It may not be quite a the summer solstice yet but there was definitely more than a smidgen of Midsummer Night's Dream eeriness going on through the woods that day. The foggy air closed in all around leaving no sunrays fighting to beam down through the canopy, all was still and mystical. Giant rhododendrons flowered all around by giant they looked like the most enormous examples I have ever encountered. It felt like a giant pompom monster tribe surrounding us with their not-so-subtle purple adornments.
Much of the path was enclosed and trapped in the moisture from rains of days past. The damp seeped and dripped.
There do seem to be a few meadows where wildflowers grow; C suggested they were growing grass for hay but I'd like to think they are secret patches of lost land which is being reclaimed by nature in the prettiest way.
The webs were everywhere...
Foxglove season is truly upon us.
I found it most confusing to see the very last of the bluebells still in bloom here. The rest have been gone weeks surely?!
Bamboo looked out of place to say the least. Who put that there?
Even the dreaded boggy bit through Roman Camp was a little squishy underfoot. Maybe the driest it has ever been. Usually it's a gloopy unavoidable mess.
Flowers I cannot name.
Then green alkanet with cow parsley, looking very bright.
Speedwell.
Catch up the previous few posts to absorb the whole walk. We did stop for photographs, lunch, a teensy bit of shopping and an ice cream and generally weren't in a mad hurry but we took 5 hours to return to the car so I'd call it a decent day out in all. We must return more often!
Take care,
Sophie
