I feel like I am coming down with a case of cabin fever, so the plan was to leave off work at about midday and walk into town along the cliffs. But before then I could get a five or six hours work in, or so I thought. And there was no car to be repaired or hedge to be trimmed to further divert my attention.
I wake up at half five hearing Jools who had been up an hour already, taking the car out of the drive to get to work early so she can catch up with work. She has a graduate or something working with her, and is taking more of her time than she would like. Anyway, the cats have been fed, and all three are out in the early morning sunshine.
At half seven I start work, logging my hours, then opening up the document and beginning the checking of references, one by one. By midday I was still stuck on the first one, but I did get some other stuff done. Much tougher going than I imagined. Anyway, I have some scrambled eggs on toast for lunch, switch of both computers and after washing up, pick up two cameras, check for memory cards, and I am off.
It was easy going down Station Road needless to day, past the new build house which is being put together at the bottom beside the horse hotel (!), then up the long slog into the village centre, taking the rough road beside the village shop, cross Reach Road and through the estate out across the fields. Already the barley has been harvested from the gig field, manure spread and harrowed in. If I am honest, my back was grumbling, but a breif rest in the village seemed to have helped, so pressing in towards the lighthouse, across the heath, and taking delight in identifying may of the wild flowers swaying in the wind. In fact, a short distance I saw a large clearing, something I had not noticed before, but full of thistles, crocosmia, Golden Rod as well as the usual chalk downland species. It was a dazzling display of colour, and I am left breathless. It must have been here in previous years, but the first time I noticed it.
Down by the lighthouse I take the alleyway to the cliff edge, and am met by dozens of people who had walked from Dover to visit the lighthouse. I have walked these cliffs in all weathers in every month of the year, the differences are stunning, as for most of the year if you pass two or more people, it is unusual, but I see dozens, some pushing a buggy with young children, bouncing over the rough ground.
It is windy as heck up there, sometimes strong enough to blow a small child into the sea far below. So parents hold on to their small children, to keep them safe.
I see some wild flowers, nestling close to the ground, so I get down to snap them, even identifying some of them, like Toadflax. There are a few people waiting at the Fan Bay Deep Shelter, and even more people walking between there and the NT main place. With most people following the main path down Langdon Hole, I take the path away from the cliff before turning down the Cliff Road, mainly because it would be less windy down there, and I might get lucky and see a butterfly or two. In fact I was nearly rewarded with an Adonis Blue, feeding on a sheltered plant, but as I try to get an angle to snap it, it flies away. In the lea of the cliffs, there were a handful of Chalkhills, but I let them be, they having found a sheltered place out of the wind.
Down the Cliff Road bending around the face of the cliffs, with the sheer drop to the port below, very quiet for a Friday afternoon. It was walking straight into a head wind, and a strong one at that, so any butterflies about were being thrown about, and anyway, time was getting in and I needed to get into town.
To go down, I need to go up first, along the narrow path up the cliff, then down the very steep path under Jubilee Way into East Cliff. OK, my legs were aching, but I had done it, made it into town, just had to walk past the swimming pool and along the edge of the St James Development before taking the path along the river, a more secluded route to Ladywell where the Rack was beckoning. A fair had set up in Pencester Gardens, and there was the sound of screaming from a few of the rides that were already running. I walk by, getting hotter as the valley in which Dover site was shielding us from the breeze. 
Up the last stretch along the river, and there on the other side was The Rack, and Trish was outside, one hopes looking out for me. But it being a quiet day, she was looking for any customers. I have a ginger beer to start, something alcohol free to quench my thirst, before going onto some hoppy beer. Lovely beer.
Time flies, three o'clock turns to four turns to half past. Jools comes in, and the three blokes in the bar are talking bollocks as usual, but it is funny, I think. Jools arrives, OK, one more beer I hear myself saying. Sometime after 5, we leave, Jools driving us home. And once there we have cheese and crackers, and foolishly I have a glass of wine of two.
If I'm honest, the evening was a bit of a blur, as was Gardener's World, so we go to bed at half nine and I sleep without stirring.
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