On Friday evening I went for a moon walk. Not a walk on the moon like an astronaut; but a walk in moonlight. The moon is waxing gibbous, meaning that it is getting bigger and brighter, with the full moon today on Sunday. There were some clouds scudding over the face of the moon, but it was bright enough to see the path and I didn’t need a torch.

It's a path I know well so I’m not at all worried about walking it in the dark. The last of the evening dog walkers were heading home at sunset as I walked up the lane towards the moor. The dogs came over to say hello for a pat and rub; and I exchanged greetings with their walkers. 

By the time I reached the moor the sun had gone down and the moon risen. I could feel the Earth turning on its axis, silently bringing night after day. There were no people, they were all sensibly at home. Only the young gimmers, white in the moonlight and too young this year for tups, were in the high outbye fields quietly watching.

After the moor I walked down through the woods along the escarpment to a small secluded chapel. It’s a place of pilgrimage and there are always lit candles. The door is never locked. I often go in to sit for a while and light candles of remembrance for my mother and sister. 

A friend who lived in a nearby farm once told me they had seen the ghost of a horse coming up the track to the chapel, so I wondered if I would see it this evening as I followed the track to the village back to the warm fire in my little cottage. But it was only me walking this time.

I have the Moodscope community to thank for my moon walk. I hadn’t been out for a while except for essential shopping and the commute to work. I mentioned this in the chat on Friday and had some super encouragement to get out. Thank you!

The weather forecast is for snow. It will be the first snow of the season for the moor where I live. There have been a few frosts here, and some snow on the peaks on the other side of the vale, but the first snow is always a bit exciting.

It might not come. Weather forecasts are notoriously unreliable until the weather actually happens. Perhaps it will be glistering frost in the sun, a crisp bite to the early morning air and my breath in puffs as I walk up the steep bit of the lane. There is a feeling of snow. Every now and then the sky turns overcast with that heavy leaden grey of snow in the belly of the clouds.

This week I’ve been listening to A.S. Byatt’s Booker Prize winning novel ‘Possession’ on audio book during my drive to work. Sadly, she died recently but she left a wonderful legacy. Celia Richardson, who is the communications person for the National Trust, posted one of A.S. Byatt’s poems on social media in her memory. The poem is inspired by Shakespeare’s King Lear and is for Byatt’s son who was killed by a drunk driver. It’s called ‘A Dog, a Horse, a Rat’. I thought of it when I lit the candles in the chapel. It makes me weep every time. Here are a few lines:

None of my breaths since then

Is easy or is sure

Nothing I think or hear

Without, thou’lt come no more

I walked again early this morning and watched the dawn flame out bright golden as day followed night.

Rowan on the moor

A Moodscope member