Damp on Demand
Entry posted by caldrail
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The recent sunny weather has been very tempting, but long hikes in the countryside during hot weather can be a trial of endurance over and above lasting the distance. It isn't just sunburn of course. The heat can wear you down to the point where you get into an unhealthy state - and that's just England, never mind the tropics. Not being as young as I once was makes a difference - it really does.
Anyhow, today was cloudy. The weather reports had suggested our run of sunny days was coming to an end so I'd already decided to make this my venture into the Wiltshire rainforest.. The sky outside early this morning confirmed it wasn't going to blistery hot. It was however, blisteringly humid. The sun made a few hesitant attempts to break through but by and large it was that damp sticky heat that's even worse than sunshine.
I got a few of the usual comments made as I walked through Swindon on my way to the countryside. For the record, I do not look like Ray Mears at all. He's fatter than I am, and blonder. I'm not trying to be Bear Gryll's (though in todays humidity, I might end up having to). I'm not a member of Bravo Two Zero. Come on guys, I'm just out for a hike. Military surplus trousers are relatively cheap and really work against the ravages of undergrowth.
It really does come to something when the builders waiting to start work on the terraces being built round the corner from me do no more than stare in amusement. Today it was the taxi drivers who poured scorn. And how much did you earn from my fares today, hmmm?
Horse Play
Limping home, I decided to pass through the lower side of Chiseldon. There seems to be a small nature reserve being built along the stream that cuts down between the hillside and the old railway embankment. One of those wetland things? Toads, frogs, salamanders? At the moment, it's little more than dry mud, but what a nice wooden walkway.
I digress. Further on I turned right into a meadow where horses are often kept. Once before I had sat down in that field for a breather and a refill of water. Two horses cantered over in a fit of inquisitiveness. One stood back, the smaller one looked closely at my rucksack, which I imagine resembled a feeding bag. It had that naughty glint in its eyes.
You leave that alone! My warning was ignored. It grabbed hold of my rucksack in it's teeth and almost smiled like a naughty boy. You! Let go! Horses are difficult to catch.
Today however there was one horse and its offspring. The gangly foal stood close to its uninterested grazing mother and just as I prepared to take a photograph - it wee'd. How do animals know when to wee? They have this instinctive desire to make photography impossible. The best instance was at Auckland Zoo, New Zealand. The chimps were lounging on a massive climbing frame with boss chimp at the top. He looked around lazily and saw me watching through an observation window. He promptly stood up, gave an evil grin, and wee'd.
Want to know why I think human beings are still animals?
Reminisence of the Week
During my walk earlier, I passed by fields full of yellow Rape and along the grass verges, red Poppy's and purple... ummm... Something or others. It was in that very same meadow at Chiseldon that it occured to me just how many wild flowers were sprouting up. Now I don't take much interest in such things, but for that moment I remembered how those meadows next door to our street used to look before Swindon buried them in housing estates. Dandelions, Buttercups, Daisies - masses of them.
Seriously though, it's been forty years since I've last seen meadows like that.
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