. A long walk, to hunt for butterflies.

Three species in my sights:

Queen of Spain
Long Tailed Blues
Clouded Yellows.

The QoS I saw last year up Windy Ridge, which is why I go up there a lot at the moment. The LTB are seen at Kingsdown, feeding on the Everlasting Pea that grows in huge numbers, and the Clouded Yellows could be found anywhere.

In the end, I saw none of the three species, but saw some dragonflies, with a male and female Common Darter perched long enough to get shots.

I took a bottle of water, and set off.

I strode off, feeling like a million bucks, up to Collingwood, then up to Windy Ridge, and along the full length of the woods.

Plenty of Speckled Woods as usual, a few Commas and Red Admirals.

Then down the hill, past the farm to the top of Norway Drove. The Dip was almost dry, but still overgrown. The climb up the other side was hard in the warm sunshine, and even hot. I stopped to drink from the water bottle, in order to keep the gout at bay.

I walked up to Barrow Down, past the bepringled on the tees at the golf course, before walking down towards the cliff path and into Kingsdown.

It was very warm, even hot.

None of the species I wanted to snap were seen, and little evidence that there was any LTB about, so I turned round and walked back into St Maggies, going back across the fields to the top of Otty Bottom Road before walking down and up the Dip to home.

20,000 steps in four hours, which I don't think was too bad, though my legs told me they hated me.

The last bit along the lane into our road took the longest, but the steps we easier than the ones up the final slope from The Dip.

I made a pint of iced squash and checked on the bread. It had overflowed the tin and wan now creeping across the baking tray. I scooped up the bits and piled them on top of the loaf, put the oven on and set the timer.

40 minutes later the loaf was done, but needed half an hour to cool, so I watched something on the i player, then had late lunch of fresh still warm bread, smthered in butter and nutella.

Lovely.

My legs were achey. I mean in a good way, though it felt in a bad way. I just had to keep drinking to make sure I kept the gout at bay.

Jools was going to a show in Margate on the evening, I had bailed on it, and no amount of begging was going to change my mind. So, I made sure dinner was ready when Jools came home; burgers. Lamb burgers in fact, and drinks.

Simple and quick.

Jools came how, eate, changed and went out, leaving me to tidy up, wash up, put out the badger food and so on.

I had the radio on, and I wrote, and the evening passed pretty much according to plan.

It was half ten when Jools came back, tired by glad she went with Jen and John.

I climbed the stairs, by legs and knees complaining. My brain then kept me awake for an hour.