An Autumn Revolution

The Forest of Dean is an area of outstanding beauty that lies on the west bank of the River Severn in England.

The Tour de France is a cycle race that takes place each summer along the roads and over the mountains in France.

You know all that.

Just thinking about cycling that sort of distance, and getting up the next morning and doing it again, is deeply discomforting.

Doing it?

You must be mad!

I once cycled to the Forest of Dean from near London - It took me an entire day, a night in a barn and the following half day. I couldn’t walk for a week. My friend Jeremy, who I had gone to visit, had to get help from the village to lift me off the saddle.

His dad was Forest Ranger and the family lived in an idyllic house at the end of a track that led to the trees.

A bit like where I live now, I guess.

My friendship with Jeremy has withstood neither the ravages of the seasons or love’s rivalry – which is a shame as today would be a day we would have shared.

He taught me, and I have always considered it ancient lore, that sometime in the autumn you must catch a leaf sky-falling from a tree before it touches ground. If you do, good luck is ensured for the coming year.

Today after weeks of cascading colour in this autumn of all autumns, the winds are insisting and the leaves no longer resist.

Go catch!