You’re not crawling out of bed at 3.30 because you’ve got an early shift at work. You’re not getting up at silly o’clock because you’ve got to go through the whole dismal business of airport security and a flight before beginning your holiday. No. You’re getting up because you want to. You can even largely skip getting washed, let alone finding presentable clothing.
That was me, last week.
3.45: I crept out of the house before it was even light, not waking anyone else up. In the car, on the way to Studley, the full moon shone cold white in an charcoal sky. The first glimmer of light – a sort of navy-with-apricot-ish coral stole across the horizon. Rabbits loped along the verges. A barn owl rose silently from the road ahead, clasping its prey.
About 4.05: At Studley, those rich salmon sky-tones were flaring brighter now. A blackbird sang. Just the one. Within minutes, he was joined by others. Then robins, song thrushes. After that, wrens, bluetits, then blackcaps, chaffinches, chiffchaffs and nuthatches. Even a curlew. Even a tawny owl. Not that I’d have known all this if it hadn’t been for Merlin.
I walked towards the trees, not yet quite in leaf, silhouetted against the brightening sky. Deer, more curious than startled, came to gaze at me before resuming grazing, or sometimes deciding that fleeing silently away together was a better option.
Gillet Hill gave views of Ripon and beyond, the now magenta sky beginning to halo the cathedral. But maybe the view from St. Mary’s would be even better? The deer thought so.
The church was a fine sight in its own right, but haze now hid the cathedral, and down the hill I went to catch, at 5.20 (not 5.35, as advertised), the sun rising over the horizon. I watched it climb – rather quickly, rather dramatically actually.
Then the early morning chill (1 degree ….) finally got to me, and I elected for the warmth of the car home, then a hot shower, cosy clothes, and – just a bit later, breakfast, fresh-brewed coffee, and the chance to share news of my adventures.
Wasn’t all that worth getting up for?
The correct answer is ‘Yes’.
For Jo’s Monday Walk
From Pyrenees to Pennines 
Bless you, I couldn’t possibly say no. But him to whom I am married would call you a mad woman. And he’s a light sleeper so I’d have great difficulty getting out of the house without waking him, and he’d be grumpy. And I can’t drive and live nowhere near Studley, so I can only be very grateful to you. The best I can manage is to slip up to the roof and watch the skyline. Sea… no deer. And TV aerials, the bain of my life. Thanks, Margaret xx
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