I have a country walking addiction. It’s so integral to my life rhythm that it’s hardly thinkable that a weekend will pass without being able to get out to the Kent countryside for a few hours to enjoy the fresh air and exercise. So it’s quite something that for the second weekend in a row I’m going to fail in my mission!

There is a saying ‘there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing’. Well I agree with the latter bit; I’ve got plenty of bad clothing. But I think we can all rightfully take umbrage with the glib opening statement. There is definitely such a thing as bad weather and it seems to arrive in the early hours of every Saturday morning and finish sometime after dark on Sunday!

The result has been that I’ve busied myself with other tasks, and entertained myself in other ways. I’ve survived. I’ve even enjoyed myself. I went to the cinema to see Conclave (excellent). I booked theatre tickets to see Dr Strangeglove (also excellent, and a much-needed good laugh). I practised the saxophone a lot. I read books. I got a filthy cold. The intensity of these weekly storms and the rainfall totals suggests the climate crisis models were entirely correct. But let’s not get too depressed: the wind farms must be pouring out the megawatts.

One of my favourite winter pictures on a west Kent walk: deer at Knole, February 2021. Header pic from a few days later also at Knole. Snow, eh? It doesn’t happen often enough for me

Photo memories of perfect walks

You’ll have noticed (or not), I’ve finally got round to replacing the autumn photographs on the Kent Walks header image to winter images. Each of those photos bring back memories of particularly beautiful walks with unusual light and atmospheric conditions, all taken since 2020 I reckon. The snowy scenes were in January and February 2021 and December 2022. Each of those walks, at Fackenden, Knole, and Lullingstone, with sons and a friend was pure magic. Snow does that to a scene. Taking photos was easy, apart from the risk of frostbite. But I’ve hardly used the camera in the past couple of months; all the best light has been mid-week when I’ve been busy at work. So I’ve given the shutter-clicking a bit of a rest. The newsletter has also had a rest, but I will get it going again in January when hopefully I will have something new to say about this landscape on our doorstep that I love so much.