It was so cool at 6.30am and the Sun was struggling to appear from behind the cloud and mist. At the Bourne Mill, the water ran over the weir and glistened silver as it fell. A Song Thrush sang a complicated tune as I walked through. I took the path through Hadlow College grounds toward Poult Wood, fighting through a forest of Hogweed, Great Willowherb and purple Thistles pricking my legs. On the Poult Wood golf course path, in a small meadow at The Poult house, a Fox cub with spindly legs, hunting alone, came toward me and stopped. He was perhaps twenty feet away. He looked at me, and I looked at him. We both stood stock still. Then, I said, 'hello', and he scarpered - right between two rabbits, who were startled and panicked, not knowing which way to escape. No worries, Reynard junior was gone!
At the golf course, I dodged a flying ball from the left and went through, to laughter from the golfers (ruining a good walk, to paraphrase Mark Twain), on to Grange Farm. The farm buildings there had been fenced off and the path diverted. All the tiles had been stripped. A conversion was in progress: the eponymous oast house dwelling.
On to Horns Lodge and Coldharbour. Two kilometers of tarmac and stony track. Wealthy people live along here; out of the way, amongst peaceful farmland and wooded places. Off Riding Lane, the meadows had been cut for hay. It is very difficult to walk across the bundles waiting to be bailed.
At Underriver Farm a Buzzard took off from the field as I went over the stile, leaving behind whatever he had caught for breakfast. I reached Underriver, at around 9.30, and I prepared myself for the climb up Kettles Hill. At the base, there is a clear spring which flows over stones and pebbles. Chaffinches, Goldfinches and a Blackbird were bathing and were startled as I came to them. Then I climbed up and up, without stopping, as Dee and I used to when training for the Coast to Coast. I was very proud of myself at the top, but extremely breathless! I carried on to One Tree Hill for breakfast, overlooking a misty valley, far into the distance.
I came off the Greensand Way at Willmot Hill into the meadow which showed a lot of evidence of deer; footprints and droppings. And down the bottom, the apples in the hedgerow were swelling splendidly! Going into the woods at Budds was a relief to be out of the Sun. I went off the path to have a pee and beside me were the richest, tastiest cherries ever! I took a hand-full before the foxes did. And then out into the blazing Sun to St. Giles' Church at Shipbourne. Another cup of coffee revived me and I went on to Home Farm and then to the River Bourne via Dunks Green. In the fields of Rape, the air was thick with Cabbage Whites, fluttering and flitting in a confusing dance. At the confluence with the mill stream, slender blue damselflies settled on the Hazel.
The last kilometer or so was hard under the hot Sun and home and the cool of a shower, very welcoming!
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