Category Archives: Landscape

Wasdale, from a precarious point

Saturday 24th July 2021, 12 noon (day 3,621)

View down Gavel Neese, 24/7/21

Gave myself an adventurous walking task today — the South Traverse of Great Gable, a climbers’ path that inches its way across the face of this hulk of a mountain. For more details see my walking blog. This view of Wasdale was captured while somewhat precariously balanced above the drop; anyone going down the slope in an uncontrolled manner is probably not going to stop until hitting the fields at the bottom. But I survived it, and felt quite proud of myself in fact. See the other pictures on my walking blog, if interested.

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Climbing the Bowder

Friday 23rd July 2021, 3.25pm (day 3,620)

Bowder Stone steps, 23/7/21

Clare reaches the top of the steps that take one up onto the Bowder Stone — a famous attraction of the Lake District that I have never before seen. Its name is tautological, for a big Bowder (boulder) it certainly is; hollow it out, install plumbing, and I imagine a family of three could live inside in comfort.

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Evening cloud

Tuesday 29th June 2021, 9.45pm (day 3,596)

Evening cloud, 29/6/21

More an abstract than anything else, today. Although the swallow (if that is what it was — it was certainly flying like one) gives it focus. I felt like putting up an evening shot, anyway: there have been very few of these in the last eighteen months. Nights out are a thing of the past. Mind you, 40,000 people could be accommodated in Wembley yesterday afternoon — but apparently, going out to the Trades Club is still considered ‘unhealthy’. Enough of this bullshit.

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Moel Famau summit

Saturday 19th June 2021, 11.40am (day 3,586)

Moel Famau summit, 19/6/21

Top of Flintshire, summit of the Clwydian Hills, Moel Famau appealed enough to the royalists of the early 19th century for them to begin building on it a tower to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of King George III. But this fervour clearly faded, and the construction was never finished. Nowadays it is just a place to rest after hauling oneself up to the 1,814 feet (554m) summit. But it looks good, and the view is magnificent. (For pictures of that, see my other blog.)

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Formal Sheep Portrait (High Pike)

Tuesday 15th June 2021, 1.05pm (day 3,582)

Formal sheep portrait, High Pike, 15/6/21

A very fine day was had in the Lake District. Even the sheep seemed to be enjoying it, and this ewe poses readily for the camera as they often do, with High Pike behind. A shame her lamb did not feel like joining in too, but one can’t have everything. (For more pictures from today, see my Wainwrights blog.)

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Ikke i Tromsø

Thursday 3rd June 2021, 7.50am (day 3,570)

Virtual conference, 3/6/21

95 of the shots on this blog have been taken in Norway, making it the third most-depicted country after England and Australia, but there have been none since I took off from Tromsø airport on the morning of 26th April 2018. I was supposed to be there now, probably I would have journeyed over yesterday, stayed until the weekend, enjoyed the 24-hour sunlight, and the company of friends and colleagues. I could have stood once more where these singers are, namely the balcony at the top of the cable car, on Storsteinen. But we are all prevented from doing these things, and life is diminished as a result. I appeared at the ‘virtual conference’ because I didn’t want to let down people that I respect and like — but I’m not going to be attending any more of them.

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The hillside (with non-conformist tree)

Tuesday 18th May 2021, 2.30pm (day 3,554)

Lee Wood hillside, 18/5/21

An improvement in the weather, at least temporarily. The red tree proudly stands out from its neighbours; dare to be different…

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Storm at South Milford

Saturday 15th May 2021, 3.45pm (day 3,551)

South Milford station, 15/5/21

The village of South Milford, east of Leeds, makes an exceptionally wet debut on the blog, and thus a rather grim one, despite being a pleasant place that hosted me entertainingly enough this afternoon. But it was damp, oh yes indeed.

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The last picture of Devoke Water?

Sunday 25th April 2021, 1.00pm (day 3,531)

Couple by Devoke Water, 25/4/21

A glorious Sunday in the Lake District. The title of the post has layers of meaning. My walk today (see my Wainwrights blog for the details) involved a circuit of the placid and remote tarn of Devoke Water. It was a feature in multiple photos taken along the way, of which this was the last of the day.

But as I walked back to the car, I mused — is this perhaps the last ever? I have visited some of these marvellous places multiple times as I have gone round and round Cumbria over the last 12 years, but the project will end at some point (next year probably), and after that — will I find an excuse to return?

Some might say, that is in the hands of God/Inshallah/fate/whatever you believe. But in the end, I believe it is up to me. If this blog does make it to, say, day 8,000 — perhaps we will see this place again. I certainly hope so.

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Heptonstall, from Old Town

Monday 5th April 2021, 1.35pm (day 3,511)

Hepstonstall, 5/4/21

A pleasant, sunny, but surprisingly cold Easter Monday, Hebden Bridge and all points around being swished by a breeze straight off the North Pole. Did anything biblically happen on Easter Monday? Or is it just a modern excuse to give the plebs another day off in lieu? Either way — Heptonstall was looking good, as it always does. It’s been there for a few hundred years, it’s had time to bed in.

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