Hottest day of the year to that point, the book says, and the book weren't wrong — the end of June 2019 were fierce, and the bridleway above Scammonden has no shade on it worth the name. It also has the M62 below it, and with the wind coming that way the motorway were loud, which the entry notes. Scammonden is never silent. You accept that going in.
Left trainer, black with red trim, one lace missing, lying in the rut of the bridleway on the motorway side. Flattened at the toe, probably by a horse — and I'll allow that 'probably by a horse' is closer to speculation than I usually go, but it were a bridleway, the flattening were hoof-shaped, and I'd call that reading the evidence rather than guessing. There's a line and I know where it is.
The book records the sit-down were kept short and flask conditions were adequate, too warm for tea really — the second time that year the notebook felt the need to say so, and there's no arguing with either instance. A flask is a cold-weather instrument at heart. Three photographs, all of which show a very black trainer on very pale summer ground, high contrast, grainy, and honest. Not a morning I'd rank among the year's best for comfort, but the register doesn't run on comfort, and 157 went in the book same as any other.
Written up August 2026, from the notebook.