Saturday 24th October 2020

The last day of British Summer Time (BST). Clocks go back at 02:00 Sunday.

This will be a long hard winter, with little light. I hope I am wrong, but I suspect I am right. By the time BST returns at the end of March Britain will be a very different place, but it will be, at least, Spring.

The last day of summer time was destined to bring us storms, strong winds and driving rain, but not until later in the afternoon and overnight, which meant we could go out and visit places.

We are not great shoppers, so no need to go to Ashford, Westwood Cross or even Canterbury, but the odd attractive village perhaps, and maybe an attractive church or two? And a walk in the country, because, if nothing else, COVID has not closed them down.

Yet.

And one of the best and closest reserves is Stodmarsh, on the southern banks of the Great Stour downstream fro Canterbury. But unlike places like Westbere on the other side of the river, Stodmarsh is on a road much less travelled, and so out of the way, you do not come here by accident.

Which is a shame as it is a rather nice place, and has a fine looking pub, as I was to see. Although I had been here twice before, not really walked round the village, other than the small church.

To get to Stodmarsh is easy enough, just go to Preston, take the road to Grove Ferry and left at the cross roads, and across the fields and into the shallow valley and you arrive. And so should have been simple, and was until we drove past the butcher and came to turn down the Grove Ferry road only to find road closed signs.

No problem, we could get past from the other side, but this did mean going down the road through Stourmarsh and Pluck's Gutter to Monkton, then back towards Canterbury through Sarre and down the Gover Ferry road.

Only, as the main road left Sarre, I saw a freight train, rare in Kent these days, and it was clearly a balast train for track replacement, meaning, correctly as it turned out, that the road closure would be at the level crossing at Grove Ferry, and so we would have to go round to Preston. Again.

Which is how it turned out.

An hour late we pulled into the reserve car park, found that due to COVID those were closed. But, after putting on our walking boots we set off through the woods and out onto the marsh beyond, through the reedbeds, eyes peeled for any wildlife we might see. I was hoping to see Bearded Tits, aka Bearded Reedlings, as I had never seen them before, and at this time of year they collect gravel from paths to fill their gizzards to grind up older plant material. But saw none of those either.

But I did see a Kingfisher. I say "saw", I mean as we left the wood, to the right I saw a flash of blue as one took off, and did not return, though I did hear it calling as we shuffled along the muddy track, trying not to fall over.

There were a few flowers hanging on, a hogweed and a couple of dandelion hawkbits and a thistle too. We disturned an upset Grey Heron which leapt into the air then used its huge wings to fly away to a quieter part of the reserve.

Near to the river it got too muddy to go on, so we turned back for the car park, and into the teeth of the freshening breeze which was turn to severe gales by the end of the day. Over Canterbury sheets of rain could be seen, so time for home.

Back at the car, I drove to the centre of Stodmarsh and tried the church door. To no one's surprise, it was locked. It is a small church, but I wanted to rephotograph the unique support for the bellcote, but that will have to wait until next year.

We drove back to the main road then through Wingham where I wanted to visit Wickhambreaux to photograph the town and church. I went to the church first and saw the porch door open, a gentleman was clearing the churchyard of dead plants, I asked if the church was open. It was unlocked, but he would prefer it if I did not go in, I could see the inner door ajar. I wanted to argue, but left it. I have been there before, so not essential, but it would have been nice to do one church.

Not today.

As I walked back to the car the rain came, drizzle at first, driven to feel like hail by the wind. I put my cameras in the boot and climb in.

Let's go home.

So we do.

Only I got the idea to stop off on the Sandwich bypass for some dirty food from the greasy spoon. He was open and serving, but after parking and going to the hatch he told us he was maxed out with orders and could not serve us. A builder stood nearby and must have come with a large order for his friends.

So we got back in the car and drove home, and once inside I put the kettle on and prepare pork pie, coleslaw and pickled onions.

Quick and easy.

Outside the rain fell and the wind built. I was going nowhere else.

So I put the radio on to listen to the football and watch more train videos from America on YouTube. Other tubes are available.

Att he same time, Norwich were playing Wycombe in the league. Only the second time they had played eacho ther in the league at The Carra. And after scoring inside 3 minutes, it looked like a cruise for City. But a defensive mix up gifted Wycombe a leveller, and then came an hour of frustration, until into injury time when Super Mario stepped up to strike a free kick from inside the D. It went into the top corner. So, nine points from the three games this week, and up to 5th.

Sweet.

Dinner was fishcakes, curried rice and sweetcorn, and after that I sit down to watch the Man Utd v Chelski game on TV. Once upon a time this was a league decider. Not so now, two poor teams, scared of conceding eek out a 0-0 draw, and I could have spent the time, better, watching paint dry.

Outside the wind howled and threw rain at the house. The cats decided they were not going out.

Who blames them?