Reliability

Bracken unfurls skywards, sun salutations, as bluebells fade. White speckles, firework sparkles of blooming cow parsley. Box cut hedgerow all splintered angles and jagged shadows. A spaceman stands beside a silver space pod… oh hang on, a beekeeper next to a battered Ford. Shepherds HillFive ChimneysLimekiln ForestBrinkers Surfing ridges, seeing backwards and forwards, where I’ve been, where I’m heading. Mayfield sits high across the valley. Church spires break ridge lines. Possibly in Kent until I see martletts on a village nameplate. A goldfinch flits whilst a buzzard soars in slo-mo. SheepstreetFontridgeChurches Hill Up and down, this way and that. Always turning away from places I know I’ll visit shortly, after one more hill. The Reliable, Grimpeurs du Sud audax perm. Friday 8 May. 117 kilometres, 117 words.