Night by the riverside

On the weekend I took the bus up to my local park, I had felt a desire to take pictures on the riverside there for a while but hadn't got the chance until this weekend. But I stopped procrastinating and actually took the trip there.

The night had transformed what was a tranquil area in day time into something quite otherworldly by the cover of darkness. I met with a friend and wandered this suddenly wild world. The street lamps along the way made each path leading into the darkness into a living fairy tale. One where a fey and strange creature could lay in wait to pounce at any moment.

The tree branches stretched over the river over a grey and purple sky. And in that moment I could imagine that in that night I was on a silent road by the river that would lead to grandmothers house where the big bad wolf would devour me whole and where the fey folk would ride out across a bruised sky.

On a night by the riverside the world was suddenly filled with dark and mysterious magic.

A path up the mountains

The Skrrid (also know as the holy or sacred) mountain in the heart of South Wales really is an enchanting place to take an autumnal stroll. Filled as it is with leaves that are busy burning through all the autumn hues. The clouds that sweep across the sky before bursting spectacularly with rain.

There are many legends associated with this mountain and the huge chunk that has been carved out of it. Some say that a part of it broke off at the moment of Christ's crucifixion, other legends say that earth from mountain is sacred and has the power to make any land it touches fertile. On a more personal note the land here also has a special association for me, home as it is to both the people that I consider to be my extended family and as a neighbor to where we laid my stepdad to rest.

It was therefore a pleasure to take a pleasant Saturday to hike up to the top, taking photos as I went. The views were spectacular spanning the black mountain range and as I struggled at the top to take pictures while the wind tried to pitch me off the top I was filled with a real sense of accomplishment.

If you do decide to scale the Skirrid I would thoroughly recommend a trip to The Skirrid Mountain Inn, one of the oldest (reputedly most haunted) and welcoming pubs in Wales. I spent many a happy night there as a child enjoying the great food.

It really was a great day to take a trip up this historic mountain.

The sky in the lakeside

I decided to focus on my abstract reflection work again this week, as the last few posts I had done had mostly focused on travel or realistic subject matters. I had noticed on my way into work that I passed a particularly beautiful lake with some lovely reflections.

Setting out with my camera I decided to focus on creating a series of dreamy images of the sky. I've felt in the past that looking up into the sky gives the impression of gazing into some great ocean through which a vessel could glide across a great blue silent sea.

This was what I wanted to create by that lakeside, the dream that instead of standing looking at a lake you might be gazing at another world, one where the horizon and the water's edge blur and becomes instead a never ending sky of water and wind.

Glastonbury and Wells: The lsles of Avalon

Set like a lighthouse amidst the rolling green seas that are the fields of Somerset. Glastonbury Tor is inescapably the first thing you see as you arrive into this beautiful and historic countryside.

I had decided to take a break from city life and catch up with a friend who lived there. So for me my Glastonbury weekend didn't involving getting knee deep in mud, as much as enjoying delicious vegetarian food and sunbathing on the hill of Glastonbury tor.

I started my weekend in Wells, a beautiful and quintessentially English town a couple of miles outside of Glastonbury and got introduced to the cathedral there. It turned out to be as impressive on the inside as it was on the outside. With a beautifully decorated high ceiling and a clock that came to life every hour with miniature figures.

After that me and my friend took an hour to wander around Wells and take in the sights, including a beautiful garden just near the abbey before taking a bus over to the town of Glastonbury.

Now Glastonbury itself is held as somewhat of a sacred site both to the local christains and pagans that have made the town their home. This is due to the fact that the famous Tor has been variously an iron age site, the resting place of an early church, a site mentioned in Arthurian legends and most recently a rebuilding of the church tower itself. The town is also the site of a thorn tree said to be planted by Saint Joseph of Arimthea. Who according to legends struck a staff down that became the famous tree.








It has become therefore somewhere to enjoy both the natural beauty, old worldly pubs and ambient spirituality (and admittedly sometimes slightly unhinged spirituality) which goes with the place. After catching up with my friend we spent the day pursuing shops, enjoying the beauty of the White Springs (a lovely underground building which houses one of Glastonbury's natural springs) and sunbathing on the Tor itself.

After enjoying some food at one of the local restaurants we got some beers and enjoyed the sunset overlooking the town itself. The next day we climbed the Tor and got to enjoy the wonderful views over Somerset that the hill provided, did some more shopping and enjoyed music from a local band playing at one of the pubs in the town.

I ended my last day having a pint and a nice Sunday lunch at the George and Pilgrim before heading home rested, relaxed and spiritually refreshed ready to get back to the working week ahead.