Halcyon Days

Under blue skies and wall to wall sunshine, His Lordship and I bowled down the coast to Dirleton on the bikes early this morning with a tail wind and little other road traffic.

Through Musselburgh, Port Seton, Cockenzie, Longniddry, Aberlady, Gullane, all resplendent in the sunshine under blue skies, we sped, to a brief blip stop in the picture post card village of Dirleton with its village green and ruined castle.

Turning for home, we realised why we had been cycling at 18mph without much effort - the lovely westerly tail wind on the way down was now in our faces as we headed for Kingston and Fenton Barns.

His Lordship kindly offered to take pole position so that I could cower in his slipstream. This made quite a difference as we pushed west for a welcome sit outside in the sun at 42 The Harbour at Port Seton. Never did a cup of tea and a Lees Snowball taste so good.

In the last fortnight with the good weather, nature has burgeoned; the hawthorn hedges are in leaf with some blossom, the dandelions are now vying with the remaining daffodils on the verges, the trees are shimmering a pale green as their new leaves appear, new crops are springing up in planted fields, and the dark brown furrowed fields are ready for sowing.

At the harbours, the yachts are gathering in social clusters ready to take to the water, while their owners are up top or underneath painting and primping their prized vessels ready for the new season.

Such a pity that tomorrows forecast is going to take us back to reality.

And finally a very Happy Birthday to Magpie. There was a time when she was a twenty-fifth of my age, but she's catching up fast!