Wednesday 16th October 2019, 10.10am (day 2,974)
A couple of weeks at home loom, and today was spent entirely there. At least, for blog purposes, I do have things to look at out of the window — mist, and mast.
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Category Archives: Landscape
Tennyson’s Lane
Sunday 13th October 2019, 10.50am (day 2,971)
When I was growing up in Sussex there were many of these ‘sunken lanes’ around the place and I guess I never really gave them much thought. But seeing a track like this, embedded between two earthen banks, is a sign that the way is of great antiquity. Their sunken nature is not natural, it is the result of erosion, taking place as people and livestock use the track over hundreds and, probably, thousands of years, over and over.
While on a walk in the South Downs today (bagging a County Top), I turned a corner and was suddenly confronted by this most magnificent example. Actually I’m surprised the shot ended up with so much light in it, because to my eyes this was a dark, enclosed tunnel through the landscape, exactly the kind of place where you can picture Frodo and his mates hiding from the Black Rider early on in Lord of the Rings. It’s called Tennyson’s Lane in tribute to the poet who had a house nearby, and in 1905 Arthur Paterson wrote the following about it, words that are still true today:
Trees meet overhead, copsewood surrounds it, and later, it is hedged by high sandy banks thickly overgrown with plant and scrub; squirrels and rabbits, and all other small woodland creatures, disport themselves over it. It twists and turns, and to the stranger appears to lead nowhere in particular.
High House Bank
Thursday 19th September 2019, 12.55pm (day 2,947)
One last chance to get away from it all before teaching starts, and if one is going to get away, the Shap Fells, in the far east of the Lake District, is certainly the place to do this. Two days’ walking (of which today was the first), over 24 miles, and I saw more deer (three) than people (none). High House Bank is the easternmost Wainwright and rises attractively over the valley of Borrowdale below (this is not the Borrowdale you’ve heard of, by the way).
Oxenhope Recreation
Saturday 14th September 2019, 2.40pm (day 2,942)
The kind of place I do like to hang out on a Saturday afternoon. And on a glorious day like this, how can one be blamed? No money changed hands. There was merely the fun of the game (a decent one too — 5-4 to the hosts in orange, Oxenhope Recreation, versus Headingley) and the view.
View from Grisedale Pike
Saturday 7th September 2019, 12.35pm (day 2,935)
This isn’t quite the summit of Grisedale Pike, which at 2,593′ above sea level, commands a prospect that range from the Pennines (visible in the background of this shot) to the hills of southern Scotland. But you get the gist, even from this slightly less elevated position. I did have a cute shot from within the woods of Whinlatter below, but let’s get expansive. I spent too much time today tramping round under cover of trees — I want some fresh air and views.
Crossing Allt a’ Mhuillin
Saturday 20th July 2019, 2.20pm (day 2,886)
Ben Nevis is a mountain of two sides, for sure. On the south side, a vast but rather dull slope up which hundreds toil daily; the payoff for climbing continuously for three hours being the chance to attain the status of Most Elevated Person in Great Britain, at 4,411 feet (or 1,345 metres). We secured this goal at 11.24am.
But going up that way doesn’t show you the other side, the North Face, with its stupendous crags and (after the tourist path) blissful sollitude. This is the connoisseur’s side of the mountain, the place where you can really look up and feel, yep: this is the culminating point of the whole country, it really doesn’t get any bigger than this.
The River Nevis
Friday 19th July 2019, 8.05pm (day 2,885)
The lump in the background is the lower slope of Ben Nevis, highest mountain in Great Britain and something I have decided it is past time I hauled myself up. Thus, it is tomorrow’s target for a walk. Here’s hoping for somewhat better weather than we had this evening — but it is forecast to be… wish me luck.
Tourists at the Gates of Hell
Monday 8th July 2019, 1.55pm (day 2,874)
Astonishing vistas throughout our road trip today, to the east of Akureyri. Could have chosen any one of a dozen shots of the active volcanic region around the lake of Myvatn and the lava fields of Krafla. This one of Clare and Joe at the mudpools of Hverir wins though — because of the sexy curves of the hills behind, and because of their seemingly casual attitude towards wandering around a place that is as near as I’ve ever experienced to what it must be like in Mordor, or the Gates of Hell. This is, I guess, what I came to Iceland to see; something that surely doesn’t exist in many other parts of the world, and certainly not in Europe.
On the road north of Dalvik
Sunday 7th July 2019, 3.15pm (day 2,873)
Reykjavik was fun and — after the first 30 hours or so — sunny and quite warm, but what we saw there could, to be honest, have been seen anywhere. Time to get out in the wilds. This morning we flew to Akureyri in the north of Iceland, picked up a car and headed further north still, and on the road between Dalvik and Ólafsfjör∂ur, there came this scene. I tried hard to get all four things in the viewfinder — the sheep, the island of Hrisey to top left, the mountain, the waterfall; although one result is that this almost looks like I’ve taken the halves of two photos and mashed them together. But I still like it. This is what was hoped for…. Now all that is needed is some volcanic activity. But that stereotype can be sought out tomorrow.
I’ll tell you what though — of all the pictures I have taken in July, whether they appeared on this blog or not, this is definitely the coldest. I would say it was about 5ºC at this point and virtually sleeting. The sheep must be used to it, I guess: they look contented enough.
View of Esjan, from Reykjavik harbour
Friday 5th July 2019, 11.35am (day 2,871)
The photography in Iceland up to today had been unspectacular but that’s because the sun hadn’t been shining. Today… it was. This is Esjan, or Mount Esja, seen from Reykjavik across the fjord. The green pimple? No idea, but it’s cute.
