Sometimes we all need one. A warm night sat by The River in the gentle rain. The explore had failed. The site had become well trod of late and someone had figured out any which way that people had been getting in and so C* and I sat in the shadow of the abandoned flour mill and let  the rain fall, tea was in abundant supply from a small thermos. We would occasionally get up and go for a poke around just to check that we had covered all our bases and the come back to look at the lights reflected on the gently rippling water.

We all occasionally need nights like this. Nights that do not go as planned but none the less become something beautiful, something worth noting and I mark that with a post here. It is worth remembering that as well as the stunning sites that we see, the people we explore with (some real characters that I couldn’t create in my head – and that is a strange place) are just as important.

I had a niggling to be inside somewhere crumbling for weeks and that is what had taken us out that night and yet, riding the night bus home after a complete fail, I still re-ran the night in my head and smiled. Tea from a thermos has a tin taint that reminds me of other cold but fun nights and this was full of as much camaraderie. It’s good to see the places but it’s amazing to see them with someone else. Someone to have banter with, to share stories that will get ever taller and ever fainter.

This post is for my explorer friends, who whilst now are scattered around the globe, deserve a brief moment of thanks.

TTFN