Sunday:
Today F and I got up at a rather serious time for a Sunday, had breakfast and I packed up a picnic lunch to take as we were to join Woodcraft Folk people from various groups all over Sussex in a hike in memory of Joyce Sharp. We met up at the Priory (local ruins, very picturesque) and by 11am about 120 of us had gathered - lots of children with parents and a fair number of teenagers in little groups.

We set off, meandering our way along the lanes and over the Downs to Peter and Joyce's orchard, where we would have our picnic. I chatted with a few people here and there, some I knew, thought not very well as this was only our 3rd Woodcraft Folk event/activity, and some I didn't. Some of the way I walked alone and took pictures or just enjoyed the beauty of the September light on the hills and trees. F soon made friends with E, who is nearly 8 and who we have met before once or twice, and they walked most of the way together, pausing to stroke horses at various points.

On arrival at the orchard, we flopped down and ate our picnic stuff, plus some cake, biscuits and juice provided by members. After a little while, E came over and invited F to go exploring in the woods with her, so they went off together. After 40 minutes or so, F came and asked if I could see E's dad, as E was in trouble and needed him - it was OK, turned out E had tripped in a rabbit hole and got stung by nettles badly but nothing worse. I couldn't see her dad at that point, so F took me back to where E was and I checked that she wasn't really bad, she just wanted to see her dad. I went back down and found him this time, so he went back up. When he came down he said they were fine and still wanted to play up there. So they were up there for at least another hour I think.

In fact, F was out of my sight for loads of time today - good for us both I think, scary though it can be. I was very proud of her for having come down to get E's dad, then remembered where E was and taken me to her, then stayed with E again, all without any panic.

Whilst they were up there playing, I lay on the grass in the sunshine, looking up at the apple trees and soon after, a bonfire was lit (somewhat unnecessarily but traditionally) and some songs were sung around it. I didn't know most of the songs but I think a couple were vaguely familiar, maybe from my CND/Greenham days back in the 80s.

Still no sign of the girls when the songs came to an end, but they appeared as the crowd moved off the orchard - E's mum had sent E's brother to find them I think, but they turned up anyway before he did. They had been exploring and picking flowers mainly.

From the orchard, there is a quick route home for us, but predictably, F wanted to go the same way as E, so we did - by this stage, E had asked if she could come over to ours for tea sometime and I had said 'yes' and then swapped phone numbers with E's mum, C. The route back that was taken was a slightly harder and quite a bit longer walk, with narrower paths, lots of stiles, nettles and generally trickier bits. F was out of my sight for much of the time, but seemed to do really well, despite being particularly wobbly at the moment, what with the arm and more growing and all. At one point, poor E fell again, down the edge of a narrow raised path - they were way ahead of me at the time, and E's mum and dad even further behind me. The call went down the line for E's mum, but we were on a very narrow path and in the end E set off again, not hurt so much as shocked I think.

A bit later when the walk came out in a large field, E waited for her mum and dad, and F walked with me for a while then too. It was such a beautiful day to be walking, the countryside looks so fine at the moment, with such a variation of colour under a still bright blue sky. Soon, as I took pictures of swans on the Cockshut, F ran on ahead of me and actually took up the front of the walk for the last half mile, just ahead of the officially designated 'leaders', who didn't mind at all, fortunately.

We all arrived safely back at the Priory ruins and F and I soon set off for home, but were then caught up by A, who pointed out that his family and E's family were going to the pub, which was on our way home anyway. So we joined them for a quick drink in the beer garden, where C and I made arrangements for E to come to tea this Friday after school. Had a nice chat with E's parents and A, about how we ended up where we were and that kind of stuff.
They were getting another round in, but F and I decided to set off home, with our tired feet - though F said hers were completely rested by her half hour on a bench at the pub. Wish mine could do that!

Back home, F played in her room and outside a bit, after further restorative assistance in the form of a sandwich. I flopped on the sofa until it was time to make some dinner, when I made Sort of Mushroom Parcels, with Jus-Rol Puff Pastry. Very nice they were too - mushroomy, garlicky, creamy (in a vegan kinda way) and basilly. We watched a bit of Star Trek: Next Generation, as we recently acquired the whole 7 seasons on DVD!

I was generally very proud of F today, she did a good 5 or 6 miles of walking with hardly a complaint, only fell over once and didn't make a fuss, didn't make a fuss about a few nettle stings either, coped with various challenges really well. She was lovely company and we had a very enjoyable day.