None shall pass
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Category Archives: Travel
None shall pass
None shall pass
Children of the Stones
I visited the stone circle at Callanish this morning. Wonderful spot.
Not a peaceful spot today, though: the photo doesn’t show you the 40mph winds whipping across the island!
This put me in mind of the splendid 1976 TV drama Children of the Stones, filmed in Avebury, Wiltshire, which also has some dramatic standing stones, encircling half the village. One of the themes of the plot is the rumour that the stones sometimes turn into people and come back to life. I love the Avebury stones, but these ones looked more as if they might do that, given a little encouragement.
I didn’t watch Children of the Stones in 1976, which is probably just as well, since it has been described as “the scariest programme ever made for children”. It’s fun to watch as an adult, though, and is a great example of how you can tell a compelling story with a very low budget and some spooky music! Also, for people of my vintage, it has the added interest of featuring Gareth Thomas, better known as Blake, from Blake’s Seven.
More information on Wikipedia about the TV series, and about the Callanish Stones.
The Old Man and the Sea
I have a feeling this fine vessel could tell a few tales of adventure!
I’m on the Isle of Lewis, where, in order to take a good photo, you can almost wind down the window and click in a random direction.
You do, currently, have only six-and-a-half hours between sunrise and sunset in which to do it, though!
Achiltibuie
I walked through here yesterday, went into the village store, and somebody invited me to a ceilidh! (Which turned out to be great fun.) Such friendly people here, as well as beautiful views.
Nothing monstrous here
Loch Ness, last night
I don’t think we’re in East Anglia any more, Toto…
A couple of weeks ago, I went to a work-related conference in Bern, Switzerland, and was fortunate enough to have a couple of days’ walking in the mountains at Saas Fee beforehand. (Thank you, Peter!)
I had skiied there before, but never visited at this time of year. It really is a very pretty spot.
Better views than the average working week, I think.
Malham
Malham, in Yorkshire, is a splendid place, which I’d never visited until we stayed there last night. It’s a pretty and charming little village, with a bubbling stream running through it, and one or two very nice pubs.
But, take a short walk through the green, rolling countryside in one direction, and you come to Malham Cove, a very impressive limestone cliff.
A path with some good stairs takes you to the top of the cliff, where the limestone has eroded into other unexpected features.
An occasional delicate flower nestles in the indentations, protected from the sometimes dramatic weather.
If, on the other hand, you head out of the village in the opposite direction, a path through some fields eventually enters a little wooded valley, which takes you first to Janet’s Foss:
And then, a little higher up, to Gordale Scar.
And between all these dramatic sites…?
Sheep grazing in bucolic peace beside gently winding streams.
The end of a long day
Montmartre, Paris, March 2019
Eyes in the back of my head
Just before Christmas, Tilly (my spaniel) and I went to the Dordogne and back in our campervan. I made a video about it, which, while it may be of interest only to travel vlog and ‘van life’ enthusiasts, does have a bit of novelty value, because I filmed it on a spherical (360-degree) camera.
This means that after you’ve watched it, you can go back and watch it again from a completely different angle and see what was happening behind you!
I’ll put the link here, rather than embedding it, because this is something you want to watch on the YouTube site. Or, better still, in the YouTube app on your tablet, or phone, or VR headset…
If I had had more time, I would have made it shorter 🙂
This was really just an experiment for me, and I learned a great deal about the challenges and opportunities of filming and editing this particular medium, which I may write about in due course.
Safe harbour
Newhaven this morning, shortly after I disembarked from the Dieppe ferry.
What a difference a day makes…
The sky over my campsite yesterday morning; I hadn’t seen any blue up there for quite some time!
And the sky over the same campsite as I returned to it in the evening:
My pitch was just under the darkest bit at the bottom right.
It soon settled down to the standard grey rainclouds again afterwards, though!
Ode to a blustery winter campsite in the Dordogne
It’s good to know,
As the north winds blow,
That there’s plenty of eau,
And the eau is chaud.
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