Last year at this very time in autumn we were in New Hampshire for a week of hiking in the White Mountain National forest. We had planned this trip, the latest in the fall season we had ever before taken, for the express purpose of being there at the height of colour. Anticipating, I suppose, being immersed in a colour-brilliant landscape. And we weren't disappointed.

Neither were the hordes of tourists from elsewhere in the U.S. itself. Bostonians flock for relief from their concrete enclosures to New Hampshire, a relatively short drive off. There's no mistaking people from New Hampshire and those from Massachusetts, however. New Hampshire prides itself on its conservative traditions and its neighbour on its opposite, liberal sensibilities.

And other 'difference' we have long noted from our exposure to both is that people from New Hampshire are invariably helpful, open, inclusive; friendly to a fault. Whereas people we've come across in our forays distinguish themselves as Bostonians by their aloof, exclusionary-unfriendly manner. There's something to think about. It's not just rural dwellers versus townies; the characters of the two states appear widely disparate.

In any event, despite that, our trip took place in mid-October, a month later than our usual planned fall trips, and as it happened, the weather was uncompromisingly brilliant; warm, dry and breezy. Unexpectedly so. We had anticipated that it would be fall-cool, with a nuisance-share of wet weather to be tolerated, but last year it was not to be.

The incredibly warm temperatures and clear skies brought people out in droves. We made an especial effort to look for less-frequented trails and we found several where we were the only people traversing the forest environment through them. We did get 'lost' on one occasion, but managed to find our way out again, no harm done, having taken a truly little-used trail that eventually led to nowhere as it became progressively fainter...