It was hot and sunny yesterday. The
temperature hit 33° C, and the possible
thunderstorms never happened. It wasn't always
sunny, but what clouds there were, were light
clouds, and didn't hang around long.
It is probable that there will be some
rain this morning - the sky is very sullen at
the moment - and it seems possible that there
could be a thunderstorm late in the afternoon.
The BBC and Met Office predict different times
for rain this morning The BBC took a gamble on
7pm, but there was no rain then. The Met
Office said 9am, but the latest revision says
no rain then, and no rain until 4pm when there
could be light showers until 9pm, but no
thunderstorms now. From 11am until 4pm it
could be sunny according to the latest
revision. The temperature is still predicted
to reach 32 or 33° C again. Maybe we will get
that thunderstorm tomorrow, but despite the
warnings, none are
explicitly shown in tomorrow's forecast. It
says light rain for most of the afternoon,
but sunshine at other times. Once again it
will be a hot day, around 32° C, and is
seems likely that tonight is going to be a
very warm night.
I knew I had to take a walk yesterday for the
sake of my health. I didn't predict it would
be a long walk, but by the time I was ready to
go out I had the crazy idea of walking to
Blackheath again. I did get a sort of thrill
walking there last time. It seemed sort of
remote, and the idea I could not only get
there, but get back again on foot seemed
amazing (for limited amounts of amazing).
According to Google maps the shortest
route to Blackheath station (being a
convenient landmark) was to follow the bus
route up Belmont Hill, and up Lee Terrace. In
reality it is just one long road that seems
mostly uphill despite the name changing
halfway through. The downside is that having
reached the outskirts of Blackheath you have
to go downhill to the station, and then back
up hill to get to the heath itself. I think my
original route is best. Lewisham Hill, and
then Elliot Hill are very steep, but quite
short.
Once I reached Blackheath I essentially
skirted around the perimeter, taking in a few
areas I had not traversed on my last visit,
but missing out about a quarter of the
periphery because I had already covered that
last time. I came home using a very similar
route to my last visit. Getting back down to
Lewisham seemed to take half or less the time
than the route I took getting there. It still
all added up to a round trip of 6.653 miles -
mostly walked non stop, and mostly walked in
hot sunshine.
The new St Margrets church is an
impressive church built from bricks, but clad
in a honey coloured stone. It looked really
nice in the sunshine. It is actually the third
St Margrets church. The first two were across
the other side of the main road, Lee Terrace.
All that is left is the base of the tower, the
subject of the picture above, which was common
to both earlier churches. There are three
royal astronomers buried in the surrounding
graveyard. One was Edmond Halley - the
astronomer who first discovered the comet
named after him.
Blackheath has lots of historic
features, and they seem to try and preserve
some of them like this horse trough that has
now been degraded to a flower bed. I guess
they don't have horses in Blackheath now.
I felt hot wearing a white t-shirt and
shorts, but it must have felt really hot to be
dressed in black feathers ! These crows are
panting to keep cool. I don't think I have
seen this before. I also read that they fly
with the beaks open for extra cooling on hot
days. Other birds do it too.
I always think of this as a bandstand,
but apparently it is just a shelter. It seems
an odd place for a shelter because there is
nothing in the vicinity except a war memorial.
Maybe someone though a shelter for people
visiting that might appreciate some shelter
when out on the "blasted heath". It would be
unique as a band stand because it has a
drinking fountain in it. It doesn't work, like
most old drinking fountains, but is well
preserved.
Back down in Lewisham now, and almost
across the road from the front entrance of
Lewisham DLR station. At this point the River
Ravensbourne crosses under the main road
before continuing it's journey to The River
Thames. In some places it is possible to see
fish in the river, but I have never seen fish
swimming in an area so well lit by sunshine,
and there are so many of them. I have no idea
what sort of fish they are, but they look big
enough to have on toast like sardines !
To fill in a few more sights here is
another video crashed together from
odd bits videoed here and there.
Watch out for the singing crown, and
moving pictures of the fish in
Lewisham.
I have to admit that the last bit
of my walk felt like hard work. I was
fortunate that my feet didn't feel too bad
on this walk. I had covered the tender
areas with plaster, and this time it
seemed to work well. My main problem was
my legs were getting very tired thanks to
all those hills. I think that had this
been a level walk, along the coast, for
instance, I would have covered the
distance with relative ease.
