Reconnecting with Kate

In January I did a goodbye hike with Kate, before she would go abroad for several months. And I hoped to see her again after she'd come back. That was around Easter. But after she came back, all sorts of things happened in her life, both good and bad, and it was late July by the time we would finally see each other again. We had made a plan; we would just catch up over a coffee or something on the Saturday, and then go for a walk on the Sunday, as that had much better weather.

I was a bit apprehensive; would she cancel for reasons of even more things happening in her life? But she didn't. So on the Saturday morning I drove up. And I walked into the door.

Quickly I got barked at by a black Labrador. I had figured she had acquired a dog in the time I hadn’t seen her, but this was the first time I met him. He was a bit like Monique’s dogs; very noisy, but you could tell he was actually quite pleased to see me. I had just met Bryn!

Then Kate wrestled herself past him and we finally met. We had a lot to talk about! And that went well over coffee. She had already walked Bryn, but she figured we might do an additional walk together. It was a very wet day, but we are not made of sugar. So we did that walk! And we made a plan for the real walk of the next day.

On the short walk

Descending into the village 

I had emailed Miles beforehand that I was going to see Kate, and therefore would drive past his house. Maybe I could pop by for an additional beverage along the way? But that was a bit naive; it was a Saturday, so he was at work. But I also drive past his work. He suggested I would indeed swing by and just drag him out of the office. Then we would go to the café for a coffee. But he wouldn't be there very long, so Kate decided we should just go after our walk. And we did!

That was a bit of a trip down memory lane; when Kate and I had walked the Slate Trail, we had also come past his work, dragged him out of the office, and had a beverage together. But that was outside, and today was not an outside kind of day. I must admit this was the first time for me inside the café!

After a while, Kate had to go back, as she expected a delivery. I lingered a little bit longer. And when I got back to her place, the delivery was already there. It was white goods. So together we removed the appliances they would replace, put a new ones in position, cleaned out the old ones, loaded them into her car, and brought them to a place where they could get another life. The dog helped with everything except transport; the car was full and he wasn't coming. But by then the afternoon had progressed quite a lot! After we got back, I had one more cup of tea and then I said goodbye. I would see her again the next day, after all!

It had been really good to see her! And in hindsight, I was glad we had spent more time together then I thought we would. When I checked the weather forecast again the next morning, I saw that the largely dry day had changed into quite a wet one. I alerted Kate to the situation, and she suggested we postpone the real walk. She had plenty to do! And, frankly, so did I. So we aborted mission!

We still had had the most of the Saturday for reconnecting. And I hope we can do that walk again soon anyway. With Bryn. There is always more to catch up on!

Margot's Blog: Moel Hebog with Kate (mmmmargot.blogspot.com)