We wake up at half six with sun pouting in through the gaps in the curtains. Another glorious late spring/summer day. Not sure when it changes, but I am pretty sure that in England the 1st June is the first day of summer, but then on days like this who cares?
Matt woke up at seven, and after we all had breakfast, he got into his lycra, buckled his shoes to his bike, and set off for Sandwich where his ride was due to begin. I waved him off, then we got ourselves ready for our own trip out. It is peak orchid season; there are so many sites it is impossible to get round them all, and so we go to some only when we are sure the orchids are out that I want to see. Our destination is a former transport site in East Kent, which after three decades of being abandoned has now been reclaimed by nature, and in places there are orchids. Huge and splendid orchids.
The roads were quiet, so the trip over was nice enough. After parking the car, we walk down onto the site, then try to remember where all the orchids were: there are Bee, Southern Marsh and the very yellow Man. We walked over to the edge of the site, and soon enough I found the first of the Bee spikes. A little further on I found more and more. Just over the old road that separates two groups of Bee, I saw a crouching figure in a leather hat. I knew that man, it was my orchid finding friend, Jim from Sussex.
I walk over, and we swap news on what we have been doing over the past two weeks. We carry on snapping the Bees, Jools then comes over to say she had found the two colonies of Southern Marsh. So she takes Jim off to show him and I carry on snapping. There are butterflies in abundance: Painted Ladies, Common Blues, Adonis Blues, Holly Blues and a Small Blue: I get shots of the Small Blue and the Holly Blue, very happy we walk back to the car, via the Southern Marsh orchids, which are still pushing up their spikes, but some had started to flower.
We drive a short distance to the neighbouring site, where more orchids can be found: Southern Marsh, Common Spotted and Leopard Marsh. Many were still putting up spikes, but deep in the site there was an area of all three orchids, and various hybrids to see and snap. Including one Leopard some 28 inches tall, a monster of an orchid. Sadly, further along there was a meadow that in previous years had been the richest are of orchids, but after walking down to it, I found three horses in it, and just about all orchids had been eaten: Southern Marsh, Leopards and Bees, all gone. I was stunned, but I hope the site will recover next year, if the horses are moved.
It was very warm by now, and nudging towards lunchtime, so with the fridge full back home, we walk back to the car then tootle home via the main roads.
We were so warm, and even had a touch of sunburn, so we ate inside, then chilled for a couple of hours, me reviewing my shots of course, before we went back out. This time to visit Nan.
Nan is three months shy of her 101st birthday, but can hardly see, her hearing is very bad now, and so just lays in the bed staring at the ceiling for hours on end. She is finding it hard to tell reality apart from her dreams, which seem so real to her. Needless to say, she is disturbed by these, the most vivid of which was walking to a beach to find it full of bodies from a sunken cruise liner, and the bodies asking her if she wanted to join them in death.
As ever the home is short staffed, and although the staff do their best, there is not enough, but they try to make Nan comfortable, but at three grand a month, it might be cheaper to stay at the Ritz.
Back home we have ice cream and a cuppa. I had discovered at half twelve that England were playing the Republic of Ireland (at football) that day. Even more surprising was that it was to kick off at one. It was just a friendly, and so not really important, and I decided I could not be bothered to watch. And therefore it comes as no surprise to find it ended a 0-0 draw.
Afternoon turned into evening. The shadows lengthened, and the temperature dipped sharply. We sat outside for a while, before the chill drove is inside for dinner; cold breaded aubergine and pasta salad. It took two minutes to prepare, and so tucked into a fine meal, and perfect on a summer evening.
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