A friend who was born in England but now lives in New Zealand has been staying with me. She misses the wild flowers that you find by paths, lanes and roadsides in Britain, so I took her along the Water of Leith walkway. This is the time of year when foliage is fresh green, and there are many white or cream flowers – hornbeam, cow parsley, rowan, hawthorn and honesty.
We walked back along the Union Canal. It was getting on for 11pm, so it was dim but not dark. One side of the path was lit by the hawthorn in full flower, the trees sometimes massed in a group, sometimes solitary and shapely, and filling the air with their scent. On the other side the cow parsley shone in the late twilight. The towpath is busy during the day but we saw only one cyclist. There were bats dipping and swooping over us and the water.
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