Saturday 30th May 2020

Nearly at the end of the month.

We should get out more!

It is the weekend, Jools had done the shopping, so no need to stay inside or have to do other stuff, so what to do?

Well, here's the thing. I am not quite as orchid obsessed as I used to be. I mean, I still like an orchid, but the idea of going out for eight or more hours treking from site to site just hasn't happened this year. Instead, just one or two sites on Saturdays and Sundays, and happy with the pictures taken at each site of each species.

Who saw that coming?

In some years we might visit Bonsai half a dozen times in a month. We have been once this year I think. Yockletts three times. PGD twice. Woolage twice.

So, with the main part of the season fading into high summer, thoughts go to Bees and Lizards, which means a reurn trip to Sandwich Bay estate, and if I'm honest, the three mile or so walk along the beach each way, being flat is very pleasant, and at the end of the outward leg is the thought of dozens if not hundreds of lizards and maybe a Bee or two.

But the reason for going this weekend are Broomrapes.

Broomrapes are an unusual semi-parasitic plant, where each member of the family leeches off a different host species. The most common is Ivy Broomrape, but there are broomrapes that feed off Knapweeds, broad beans and so on. Most are very rare, some are amazingly so. At Sandwich Bay, one of the rarest grows, Bedstraw Broomrape, aka the Clove-scented Broomrape. Normally, the height of Lizard season is just after Broomrape season, and all that is left are desiccated spikes.

So, a couple of weeks early, maybe some early Lizards, and some late Broomrapes.

I hoped.

We had coffee, and were out of the house before seven, driving up the coast to Deal, parking at the far end of the promenade, right by the site of the old Sandown Castle. From there it is a three and a half mile walk along the shingle bank to Sandwich Bay, which isn't an actual bay as such. But it was sunny, not too windy and not many people about.

Jools said she was going to take her time and do some litter picking, so I set off on my own, striding out, though with eyes on plants on either side of the path in case I spotted anything interesting worth snapping.

I was walking into a light headwind, but nothing bad. I made good time, though the first mile-marker took ages to reach, and it was covered in dumped dog poo bags.

Lovely.

I press on pass the golf course, where a small army of people are getting the course ready; watering the greens, putting the flag in the holes, tee markers and so on.

I walk on, finally reaching the start of the estate after an hour.

The houses are large and grand, but it is protected and they have some fine flora living there, so it is worth the effort, and I try to suppress my republican urges as someone seems to own a stretch of coastline, but there is free access, so not all bad.

Past the houses, to the start of the next (!) golf course, where on the side of the road, spikes of the crazy Lizard Orchids were beginning to flower. I knew that futher down there would be more spikes and that's where the broomrapes would be.

Of course that meant an extra mile walk, each way, but for orchids, it was worth it.

I snap several Lizard spikes, including greener ones next to the fence separating the public right of way from the golf course. On the dunes most of the grass has been flattened by visitor's cars, but in softer places the orchids are thriving still. ANd there were the brown spikes of broomrape spikes gone to seed.

There is one spot where there are normally two or three Bee Orchid spikes, and should be in flower. I find one spike, not quite in flower. It might open that day, or later. Or not.

Oh well. A two mile walk to see one small flower spike. Still closed.

On the way back I walk through the dunes, and in one slack I find a small broomrape undried, and after snapping it, I lean closer and sniff: a hint of clove!

Yay.

I stand up, tighten my belt and look some four miles in the distance where the buildings of Deal rise from the beach.

Here we go.

There were more people about now, most with dogs, but I am left alone to wind my way back.

I meet Jools mid-way between Deal and Sandwich, she had collected lots of junk from the baech and path, and now the bag was very heavy. So, we carry on back to Deal and the car.

We get to the car, turn round and drive back home, passing a line of dozens of cars coming into the town, obeying Johnson's advice that they can go to the beach. So they are.

We go home, open all the windows and put the kettle on. As you do.

And so we frittered away the rest of the morning and afternoon.

I cook lunch, breaded chicken, new potatoes and sweet chilli stir fry. It works together very well.

But at four, we had a change of plan. Or a break from the old routine. With the regulations being relaxed, we had decided that we would have our first cards gathering since the beginning of March.

We collect John, then go to Jen's where there is a table set up on the patio. We kept a metre apart, but after chatting, did play cards, a gentle warm up to the serious business starting the next week.

It feels almost normal. We laugh, we drink, we eat and laugh some more. John tells stories, and we laugh yet again.

We finish at quarter past nine with it being quite chilly, but Jools scoops the jackpot and she and I laugh some more!

We drop John back home, then return home ourselves.

Feels almost normal.

Hope this is a permanent thing, not just a blip, some glimpse of normality that will be snatched away again.