The good ship is still propped up ashore looking ‘spick and span’ for this year’s rally. We still have a bit of her decks to finish, but the camera couldn’t see that!
The Skipper hard at work…
The finished result with lines cut in!
Anyway, we left off doing ‘bat work’ for the weekend. On Saturday we were on fatigues down at the club – jetty repairing and other stuff as well as part of two launching teams getting a number of craft back into the water.
A local walk to see how ‘our’ bluebells were getting on was the order of the day, today. The Essex Wildlife Trust were having their local jamboree in the grounds of our church (St Michael’s – Daws Heath) so we knew a roll, coffee and cake would sustain us towards the end!
The Mate in a sea of bluebells, a flower she has a particular love for…
The woods locally, Pound Wood in particular, are mostly managed by the EWLT and they as an organisation own large tracts of it, thus preserving them. The woods are largely coppices and they are worked to manage growth and habitat. We purchase our logs from them annually for those cold night open fires, ah yes…
My favourite woodland bridge…
Generally as we walk, or resting upon a convenient log or bench, I muse upon the way many trees have that natural curve to branches – perfect for a bow knee or thwart knee.
It is great to be out in such a landscape, a place we can often enjoy to ourselves meeting few other human souls – today was a little different. There were ‘hordes’ some walking others sitting upon benches on a slowly towed trailer! Walk I wanted to shout, but for many of those it is the only time they’re able to view the sights we take for granted. EWLT has done a huge amount locally to build pathways suitable for wheel chairs and the such – often greatly used by fast moving off road cycles…
I was hoping to find the Wildlife Trust ‘honey lady’ but, alas, I couldn’t find her: the local honey is sublime! The Yard Arm Community Players were in attendance by the ‘tea hut’ (Village Hall) and serenaded us whilst enjoying a roll and cake. Well, ‘relentless sailor’ I might be, but I appreciate life in general and the joys it can bring…
The band leader, a ‘mad’ Aussie!