I want to see the sunshine after the rain!

Today is the Summer Solstice, the longest day, and for me it certainly has been; but in a very awesome way.

I got up this morning at 0200hrs as I wanted to kayak down the River Stour to Christchurch Harbour and watch the sunrise. To make sure I didn’t waste any time this morning I loaded the car up last night so when my alarm went off it was a simple case of get up, grab my shorts and shirt, give Mary a kiss and head out the door.

Driving across the forest at such an early hour was wonderful, dipping in and out of pockets of mist and being enchanted by the wildlife. There were vixens out with their cubs, gentle fallow deer pattering across the road and lots of bunnies; everything from little one fluffs up to big four fluffs. Just as an aside a fluff is the official bunny measurement in the Flynn household!

Seeing so many rabbits this morning was brilliant given how widespread rhdv2 (Rabbit Haemmorhagic disease variant 2) is at the moment.

Once at Iford I quickly got my kit unloaded and got The Saucy Nancy III in the water and headed off down river. It was 0320hrs and I had the river to myself except for the bats whirring around that I could see in the beam of my headtorch. Sunrise wasn’t for another 90 minutes but there was already a distinct lightening of the sky in the east and the occasional staccato call of warblers in the reeds.

I continued on down the river enjoying the solitude, passing through the skeins of mist that were lingering where they had formed as there wasn’t a breath of wind to blow them away. More and more birds were stirring now adding their calls to the chorus that was making the soundtrack to my morning’s adventure; the odd percussion note being provided by a fish jumping from the river after a particularly tasty insect.

Once at the harbour I didn’t have long to wait. The sky was passing through a palette of colours until there was a yellow glow and the sun rose to signal the arrival of the Solstice. After soaking in the atmosphere I pointed my kayak’s nose upstream and started the journey back to Iford Bridge with the sky lightening by the minute. The bats were now replaced by a myriad of swifts, swallows and martins.

Soon enough my paddle was over and I was loading my car up to head home and go out on to the forest and put my hammock up and relax.

I was experimenting this morning with a tarp. Tarps have multiple benefits; they keep the wind, rain and bugs off of the hammock and they also provide a layer of insulation when the air warms that is trapped underneath it.

Anyway guys have a great Solstice!