Monday 17th October 2011

It has been a quiet weekend, well, on the photography front. after what have been a few busy weeks, it seemed right to do more domestic things. That's how it turned out, but it really wasn't planned that way.



First of all, the glorious weather has continued, at least here in Kent.Although the temperatures have been half the 30 degrees of the beginning of October. But still, we are ten weeks from Christmas and less than three from Guy Fawkes night. The forecast promised bright starts with days of unbroken sunshine. so, what better way to start the weekend than a walk through Kings Wood near Challock looking for fungi to snap? and the sunshine would be good for autumnal colours too.



So, up at normal time of just before six, breakfast and a cuppa, and into the car and off to the other side of Ashford. As we drove, the clear sky turned from dark blue to orange to red as sunrise neared, and as we left Folkestone behind, the rising sun filled my rear-view mirror and bathed the countryside in warm golden light.

We arrive at kings Wood to find we are only the second car in the car park, and after getting our camera gear out of the boot, we set off in search of fungi. My friend, gary, had mentioned that a period of rain might be needed to bring all the fungi out, but even then, I wasn't expecting there to be so few. Just the one in fact.



So, I got down on my belly amongst the pine needles and snapped away. I got some shots, and we moved off.
As dawn and sunrise is now at a civilised hour of half seven, the early morning light, with sunshine showing through the canopy and branches of the trees, that was magical enough to have made the trip out worthwhile.

We walked along bridleways, narrow paths and through sunlight filled clearings. At one point we stopped to collect chestnuts, and filled our pockets. We walked back to the car, and arrived back as more and more cars arrived, spilling out more walkers and dog-owners.

We headed home, and arrived back with a healthy appetite and so had lunch whilst listening to the radio, and then i settled down to watch the 'big game' of the weekend, Liverpool v Manchester United, which drifted in time to a dull draw. And then an afternoon of trying to stay awake whilst laying on the sofa whilst listening to the main bunch of matches that kicked off at three.

Norwich were two up in ten minutes against Swansea, and went on to win 3-1,which I was happy about, needless to say.

As the dawn had been so wonderful on Saturday, we thought we should get up and watch Sunday's edition from the cliffs. We left the house just before seven, and were there in less than 5 minutes.



The sky was more than half covered with dark clouds, but the sky over the Channel towards where the sun would rise was clear enough. we sat and waited with me taking many shots. The sun rose at about half seven, and we glimpsed it through the haze about Calais.

We headed back home for breakfast, and soon after headed out to a garden centre, like many millions of other Brits, to pick up a few things, and then spend the rest of the day alternating between chores in and out of the house, watching football, and regular breaks for tea and/or beer. It worked.

I did watch most of the football during the afternoon, despite it being quite uninspiring. The Arse managed to get a win despite being average, at best, against Sunderland, whilst the Toon v Spurs game only came to life in the 2nd half.

We had a fine roast dinner, and then sat down to watch the extended version of Terminator 2, before the weekend finally ran out and we headed to bed and wait for Monday morning to arrive.