It's been half term, so Jack and I booked 2 nights away in a hotel together, he's been working near Gloucester, so I trained it down, via Manchester to Gloucester on Wednesday morning. Even though it had only been a week since Jack went away, the anticipation and excitement to see him was really full, sleeplessness, butterflies, raised heart beat, the physiology of love.
As soon as I was swept up in his arms, I was calmed and we set off on a 3 to 4 hour journey to North Devon, we stopped for a cream tea on the way and the journey passed quickly with lots of chats and laughter.
We got closer, the world became almost entirely green and we passed through places called things like Fairy Cross as the thatched roofs began to appear regularly.
We arrived at our hotel, checked in and discovered we had been upgraded to a suit. A beautiful but quite laughable room, with a four poster bed, fire place, sweeping steps leading to a dressing room and a bath room complete with a wet room style shower and a double bath with jets!
We went for a walk that evening as the sun set along the top of a hill, a light house and Lundy Island in the distance, then we went for another drive to find a country pub that sold local Cider and good food. We soon discovered that decent Cider is difficult to find in North Devon, so we settled for lovely food then went back to our hotel for champagne in the bath and massages.
The next few days were filled with beautiful walks, by the sea and in the most magical of woods. We lay on a thick quilt of long grass overlooking the highest point of the hills above the sea, feeling the sunshine on our faces, in each others arms and talked about adventures past.
We approached the woods like eager children and also as lovers, holding hands, wide eyed, looking closely to identify trees and seeing the signs of spring. Jack pointed out Beech nuts and the cerise male flowers on Willow trees and we discovered wild garlic, snowdrops and crocuses
Nothing is a bother to Jack, his relaxed spontaneous approach make each day a joy. We changed plans at the last minute from a romantic meal to head off to see my Friends Glenn and Sarah and there beautiful boys Jy and Finn and Jack earned himself big wet kisses from Jy, nearly 2 by playing Duplo aeroplanes.
We visited some lovely friends of Jack's in Dartmooor Forest and we went on a magical walk in a majestic wood, filled with incredible looking lichen and ending in a cathedral of trees.
All the sea air and wood bathing in the beautiful, deeply quiet Devon woodland and clear skies has been the rest and difference I needed from the reality of work.
Even though we took every day at a Sunday pace not leaving the room to go out until 11 or so I kept being surprised by the amount and quality of light I was getting. Although I was low on sleep, it just didn't matter as I could float through the days.
I could of stayed much longer, but luckily have one more true Sunday to unpack, be ready for work and have a bit of social thrown in. Tea with the lovely Laura and dinner at Mike and Jemma's this eve.
It really is the beginning of spring, just the other side of this tiny Island we call home. Hold on tight I tell myself, soon there will be a greater quality of life as light extends beyond the hours of work and the juggling of work and play rebalances.
No comments:
Post a Comment