Post Comment Love 9-11 September

Welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo - a friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked and share some of that love. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’re here.

While I’m keen to hang onto the summer for as long as I can and continue to wear my shorts there’s been a distinct cooling in the temperatures here, and a lot more rain. The rain is mostly arriving overnight and we’ve had a couple of the most fantastic storms too, with lightening so bright it has lit up the room. It’s been quite the spectacle. But we’ve had good weather too, on Sunday when we headed down to the Kent coast it was in the mid-twenties and I definitely have some strap marks from my walking sandals that weren’t there before.

We don’t get to be beside the sea very often, and Sandwich is a place I’ve not been too before but it was well worth the visit. I mean just look at those colours.

Since I wrote this post we’ve learnt of the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday 8 September. She truly was a remarkable lady who has spent her life in service, and was held in deep affection by so many people across the world. May our Queen rest in peace.

SANDWICH BAY

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What I've read lately

One of the things I hoped to do more of now that I have more time on my hands was to read more, and that’s starting to pick up pace. I know though, and it’s been proven again these past few weeks, is that once I get into a good book I want to devour it above anything else.

Earlier in the summer I signed up for a two month trial of Kindle Unlimited, and that is coming to a close so I also need to weigh up if I’ll continue with that. The non-trial price is £7.99 monthly (this isn’t an ad) and I’ve certainly downloaded and read a good number of books during the initial period so it’s something I’m giving serious consideration to.

But anyway, onto where I’ve been escaping to.

1 (to 3) The Raj Hotel Series, Janet Macleod Trotter

I’m starting with my most recent reads, and this series of three books had me hooked. These were the books that had me rationing the time I spent reading, or trying to. The three books are:

1. The Emerald Affair

2. The Sapphire Child

3. The Diamond Daughter.

The books are set in India, the first is set in the aftermath of the First World War and the last in 1946 post-war India. The stories tell of the main characters, Tom and Esmie and their families through this time. As you’d expect it’s not quite as simple as that - there’s marriages, adventures, plenty of emotion and all set against the historic backdrop in a way that makes you really care for the storyline. The first book focuses on Tom and Esmie, the second friends Stella and Andrew and the third Jeanie, a new character, who returns to her husband after being separated during the war. The stories are entwined throughout, and while not wanting to give the ending away, I didn’t see it all coming. Some of it, yes, but not all but that doesn’t lessen it in any way. I’m just sorry they ended, but I’m so glad I read them in the right order!

4 and 5 The Cove and The Creek, L J Ross

These books are billed as ‘a summer suspense mystery’ and they certainly were. Again the books are related but these could be read in any order, the story isn’t dependant on that. The Cove starts with Gabrielle learning that surviving is harder than being a victim. Her life is turned upside down by an incident and she struggles, so she makes a huge change moving to Cornwall and taking a new job. The book follows her journey has some romance, some suspense and some rugged Cornish scenery - again some of this one you see coming and it’s enjoyable for that.

The Creek starts with completely different main characters though gradually the links appear. There’s similarities in the storyline and I’m still wondering if they were comforting or just annoyed me. But overall I enjoyed both books, and I hope to read some more by this author to ascertain it’s not just a formulaic approach that’s been taken.

6 The Lake Palace, Ann Bennett

This one had me in tears. It’s set in both India in 1944 and then later in 1985 when Iris, a recent widow, returns to India on holiday and revisits the Lake Palace and other haunts from her earlier life. She uncovers long-buried truths from the war years when trying to discover what happened to her beau, Edward Stark. A truly emotional and heart-wrenching story, with a travelling companion who at times showed serious Hyacinth Bucket tendencies.

What’s next?

I have currently have two books on the started but not finished pile. I think I’ll finish both, but they’re taking me longer than the ones above, but I think that’s a reflection on me rather than the books themselves. They are:

• The Storyteller of Casablanca, Fiona Valpy - this one is written in a diary style that was quite similar to The Lake Palace above, and I picked it up immediately afterwards. I think I’ve not got into this one so quickly because of that, and because of how gripped I was with that.

