To Hounstout in the rain
Feb. 1st, 2026 02:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puddleshark
Spent quite a while trying to decide where to go walking this morning. The paths through the woods are deep in mud. The river valleys are flooded. But inspiration struck with my second cup of tea, & I remembered a walk on higher ground, from Kingston along the headland to Hounstout.
The first stretch of the path through dank, dripping winter woods, and shining clumps of laurel. Rain dotting the puddles. Drizzle, light rain, steady rain: the day switching seamlessly back-and-forth between the three. Variations on a theme of rain. At least there's no mud to wade through on this path, but the stone track is slimy from the wet winter. Not much traction & each step is hard work.
Emerging from the woods, onto a path through the fields, along the eastern rim of the bowl of Encombe.
The sheep were giving me hopeful looks, like I might have a sack of feed in my rucksack. Sorry, sheepies. Just a camera and a thermos flask.
No deep mud to battle through, but even on the high ground the fields are very wet, and the footing slippery.
The rain blurring the distances, the sea more heard than seen, merging into cloud.
I sat for a while on the stone memorial bench where the path divides, drinking my coffee, while the rain tried to dilute the caffeine. Not much wind up on the headland, scarcely enough to stir the grass, but the sea looked very disturbed.
For one moment, the sun tried to break through the cloud above St Aldhelm's Head, lighting the sea silver. But it was just momentary. As I descended from the headland, the light was gone, and the low cloud came in again.
Runners. Muddy runners, very cheerful.
A few years ago, they had to divert the Coast Path from Hounstout a little way inland, due to cliff falls. The old path used to be very steep, and all steps - a million steps, it always felt like to me - but the new path is much gentler, with just two sets of steps.
Once down in the valley, the Coast Path carries on to Chapman's Pool, but I turned off onto the farm lane back up the valley to Kingston.
Reached the car just as the rain became heavy. So that was well-timed.
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Date: 2026-02-01 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-02 05:51 pm (UTC)Hard to believe we had a drought last year. I must have hallucinated it...
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Date: 2026-02-01 03:35 pm (UTC)So, on these cold damp walks, what do wear next to your skin, wool or silk? I am just reading how cotton is so bad for the first layer and holds the cold and damp in. Great for hot summer though.
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Date: 2026-02-02 06:01 pm (UTC)It's not that cold here, despite the rain, so I can usually get away with a cotton base layer. And I have good waterproofs. They were well-tested on yesterday's walk! My jacket and trousers came back dripping wet and coated in mud, but I was warm and dry underneath.
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Date: 2026-02-02 10:52 pm (UTC)Right, don't let sheep mob you, yikes.
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Date: 2026-02-01 03:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-02 06:03 pm (UTC)My little Pentax camera was living dangerously again, wrapped in a plastic rain sleeve. But I do love being out taking pictures in the rain.
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Date: 2026-02-01 04:42 pm (UTC)Hello! I saw your post over on![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
common_nature and I've really been enjoying your photographs and the descriptions of your rambles.
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Date: 2026-02-02 06:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-01 04:46 pm (UTC)Definitely dank.
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Date: 2026-02-02 06:06 pm (UTC)I could see a shepherd on a quad bike whizzing about on the far side of the valley, so perhaps the sheep had a snack coming their way.
I'm sure it will stop raining one day. Maybe before the end of February, if we're lucky.
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Date: 2026-02-02 01:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-02 06:07 pm (UTC)