What a pile of poo. I blame the met office entirely. Rain-predicted days were clear and vice-versa.
Spent Friday and Saturday largely cooped up anticipating the bad weather. Saturday having originally been a trip to Orford Ness had now become a day-in; sorting out a bank account and tidying the house. I got up early on Sunday to go walking with my bro which was great as I don't get to see him much these days and we covered quite a bit of ground going from Ightham Mote to Toys Hill on the Greensand way. As a warning to any one else taking this track: be aware that it splits in three in several places with 3-4 mile spurs that go absolutely nowhere yet are marked the same as the main track! We came out the wrong side of Knoll Park in Sevenoaks town centre thanks to this.
For Monday I agreed to wake up early once again for a trip to Rainham with Ben. Lured in by the great day we had last week and the possibility of hoopoe, I took the bait. It was bitterly cold with a strong wind blowing in across the Thames. Bugger-all was about and the most exciting thing I saw was probably Linnet. Rainham seems to switch between amazing and god-awful with no middle ground. After ~8 hrs out and about Rainham getting wind-blown, we called it a day. Back to a pub in London and three drinks on top of the tiredness and dehydration had amusingly rapid effects. And I've now heard that perhaps 15 minutes after we left, an Alpine Swift was seen at Rainham. BAH!
