Lazy days, slow walks, plenty of water (and pub stops), the quiet humming of bees and scuttle of lizards … it’s a great time for a Kent walk near London now the intense heat has been turned down.

For the first time in years I have failed to take a Kent walk of a weekend. The energy-sapping heat of the past week has left me enfeebled and lazy, though as I write I’m preparing to play tennis – something that feels a bit daunting just now. Sleep has been elusive, especially when the early hours are given over to thunder and lightning. The World Cup has been quite useful when looking for a way of drifting off – not really a comment on the football, which has been above par, but an expression of admiration for its ability to trigger sleep and keep your mind off just how sweaty you are.

On the other hand a trip into London on Friday night to meet old friends proved joyous despite the tropical heat. The atmosphere was infectious, the absence of jackets and jeans liberating, and the tube train from Charing Cross up to Warren St nothing like as overheated as feared.

Recent walks have included a longer take on the Down walk, taking in Darwin’s orchid meadows on the slopes east of Christmas Tree Farm; a lovely foray to Bough Beech in search of spotted flycatchers (birder Dave heavily implicated in that one); a trip to Knepp in West Sussex; and the aforementioned brush with the Long Distance Walking Association masochists in Oldbury. Each walk was magnificent, though do watch out for ticks now we’re all wearing shorts. My friend Steve found one on his lower leg after Downe. They are encouraged by deer apparently, with herds being particularly frequently spotted in the Downe, Cudham, Knockholt areas.

The month has also seen me venture on a long weekend jaunt in Lisbon – one of my favourite cities anywhere. Such a bright, breezy, colourful, diverse, cultural and optimistic place, with great views, buildings, transport, museums etc. And beaches too, beyond Belem, which you can get to on the train easily enough.

Sorry not to keep the newsletters up. I had more than 1,500 subscribers, which was brilliant, but once the provider started exponentially increasing its fees I just sort of thought “sod this”.

With the heat you hardly need advising that shady walks are best, so once again I commend Hosey Hill, Cudham, Oldbury, One Tree Hill and Petts Wood as particularly woody walks (see links above) but to be fair you won’t encounter scorpions, mirages or get lost in the sand dunes as you gasp “water” on any of these walks.