Wednesday Walk

Just look at those colours!

Walking along the Sea Wall this morning,

my intention was to power walk along for about a mile and back again, but when the spring tide has thrown up these beauties

of course it turned into the usual beachcombing walk

Drama in the skies –  just before I got very wet walking back to the car

Worth it though!

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Cliffs and Bluebells

Continuing our bluebell walk in West Dorset …

we decided not to walk up to Thorncombe Beacon, but could see others enjoying the view

a perfect day for a paraglide

Click on any picture to see it larger.

We climbed the hill and over the stile

to see yet more spectacular views to the East towards Portland

and as we turned inland, Westerly views towards Devon

(Click on the link for other  good walking routes along the coast path.)

We took time to smell the blossom in the hedgerow, I think this is a wild plum

we must return in September to find out.

Through the gate, with a look over our shoulders at that glorious scene, saying farewell to the sea we continue

onward through more bluebell woods

to marvel at the way the light plays through the trees,

joining Cee’s Flower of the Day

and no matter how often I see it, my heart never fails to skip and dance when, standing in deep shade,  and spying a shaft of sunlight bathing a patch of bells in silver light

Magic all around us

A time to stop and breathe and notice how all the senses are tingling with pure joy, blessings counted, smiles exchanged between friends and for at least the hundredth time we say how lucky we are to live here……

 

Art Walk on Wednesday

A couple of weeks ago I went back to Cerne Abbas to do the circular walk again with art as my focus. (you can see more of the walk here, here and here)

The Giant itself is a piece of landscape art

humans being drawn to make a mark on any surface they come across, even scrawling on barn doors.Whilst walking I noticed shapes and outlines with doodles in mind

… imagine that stag-horn-like petal on the left in a mandala or doodle

Joining Cee’s Flower of the Day: Knapweed

Wood lying around, like sculptures reminded me of Anthony Caro’s work.

Bits that show signs of human history intrigue me, as well as the interaction of other creatures – can you see the cobweb in the picture below?

Hints of Barbara Hepworth here

Two Figures (Menhirs) 1964 Dame Barbara Hepworth 1903-1975 Purchased 1964 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T00703

And Chris Drury here.

If you click on the photo above it will take you to my Photo Page where you can see it in more detail, especially the lichen.

The picture above is a work by Chris Drury called the Wheel of the Year

~

Every so often I did look up and out at the glorious landscape

But mostly my camera was set to Macro.

Have you enjoyed any walks this week?

Wednesday Walk – to the woods

One day a week Miss E comes to me for art, craft and gardening as part of her home education, sometimes we have Little Miss M with us as well.

It is an absolute delight for me to be part of the H.E. team, and to see how Miss E’s confidence and interest in the world is developing since she has been at home.

She loves to enter competitions and saw one in her Wildlife Magazine that required a picture made with natural materials, so off we went to the woods to gather material.

It is a favourite walk of ours and we always have to pay a visit to the old tree stump that the kids have named ‘the Gruffalo’s toilet’

They clamber about on this old tree stump and it becomes all sorts of other things – a pirate ship at sea on this visit.

After gathering pine cones, fallen leaves and ferns they set to work. Miss E always knows just what she wants to do from the start, which can lead to frustration when things don’t work out exactly as she had in mind..

But I try to tell her this is all part of the creative process, and often get her to repeat the mantra “it’s not wrong, it’s just not finished!’

She would not let me take any photos of her early attempts

but was eventually pleased with this

Then off we all went to a nearby café for a hot chocolate.

The photos were sent in and Miss E was SO delighted when her Squirrel appeared on the magazine’s Facebook page.

Happy days!

Do you have any woodland walks near you?

Wednesday Walk – Hardy’s Monument

Good news – bad news – good news.

When my sister was staying we met up with my son and his two boys: Big Bro 5 and Little Bro 3 and went off to the Hardy Monument just above the village of Portesham, where my sister and I lived with our family as teenagers. Recently the monument to Admiral Hardy (of ‘Kiss me Hardy’ fame) has been renovated and acquired by the National Trust. For £2 you can climb to the top and on a good day, see as far as the Isle of Wight.

Good news: It was a good day, look at that clear blue sky!

I had checked the Monument would be open from 10.30 am and we arrived at 11am.

Bad news: Annoyingly the car park was locked shut and we had to park a little further along the road. We thought that by the time we got there the monument would sure to be open, and

Good News: it gave the boys a chance to ride their bikes.

and for us to have a walk and enjoy the views

if we hadn’t made this walk we would not have come across this wonderful stone seatinviting us to …

and

Just perfect on such a day.

The view was hazy looking out towards the Isle of Portland

but the sun was gloriously warm and the boys had fun cycling across the heath amongst the gorse and the heatherand in the old quarry

where the boys (both big and little) had fun climbing up the slopes.

Have you been on a walk in your neck of the woods recently? Leave a link in the comments if you’d like to, I’d love to walk along with you.

Wednesday Walk continued

In my last ‘Wednesday Walk’ post I left you half-way round a Cerne Giant circular walk, about to descend the hill to Minterne Parva

a tiny ancient hamlet tucked away amongst the trees

with its 18th Century circular building believed to be either a granary or a cock-fighting ring, next to the stump of a medieval stone cross

the trees with just a hint of Autumn stood out against the oh-so-blue sky

and then further along, just by the lane and next to a little stream there are 4 slate posts created by Rachel Jackson. Carved on them are the local field names found on an old map from 1728, courtesy of Lord and Lady Digby.

once over the main road you head for Up Cerne

Here is a link to another walk you can do in the area

A double avenue of trees leading seemingly nowhere, just after Up Cerne Manor. I’m entering this in Cee’s last Which Way Challenge. I’m sad to see this challenge  go. 

Turn right at the end of the trees up a chalk lane past fields of corn,

then up over the hill and down through an ancient hazel wood where I once heard a nightingale, to see Cerne Abbas in the distance.

A walk through an ancient deer park takes you down into the valley once more.

to the foot of the Giant’s Hill

to find a tea room in the village

serving a yummy cream tea.

Next time we might try one of the two pubs.

After our tea we walked back past the creaky old houses

taking the path along the river back to the car park.

What a gorgeous walk! I’ll be going again soon!

I’d love to see where you have been walking, just leave a link in the comments below.

Wednesday Walks continued

Wow! I’m delighted to post some photos of a Walk in Wales sent to me by my good friend Linda – Thank you so much Linda – I’m even more excited that you included a Haiku – fabulous! thank you SO much!

Linda writes: On Monday we walked along the Ceredigion Coastal Path, north from Llangrannog, remember driving there?

Three dimensional
Wiggly and wriggly roads that
turned your insides out.

Beautiful, dramatic views of beach, cliffs and sky and a distant glimpse of the Lleyn Peninsula

There is a legend that the Giant Bica (perhaps the Devil himself?), who lived in Ceredigion, had a raging toothache. As he stamped about in pain, the tremendous noise disturbed a Dwarf called Lochtyn, who advised him to go to the coast, where his tooth would fall out. In return for his advice, the Dwarf wanted a small island where he could live quietly by himself. The Giant set off and as he reached the coast, one of his footsteps created Llangrannog beach and his tooth fell out, creating a rock stack called Carreg Bica. He reached out his finger and drew it across a rocky peninsula, separating off a tiny island for the Dwarf – Ynys Lochtyn.

Stunning!

You can see my Wednesday Walk here.