In the woods, foliage is dying down and the recent heatwave has stress tested some of the older trees who likely won’t survive the southwesterlies of the winter. A dozen or so fairytale style apples have matured on the memorial tree for the first time, whilst its lesser titled neighbour is again full of the best I’ve ever tasted. I walked the trails eating one of each considering work to be done in coming months. Shiny white stones newly cleaned by the rain have been pushed up through the soil, like old hawthorns that work their way back out from under the skin. A lot of pebbles too, rounded like the ones on the beach that absorbed the heat of the day and released it back into the water I swam in two weeks ago.
It is said that the melting of glaciers in the last ice age shaped the round stones in the bottom of rivers over thousands of years. They appear on the trails and it is hard to imagine these woods once being underwater as they are on the top of a hill. Great epochs of time are hard to appreciate given that we don’t have the span of attention or life to live them out. Many seasons out at sea or working the land give some appreciation of how landscapes and weather have patterns that can change. Some.
I saw a rabbit briefly, though hoped it was a hare. It would suit the narrative of favoured mythology to have hares around but in ten years I haven’t had a definite confirmation of any. A few minutes later I found an oyster shell on the path. Most likely a trinket from a pocket of a visitor who perhaps (like me) was at the coast a short while back. Or was it forced upwards through the earth from some other time? A small mystery to reflect on. I walked on. The deer were hiding. I heard them and maybe some other sensation of their presence that is not easily defined. I saw they had been active this morning at least. The herd have driven a new path where there wasn’t one last month. They’ve also decided to let holly and bramble block up a well used route – I noticed the holly began a campaign last winter which has continued apace in just half a year. Dancing around some dying trees, they are early warning signs for winter fallers.
For outdoor training the cooler temperatures are a relief and the rain can be welcome. A few weeks ago a workout in the garden gym was followed by 20 minutes cooling off in the cold tub. On the beach burpees and sit ups were done in the ankle deep shoreline so each rep had its own heat regulation. Now a brief immersion is enough. Soon it will be a reluctant challenge and if a definite decision to persist is not made – it will be a memory of the summer only. Training habits are easily made and broken. I haven’t dragged the roller around at all this year and climbing the rope fell by the wayside with some elbow and shoulder niggles. The concerns of the heatwave are gone. Autumn is showing its hand.
See you down the road.
