This one were on the path along the plantation side at Ramsden Reservoir, above Holmbridge. A grand corner of the district and I don't get up there enough — the notebook says so and I still don't, so that's one thing 2022 and 2026 agree on. Warm and still, midges out early, which is the tax you pay for warm and still at Ramsden and I paid it without complaint, or at least without written complaint.
Left shoe, canvas sort, navy, laces frayed but present. It sat toe-out toward the water, which I recorded as position, not meaning. Condition poor — the canvas gone green along the seams, which is what canvas does by water: it doesn't rot so much as change sides and start being vegetation. Five photographs, four came out, and the plantation side of Ramsden is dark enough that I count that a good return.
The notebook contains an honest line I'll repeat: tea is less of a draw in June, and I only had the one cup. I'll be straight — there are men who'd tell you the flask is as welcome in June as January, and them men are not being truthful with themselves. The flask came, the flask were opened, conditions were good, one cup were drunk. That's the record. Cheese and pickle, both rounds eaten, because sandwiches are a different matter and always have been. I walked out along the plantation with the midges in attendance and the water flat as a table, and if I don't get up there enough, and I don't, at least when I go it counts.
Written up August 2026, from the notebook.