Just photos – no particular theme
Skye: Monday 3 April: it may lack the drama of the more popular places, but the Hinnisdal forest tracks are very pleasant, quiet and good underfoot (which matters when it’s been wet…) – and the views up and down the glen, across Loch Snizort to Macleod’s Tables, are excellent. It has a scenic waterfall too!
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=140462&Y=857419&A=Y&Z=120
We wandered around Willey not quite four weeks ago (see Seasonal Signs), noting signs of the developing season, subtle then but striking now. There are primroses in great profusion, as expected, now complemented by the first bluebells, garlic mustard and ladies’ smock. The world is becoming colourful!
View OS map in Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=367470&Y=298250&A=Y&Z=120
Skye: Sunday 2 April: after a day of rain, today is grey and still. I’m exploring Uig, beginning with a walk up to the headland on the north side of the bay. It’s a fine viewpoint for the north-west shore of Trotternish, with a great view of the departing ferry, setting out on a crossing to Tarbert, Harris. Later, I walk through the woods lining the shore between the Rha and Conon rivers. This is temperate rain forest (albeit a very small one!), where the trees are lined with moss and a remarkable assortment of lichen. The tree lungwort resembles miniature cabbage leaves – amazing stuff!
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=138600&Y=864187&A=Y&Z=120
We’ve not been back long from a trip to our northern office, a week of rather variable weather (rain, wind and a little sunshine…). Nevertheless, we squeezed in a few outings, ending on a high note with a wonderful clifftop walk, well away from the bucket-list tickers and selfie-snappers (they’re already here in force)… More to follow; in the meantime, here’s a taster selection
Monday 27 March: It wasn’t as sunny as forecast just a day earlier, but it was cool, dry, bright and periodically sunny on Kinder Scout – a great day to be out on the southern Pennine hills, following the route that the famed mass trespassers took to these bleak moors with their wonderful rocky fringe. Walk? It’s more like a horizontal scramble along that gritstone edge!
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=406365&Y=388125&A=Y&Z=120
Monday 27 March: Kinder Scout. “Have you seen the weather forecast for tomorrow, up there?”. In the event, the sky wasn’t quite as clear of cloud as the earlier forecasts suggested, but with with some bright sunshine in-between the clouds it was a most enjoyable full-day outing. It will take a while to work through all the photos – more to come. Meanwhile, here’s a well-known chappie (and another, possibly less-well-known)
The spring flowers are multiplying rapidly – primroses, violets (and white ones), wild strawberry, wood anemone, tuberous comfrey – it’s all happening around Church Preen
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=355085&Y=298270&A=Y&Z=120
A bit of both today – a stiff breeze blowing light showers across the countryside. Walking past Hurst Farm and on towards Shirlett, it would have been good to complete the loop to Shirlett Lane and return to the car down Round Hill – but I suspect we’d still be floundering in the mud (we had a drop of rain last night). Instead, where the track ends, we’ll turn and retrace our steps. The views are different in the other direction…
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=366665&Y=296480&A=Y&Z=120
Feels like it too, this morning – warm sunshine, puffy white clouds, slightly cool but not cold. We’re enjoying a short wander around Astley Abbotts and Colemore Green, past the fishing pools and back up the field towards the old school house.
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=370945&Y=296885&A=Y&Z=120
We’re wandering around Attingham this afternoon. It’s a dull grey day, so the scope for photography may be limited. The woodpeckers are having fun, bashing their brains out in attempts to attract mates. One drums noisily in a tree nearby – can we see him? No – until he flies to another branch, and our eyes register the movement. Can the camera see him? We’ll try! He may be a greater spotted woodpecker, but he’s certainly not easily spotted…
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=355265&Y=310392&A=Y&Z=115
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