We woke up expecting it to be flooded outside. All week the BBC had been saying to expect a day of heavy rain. As it turned out, it was cool, overcast, and it felt that rain wasn't far off. And sure enough as I settled down to watch the footy, the heavy drizzle began and the sea mist rolled in. The football played on. Outside a variety of birds visited the feeders, like most weeks, the comings and goings in the garden turned out to be far better entertainment than what was on the TV.
Outside the rain still fell, it seemed like it was set in for the day, as my Granddad would have said. And yet, after lunch, the rain stopped, and the sky began to clear. The plan, was to visit three orchid sites, to make the most of the low sun as it was now nearly three. So, after a coffee we climbed in the car and drove to Lydden.
Along may Kent highways and byways, many small nature reserves have been created, and on one of these is a large colony of Man Orchids. I knew it was too early to see any flowering spikes, but I hoped to see some rosettes. Anyway, it was nice enough just being out in the warm spring sunshine. In fact it was glorious.
As it happened, I found many spikes already pushing their way to the sky, it will be a couple of weeks before we see any blooms.
We doubled back along the Deal road to Kingsdown, along the narrow High Street and finally to the bottom where there was just enough space at the bottom to park. The Early Spider Orchids at Kingsdown are in a cleared and maintained area. They take some finding, and as it has been quite cool, the orchids are only just pushing up their flowering spikes. After some searching I find half a dozen open, and get down to get my shots. These are darker than the ones found at Samphire Hoe, and I rather prefer these ones I have to say.
And our final port of call was at Sandwich Bay to check in on the Green Winged Orchids: although I hate the idea of having to pay to visit a site, or any area of coastline or country, the fact that these are on a private estate which is patrolled, means they are some of the best protected orchids in the country. And being late in the day, it was quite likely that we would not have to pay anyway.
But first we had to get there, along the winding narrow road from Deal to the Estate, a road which can be a pain in the arse, but is over half the distance as the main road. And as it turned out, it was a pain, but mainly after getting stuck behind a cyclist who was just doing what he was entitled to, riding along, and as there was no place to pass, I settled down behind him as he was going at 20mph, and we didn not have far to go, what was the problem? Well, the dick in the Alpha behind, who pulled out behind us as we passed the golf course club house was angry, sounding his horn that the cyclist should get out of the way. I mean he was only going a few miles, and you can only go 30 tops along there anyway.
It was some relief when I was able to get past the cyclist safely: I looked in my rear view mirror to see the Alpha driver trying to force the cyclist off the road. Like I said, a dick.
We turned off through the estate and onto the Strand. Down about half a mile, parked up. We had to wait for a party of golfers to pass before we went to look for the orchids, and soon after walking off the path we could see a few very stunted orchids. A little more searching revealed a larger colony just beside the fairway, I quickly snapped them and we moved off before we were either told to move by security or hit by flying golf balls. The light was great, and even in the stiff breeze I got some shots.
Our stomachs told us it was nearly dinner time, so we returned to the car, and this time using the main roads we drove back home.
Once back I cooked up the Cajun ribs I bought the day before, and with the pasta salad I made in the morning, we had a fine dinner in about 15 minutes. We ate whilst listening to some Wittertainment, all in all a perfect evening.
In the world of football, Chelski won the Prem, and the football world went 'meh'. Money talks, money wins. And without any class. Nuff said.
2 comments:
Many thanks for the kindness you showed my brother (or sister) cyclist on the narrow lane. It seems a real sport these days in the online news here in New Zealand, and every country, the "them" and "us" between cyclists and motorists. Some of the comments are frightening that people are so angry about it - it genuinely makes me a bit nervous riding out there on the roads if every second motorist wants to run me down, or over, or off the road, and then die a painful death! Although I think the cyclist you encountered should have pulled over onto the the grass to let you past, then carried on after you passed him - but I wasn't there so of course I am only guessing.
Hey Tony, I'm a nice guy. It was a very narrow road, and anyway, I think its part of the national cycle path, and anyway, he has as much right to be on the road. Top possible speed anyway along there would have only been 5mph more. Alpha guy was a dick for sure.
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