Last Saturday despite the dire forecast, Sarah and I went for a walk in the Lake District which is about an hours drive from where we live in the North Pennines. We chose Ling Fell which is a pretty easy walk. I took my my trusty flask, a small plastic pot of cold cassoulet and my notepad.

It was a day when thoughts lay hidden; daring not to come out for fear of being blown away. After one short shower, the sun made an appearance but seemed kind of out of place. The clouds and the wind owned that day.

I sat and wrote a poem after enjoying the cold cassoulet and a warm cup of tea. I have just uploaded a very short video of our walk which includes the poem, but I’ll also put the poem below. Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

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The Place

Today is the place where the wind blew,
where heather jittered, where shards of green
let go of the ground. 

Today is the place
where sheep littered the fields, where trees
discussed autumn with their dry, crisp voices.

Today is the place where clouds and stark veils
of grey, crept through the valley. 

Today is the place where we sat 
and drank flask-tea
and crunched dark chocolate and considered
walking round the hill another time.

Stephen Fender

Walking in the Wind