Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. - John Muir
I found a secret place of refuge in what was looking like a very normal mundane July. It was the last week of school before the summer holidays kicked in and life was plodding along with all the normal daily routines. We had experienced a late Spring and a wet early summer. As usual the tennis at Wimbledon had sections of the tournament fortnight lost to rain & the jazz concert at Loseley in the walled garden was a wash out. Looking out across a sea of umbrellas cheerfully dancing in the rain I felt proud of the way we endure our weather but also slightly fatigued & depressed by the constant grey skies above.
But then it crept up on us. Out of nowhere. A week of heat and sunshine. A week of balmy breezes and heavy sultry nights. A week to be celebrated and not endured.
Unfortunately when the weather changes in England you don't usually have a holiday booked and the frustration of watching a sunny week roll by while you are working can be hard. And for those who can take some time off there is a second frustration. How to get to the beach and find parking ?!
Being a tiny island surrounded by ocean, none of us are more than a few hours from the coast. Since practically none of the beach is reached by a 3 lane motorway & most of those harbours and beaches lie along tiny little country lanes - There is a lot of traffic heading in one direction at the same time. Places where the traffic can bottle neck and crawl at a snails pace while cars heat up under the scorching sun. Places where every space of the carparks are taken and every side street is rammed with cars parked in every little tiny available space.
Faced with this conundrum I decided to take the matter into my own hands and make it happen by getting up with the sun at 4.30am. Time to make myself a pot of coffee and a portable breakfast. Then off to the beach I drove, which for me is just an hour away. Arriving around 6am I was able to to enjoy 5 hours at the beach before the crowds arrived around 11am.
Some days the tide was high and I remained in one place, alternating between a dip in the sea and then a cup of coffee while the dog walkers and early morning runners emerged. Paddle boards drifted past. Horses took a wander in the waves. I got to know a few regulars. The couple who took an early dip before breakfast. The lady with her old over weight bulldog who accompanied her owners morning exercise swim between the wave breakers by paddling along the shoreline to keep her company.
Other days the tide was out and I walked for an hour or so in bare feet. Enjoying the feeling of sand between toes, the sound of waves gently rolling in and out. The call of a seagull. The sand bar of East Head creating an illusion of endless empty miles of sand and sea punctuated with shallow pools of warm salty water. With so much light bouncing off the hot sand and clean water. White yachts on the horizon. And the Isle of Wight in the background. I felt like I had been away to some exotic place overseas despite being on a normal work day and only an hour away from home.
Driving home through the lush English countryside in the South Downs National Park, I was home for lunch and ready for work, hiding inside every afternoon from the intense heat outside. It was too hot to do much in the afternoons but at dusk, in the cool of the evening I went for slow walks in loose summer dresses, perfect to swing around my legs creating a light breeze on sweaty walks. The weather coincided with a huge dusty moon which rose a massive glowing orb in the sky over Loseley.
As expected the heat wave came and went. But I'm glad I made the most of it. Life was refreshed and beautiful.
In the words of John Muir : Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.
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