On this occasion, knowing I was
going to be walking under a blazing sun, I
took a bottle of water with me so I didn't
get too dehydrated. I didn't actually have
my first drink until I was passing
Lewisham station on the way home. I think
I could have got away without drinking
anything, but that chilled water (there
was still ice in the bottle) was so nice
that I stopped several more times to have
a drink.
One reason I might have preferred
not to drink was to see the lowest
possible weight when I weighed myself when
I got home. Water weighs a lot, and the
more dehydrated the less weight. It is a
sort of risk, but the thrill can be worth
it. I was going to estimate how much water
I had drunk - probably about 400ml, or
400gm, and subtract that weight from the
figure on the scales. I found I didn't
need to. The weight I saw was the lowest
yet !
I rewarded myself with a tub of low
calorie, and sort of low sugar ice cream.
It was delicious, and was the only thing I
had eaten all day, and the only thing I
would eat until dinner time. I had a rest
after that ice cream, and I may have
snoozed for as much as an hour, but maybe
I started the snooze later than I had
estimated because I did do a few things
before I laid on my bed, and closed my
eyes.
That rest seemed to work really
well. I found myself feeling really
refreshed after it, and it felt like I
could even do another short walk - which
would probably have been very silly if I
had. It wasn't long before I started to
prepare my dinner. It was going to be a
cooked dinner, and I wanted to try and
discipline myself to let it cool down a
bit before I ate it. I tried, but I
cracked halfway through the 20 minutes I
intended to wait until it was only warm.
Dinner was cauliflower and ham
cheese, and that is literally the only
ingredients except for some seasoning. I
don't think I have ever cooked anything
like it before, and it was delicious. It's
genesis was a half empty bag of frozen
cauliflower than had been in the freezer
for ages. It had a lot of frost on it. I
washed the frost off, and shook off as
much water as possible before putting it
in a pyrex dish (with lid so it could be
used in the microwave). I added some ham
that had been open in the fridge for a
couple of days, but still smelled OK. The
ham and cauliflower was covered by a too
generous amount of sliced cheddar. Finally
a sprinkled on some assorted seasoning,
and zapped it in the microwave for 11
minutes (maybe 12 minutes might have been
very slightly better). I enjoyed it, and
followed it with an apple (eaten without
cheese this time).
I assumed, and assume wrongly, that
I would fall asleep instantly when I went
to bed, but despite feeling comfortable,
and not too hot with the fan playing over
me, it seemed to take a long time for my
brain to switch off. I didn't sleep all
that well even when I did get to sleep.
The first three or four hours were not so
bad, but I had as much as an hour of
insomnia at 3am this morning. I got back
to sleep again eventually, and oddly
enough probably had my deepest sleep after
that. At around 6am I woke up very
quickly. I don't think there was any
reason for it apart from my body or brain
saying it was definitely time to get up.
One of the first things I did after
having one more wee (I might have had 4 in
the night) was to weigh myself. It seems I
have definitely lost weight - probably
about another kilogram compared to some
arbitrary time a week ago or thereabouts.
I don't think it was dehydration either. I
had drunk a fair bit of water in the
night, and with the help of the fan, it
wasn't a very sweaty night. My lower blood
glucose level, 8.00mmol/l, tends to prove
that I was not dehydrated...or not that
much.
Today I am constrained by two
expected parcel deliveries. I should be
getting my new soda water maker, and the
refill bulbs delivered today. I was not
expecting the refill bulbs until Saturday,
but I rechecked the delivery tracking
information, and they were despatched from
Amazon's Dartford depot at the early hour
of 8.30am. They could arrive quite early
in the afternoon. The "soda syphon" is
being delivered by Royal Mail, and they
texted me yesterday to say it would be
delivered today, but I have no idea what
time it may arrive.
Until both parcels are in my sticky
little hands I daren't go anywhere - not
even into the garden. Until they arrive I
shall concentrate on resting, without
falling asleep, and trying to avoid any
temptation to eat. That is going to be
very difficult when slightly bored. Once
the parcels are here, and I have had a
play with my new toy, I will be free to do
anything. I doubt it will be early enough
to consider a walk, and I am not sure I
really want to go for a walk so soon after
yesterday's long walk, but I could
usefully do some gardening.
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