The photo of the Germander Speedwells and Yellow Archangel was taken in the beautiful woodland near Thomas's memorial.
I apologise for pinching the title of Edward Thomas's book - his last one (published in 1913) before his beautiful prose flowered into stunning and evocative poetry.. Over the Easter weekend, Matthew Oates is on Radio 4 each afternoon, speaking of Edward Thomas's journey from London to Somerset (the Quantocks), a journey of some 130 miles by bicycle. I was a little disappointed that this programme was only 10 minutes long (and not the half hour I was expecting!) but I am just listening to it again
Anyway, I was out and about yesterday and on my way back from the horse sale, the road over the mynydd was blocked by a tractor and a load of hay, and someone trying to fix it. I backed up and reversed and came home the way least taken . . . It was a regular route for us at one point, and I used to go that way every day when I was at Uni at Lampeter. Until that is, we had a really icy spell and a car hit mine. I had stopped, as I could see him coming towards me, but he was going too fast and hit an icy patch and did minor damage to my old car. Remembering the awful rabbit-in-the-car-headlights feeling as the car shot towards me made me very disinclined to go that route that winter, and so I took the other way and have been going that way ever since.
Anyway, it was an absolute treat to go a different way. The scenery is rather wild and woolly and there are plenty of pine trees planted amidst the peaty moorland, all covered with anthills or tussock grass. Where the tussock grass is behind the sheepwire at the edge of the trees it has sprouted a shaggy top like a beige anemone. Where it is sheep-nibbled it is like stubble. With the sun on the moor, it assumes, at this time of year, the hue of a slightly undercooked Digestive biscuit . . .
I may return to this tomorrow . . .
Such lovely views - they seem to stretch on forever - and the flowers (how I long for some colour here - still snow on the ground I hate to say)....
ReplyDeleteFunny isn't it how going another route can be such happy adventure. I know just what you mean about avoiding certain routes in bad weathers - making them all the more delightful come better weather :-)
Hugs
Issy
We still have snow on the Brecon Beacons Issy, as you'll see in my next post. There are tiny little pockets of Spring here, but nothing like the full-on spring (which was virtually straight into summer last March) we had last year. Still very very cold.
ReplyDeleteI have read of 'digestive biscuits'--which I suppose in America we would interpret as a 'cookie.' Somehow they aren't sounding appealing, especially under-baked!
ReplyDeleteMoors are looking like the much higher altitude high plains of the interior west.