Canterbury - Chartham Circular

Chartham, through woods and orchards.

Following the Great Stour way through Chartham. The name of the village literally means "village on rough ground". A paper mill in the village specialises in the production of tracing paper.

Beautiful slightly shabby white bench on a tranquil river, with a view of grazing sheep.

Gorgeous wood lying around the bench.

It's overcast and the precise blackness of the trees is carefully traced over the gloomy sky.

Leaves are yellow and brown, with a tiny splash of intense green. They are slightly 'burnt' on the edges. *I learn that all these other colours were in the leaves all along, but we can't see them in summer because chlorophyll, that makes food out of sunlight, gives leaves their green colour. When there is little sunlight, leaves stop producing chlorophyll which allows us to see other colours*.

Telecoms Tower pierces the sky and looks a bit like an army general. It is in strange harmony with the wintry skeletons of trees, albeit far more symmetric.

Rustic boxes piled up on the apple orchard site. They are put here and there with such little calculation that it immediately creates a beautiful and warm feeling of winter apple cosiness and a very special December happiness.

Apples of the No Man's Orchard. They nestle so beautifully in the dry brown leaves, most of them eaten away by ground creatures, disappearing a little bit every day, filling the earth with rich and fragrant decay.

Neatly stacked logs in the woods.

Bright orange tree decay fungi already settling upon the logs.

A big pile of dry sticks, smell of rotting leaves fills the lungs and cheeks are blushing with cold air.

More leaves, like a film which is just starting to develop...