Dreamy Skies

Wednesday 6 September 2023

Well, we all need a break from time to time, and this week my LETJOG Peaks challenge is on hold whilst Rachel and I take in the sunshine of North Norfolk and enjoy a slower way of life for a few days. Despite the early autumnal heat such relaxation does not preclude a good walk, and (as regular visitors to this corner of our country over the years) we have already completed a couple of our favourite coastal rambles; on Monday around the expanse of beach, dunes, pine-forest, fields and parkland between Wells-next-the-Sea and Holkham (see my Blog ‘Shelter From The Storm’ of 1 February 2022), and then yesterday across the salt-marshes and along the creeks of Cley and Blakeney.

Under these dreamy skies I am hatching a plan for next week, to complete three of my remaining four County Tops, those of Bishop Wilton Wold at the peak of the East Riding of Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear’s zenith Currock Hill, and the big one: The Cheviot, summit of Northumberland. Once completed these would leave just one remaining ascent, a local climb, that of Haddington Hill in Buckinghamshire. I hope to be reporting back over the next two weeks on these final steps of my LETJOG Peaks journey. Watch this space!

I thought twice about using ‘Dreamy Skies’ as my inspiration for this Blog heading as I haven’t actually heard the song behind this title yet! Just today The Rolling Stones released a teaser, a lead single called ’Angry’, to their new album ‘Hackney Diamonds’ that is scheduled for release on 20 October. But I’m not remotely angry at the moment, and it is one of the other upcoming album tracks ‘Dreamy Skies’ that offers a much closer fit with my mood. The song has been penned by the enduring and seemingly everlasting partnership of bandmates (Sir) Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, who describe the composition as being about ‘getting away from everything’; I very much look forward to hearing it. ‘Hackney Diamonds’ will be the Stones’ first release of original material since 2005, and also the first following the passing in 2021 of drummer Charlie Watts, whose pre-recorded percussion work is included on two of the tracks. Like his remaining long-time colleagues in the band, as they rock on into their eighties, Watts certainly continues to leave quite a legacy.