shewhomust | All downhill from here

The solstice is past, the days are getting shorter, and after being on holiday for much of June, I'm back at work.

No, of course it isn't that bad. By the usual (though wrong) definition, the summer has just begun. July promises to bring visitors, which will be fun, and in mid-August we are off on our travels again. And obviously I'm putting off work by making this last holiday post...

On Friday morning I went for a walk: down Crooked Lonnen again, which seemed a much shorter distance on a sunny morning when I was actually awake, and not stiff from not-out-of-bed-yet. I had thought of revisiting some of the willow sculptures of the Nature Trail, and I had thought of walking out to the daymark on Emmanuel Head, and I hadn't actually put these two thoughts together and spotted that they weren't compatible. Quite late in the day I realised that I was too far inland to arrive at the obelisk, took a path across the Nature Reserve into the dunes and - oh, no! - met other people. So I waved from the distance to the white pyramid and the blue sea and the white foam, and wandered through the dunes, taking not-very-successful pictures of flowers:

I spent quite a long time playing hide-and-seek with a bee around this spike of viper's bugloss: the bee won. There were fewer than usual purple orchids, and a higher proportion of pink ones; at one point, a spectacular display of cowslips, all in seed; the meadowsweet not out yet; patches of thyme, and lots of yellow hawkbit. The path deposited me back at the entrance to the reserve earlier than I'd expected, but the sun was high and I was getting thirsty, so I took the hint, and returned to the house for lunch (of the fridge-emptying variety, but accompanied by a bottle of Dark Island).

durham_rambler returned from his diversion, and we might have gone to the Priory, but instead we spent most of the afternoon watching Countdown on catch-up (both semi-finals and a very exciting final). We didn't entirely miss out on the Priory, though, because we had booked a table at the Manor House for dinner (the Ship being full) and discovered, what we had not realised, that their dining room looks straight past the statue of Saint Aidan to the priory church, so that the entire window is filled with rosy pink medieval arches. I don't know why I didn't photograph this. Another time: because the food was perfectly acceptable, if a little pricey, the service was charming and the view made it all worthwhile.

D. went off to Tan Hill, to play with Landrovers.

durham_rambler and I came home via Barter Books, where despite my best efforts we left our credit higher than it had been when we arrived, and via the farm shop at Blagdon, where I found provisions to see us through the weekend. D. joined us for dinner and crossword, and set off for home this morning. Another midsummer over.