Walking Journal – October 2022
This is my monthly walking journal – the October 2022 edition. This is the first year, but, over a few years, it would be good to look back and compare.
This month, it is still quite warm for the time of year. No frost as yet with temperatures in the 5 to 17 degrees range. Mostly in the upper teens all through October. The hosepipe ban is still in place in Cornwall due to the lack of water in our reservoirs, even though we have had quite a bit of rain.
Avian flu is still rife and many households have received official letters explaining that it is killing thousands of birds.
Politics
This isn’t a section I intend to keep reporting on. It’s just unbelievably unavoidable currently.
The state of the economy is dire. Liz Truss’ government introduces an emergency treasury policy, which included a cap for gas and electricity consumers, plus abolishment of the higher tax rate. It leads to a collapse of the pound against the dollar to a record-breaking low. Truss reconsidered the higher rate of tax, but the pound and markets were left very unstable.
Jeremy Hunt replaces Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor and reverses his planned tax reductions. The markets respond favourably – for now.
A few days later, Liz Truss resigns after just 45 days as PM. A very speedy MP’s vote takes place, and after a few runners back out (including Borris Johnson), it leaves just one. Rishi Sunak becomes the Prime Minister.
Crazy days!
Early Autumn?
Last month, there was a great deal of news that we were experiencing a false autumn due to the hot August and lack of water. I didn’t experience this on my walks.
This month, everything looks and feels about right. At the start of the month, the tops of deciduous trees were just starting to change to lighter greens and yellows. At mid-month, the leaves are starting to turn brown. The leaves start falling properly in the last week or so of October with the help of a few gusty days.
I also wrote about an ivy variety that I have taken to. It flowers in late September and into October and the bees swarm to it. In early to mid-September it wasn’t flowering, but I can report that it is now in full bloom and there are plenty of bees enjoying it. It grows in abundance on the coast. It’s great to watch the bees go about their business.
Country and Coast – October
The farmers appear to have harvested their crops and some fields are left to fallow. Others have been ploughed and perhaps seeded with winter crops. It’s good to see Brussel’s Sprouts in the shops, I like seasonal fruit and vegetables. We also have an abundance of apples in the area too.
On the 7th of October, I got out for one of my longer local walks from St Germans to Portwrinkle (via Seaton and Downderry). It was a lovely afternoon for it, even though I got wet for a couple of hours while a cold front went overhead. I managed to get some good snaps afterwards. One or two of the photos show the ferns, now turned to bracken, along the coast. It’s quite exposed on the coast. Inland it is still green-going-brown.
The ground is softening up a bit from the rainfall. It’s not as boggy as it can get at this time of year, which makes for great walking conditions.
I also managed to get out on the 28th for a walk from home to Antony (via Portwrinkle and Tregantle). I stayed dry this time. The leaves are really starting to fall now and the landscape is slowly taking on its wintery look and feel
I’m still amazed that I see very few or no people at all along the coast path. It deserves to be used much more than it appears to be.
Geese
Last month I mentioned that St Germans is surrounded by water with the River Tiddy to the north and Polbathic Lake to the south. We have Canadian geese that settle on our tidal rivers. As soon as the weather turns a little colder, the geese move from, usually, the south to the north in the evenings and we get wonderful displays of their arrow-like formations flying low overhead.
Aside from one day in August, they started their regular movements late this year – the 2nd week into September.
As I write and reflect on the geese, I am trying to recall the last time I heard them. They can normally be heard all through winter. A few days later, a walk down by the river reveals that they haven’t gone anywhere. They are simply quite happy on the banks of the River Tiddy in this unusually warm October.