• The Wilderness Cure, Mo Wilde - this one is a slow burn and one I want to savour, much like the author and her foraging. Again it’s another diary format, but this one documents the challenge the author set herself in 2020 to eat only wild food for a year. And as if that wasn’t challenging enough, to start that in November without overly stocking up in advance. It’s beautifully written but in a more factual and analytical way, and so isn’t one that I want to devour at the same speed - which given the subject matter seems only right.

So that’s it for now on what I’ve read and what I’m still reading, I’m hoping to make progress on the two above and with others already in my kindle library too. I’m still targeting 22 minutes a day for reading (it’s 2022 so I’ve upped my time this year), though sometimes as you can probably tell it goes way above this - and that’s perfectly fine by me most of the time!

Sandwich and the sea

On Sunday feeling the need to do something we haven’t done for a while we headed down to Sandwich for a long walk. It’s just over an hour from us, and that might seem a daft thing to do just to go for a walk, but we were both looking forward to being somewhere we’d not been before, or not been for many a year if we’d even been there before. The Kent Ramblers site have a number of walking routes, and while there were some closer to home, the call of the sea must have been calling us - and so we followed their Walk 67: Sandwich and the sea, by the time we finished a nearly nine mile walk (or fourteen kilometres).

It’s been a while since we’ve followed a walking route, and with my troublesome toe still not quite fixed but not interfering with walking, we were both looking forward to it. We’ve done some walking holidays in the past in Portugal and in France - the sort where you walk to your next accommodation while your luggage is transferred by road, but not for a while.

We set out from the Gazen Salts car park easily finding the start of the route and the first metal bridge. Though like all of these walks we’re keen to get onto the next written instruction and begin to doubt ourselves wondering if we’ve gone too far, or missed a turning. Rarely we have, but even so it’s always a topic of conversation, along with the picturesque scenery.

We passed many families returning along the path above, some on foot, some on bikes and some with dripping ice creams. We’d chosen to walk on Sunday as the weather looked the best that day, and it definitely turned out to be a warm, but not too warm, one. The path soon opened up into an open field with a clear indication of our route ahead.

Metal bridges featured several times on this walk and on each I think we paused to take in the fauna and the reflections in the darkness of the water, just breathing in the nature.

There were regular markings and reminders we were following one from the many network of public footpaths, something we see less of where we live but take for granted across the countryside. This walk led us across a golf course - a first for me, which was also a second for me later in the walk when we crossed another - and that too was clearly marked as the walk directions said it would be.

We walked past some small thatched buildings, and across the fairway having first checked for passing ‘traffic’ and exited the course on the road running parallel to the beach. And as you’ll see not only did we get to see the sea, we were also treated to some pretty spectacular skies and cloud formations.

Heading back inland and across the second golf course of the day we were now heading towards another footpath, following a short way on the road. It was here MOH asked why we were walking along the road, and here we realised we’d not turned where we should, thankfully it was less than 20 steps or so to get us back on track - and once again that track was clear.

The walking notes warned this might be overgrown, and they weren’t wrong. As the path continued we were walking through longer grass with purple fronds at the top, it was quite the sight and not something I’ve seen before. We walked past fields of now flowering asparagus crops, and at one point to get to a kissing gate we had to navigate some stinging nettles. With shorts on, this was trickier and more painful than if we’d had our legs covered more, but we were soon on our way again.

We opted to do the longer route and so turned left and headed past the hay bales and alongside the stream, crossing another metal bridge and then shortly after an unattended level crossing. We’d seen (and heard) a couple of trains in the distance as we walked and realised the direction we were heading. Safely across the railway we were soon admiring the hedgerow sloes and hawthorn berries, and smaller than usual blackberries which were starting to ripen.

We headed back into Sandwich along the City Walls, which would also make a great short stroll, and were starting to feel the distance we’d walked. We were also hungry, so plans were agreed to fix that. The city walls brought us right back to the Quayside where the route directions start, and from there we headed to the Drill Hall which we’d spotted when we set off for a stone baked pizza and a beer - both of which were very, very welcome and a good end to the day, along with the 20k steps we clocked up on our way!

All in all it was a fabulous day out.