Kill or Cure

In our corner of Oxfordshire, we live on relatively high land, underlain by soft rock - limestone - that is easily eroded by rainwater, even before we made the rain even more acidic with industrial pollution. Rivers flow away from us on all points of the compass, and have cut a profusion of deep valleys - climbing out of one of them is almost always succeeded by dropping straight down into the next one

This makes cycling a challenge and electric power a god-send. A battery does not take away the need to put in effort - getting up the hills is still warm work - but it alters the balance of effort to reward: the hill-top is reached more quickly, distances are covered more easily, my legs can face climbing more hills than they otherwise would; I see more and feel a greater sense of achievement

After 20km or so, I feel my blood-sugars drop. A stop for a banana, a chocolate biscuit and a drink is my standard solution. In summer, a grassy verge or a churchyard bench (or raised grave!) makes a comfy seat. In winter, sitting on anything is unwise, so the best option is a wall to lean on. Because I know this road, I knew that this wall was the last feature on offer for several miles. After this, every hedge, tree and gateway has been removed to create dour agricultural monotony

For a Hobson's choice, it came up with the goods: vibrant lichen, vivid moss, the perfect height for leaning bikes and bodies on. The little copse on the other side breaks the wind and, no doubt, keeps the wall shaded enough to prevent the moss drying out. The plant in the spinney is one of several I have seen in the last few weeks. I assumed the first couple were garden escapees but, after a bit of research, I think probably not. I think it is a native wild hellebore, apparently rejoicing in the name "Stinking hellebore", or the only slightly less graphic Latin classification "Helleborus foetidus". Although its smell is reported as not that unpleasant, maybe the names are a deliberate attempt to make it as unattractive as possible - the Plantlife web site states, rather gleefully, that...

'every part of this wild flower is poisonous and will induce vomiting and delirium if ingested, if not death. In the past it was used as a hazardous remedy for worms. The 18th century naturalist Gilbert White remarked thus upon this "cure": "Where it killed not the patient, it would certainly kill the worms; but the worst of it is, it will sometimes kill both"'

The extra was just a sudden lucky chance: the first time I have seen the new moon, escorted in by Jupiter above and Venus below, and the ensemble sitting off the shoulder of the brewery tower (to mangle Roy Batty)

So, at the end of the day, I'm still photographing smells and celestial spheres. But, I didn't fall off the bike, I didn't ingest any of the hellebore and I didn't get wet, no tears and no rain