windfalls

Walked from Aldbury through Clipperdown and on the Ridgeway across Pitstone Hill last night and tasted the best apples since I was a kid - windfalls: huge, red, juicy and sweet-sour. I thought I was just getting old and jaded but now I am convinced that the world around me has changed. Before biting into them the scent hit me and I was back in the orchards of my youth. The blackberries were good too. It was blowing a gale on Pitstone Hill earlier in the week but last night was sunny and calm with the first hint of Autumn in the air. Today, back to the Thames with only 28 miles to go and made it to Kelmscott in time for a cream tea. We are filling in a gap we left in the route before the last stretch beyond Lechlade and aim to finish before the nights draw in. The milky river meanders on between water meadows filled with grazing swans (and cows), and our magic moment was when we almost stepped upon a hare, which then shot off across the field, one ear still bent from sleep, leaving a flattened crescent in the grass warm to touch.