Tag: Dartmoor

Lazy Poets Thursday Poem

Posted on Posted in Devon, England, Photography, PoetryTagged , , , , , , , 24 Comments

The Dartmoor series continues with a distant view of Brentor and I’ve posted a larger image then usual so that you can zoom in to the horizon and see the church.

2012 Oct 06_1364_edited-1

Brentor

St Michael’s tower atop volcanic cone

presiding over broad sweep of moor

with expanse of green pasture and hedge

and with barren peat soil to the fore

built on solid granite eight centuries past

you perch on sacred pagan land

with unconcerned remains of thirty nine

lying north to south beneath Christian floor

traces remain of what once was so fine

crafted Before Christ by sturdy hands

   no longer standing the ancient hill fort

but in perpetuam it’s ghosts will hold fast

Lazy Poets Thursday Poem

Posted on Posted in England, PoetryTagged , , , , , 7 Comments

My Dartmoor series continues.

Meldon dam

Meldon Dam

West Okement River

you ran through granite incision

 you splashed your path

through blanket bog

already rendered barren

its nutrients washed away

 by the rainfall of millennia

 Neolithic sapien arrived

when ice age departed

devoided trees to hunt out

forest animals

Industrial Revolution

reached your western land

 rock was quarried

iron path hammered

you were dammed

to quench the thirst of Devon

Sidmouth Folk Festival, a bit of a dance!

Posted on Posted in Devon, England, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , , , , , 24 Comments

For one week every year at the beginning of August the town of Sidmouth burst into life and at the seams with visitors to the folk festival. There is music, dance, theatre and story telling in venues big and small all over the town. Market traders line the seafront and everywhere is a riot of colour. Here are a few of the photos I took last night.

Another good reason for you to come to Devon!

Travel Theme: Wild

Posted on Posted in England, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , , , , 15 Comments

Ailsa has chosen ‘Wild’ as her travel theme this week and I’ve chosen Scorhill as my wild destination. The drive up the hill is only around three miles from a little town but it’s steep, narrow and the Devon banks are high some of the way. If you’re lucky and get one of the half dozen parking places then you can walk a little higher before dropping into the valley. At the bottom lies the stone circle in my photo – I’ve never managed to find a way of capturing it so that it looks like a circle I’m afraid. The cirlce is believed to be Bronze age, making it up to four thousand years old but artitacts from eight thousand years ago have been found there.

Scorhill

I hope Scorhill is wild enough for you, but there will be wilder here !http://wheresmybackpack.com/2013/08/02/travel-theme-wild/

 

Lazy Poet’s Thursday Poem

Posted on Posted in England, Photography, PoetryTagged , , , , , 11 Comments

I was inspired by a TV program, A Poet’s Guide to Britain, and so  think I might do a Dartmoor series. Of course this depends on how lazy I am . . .

Houndtor

On Houndtor

The glistening granite of millennia

clings like the crest of a dragon

on the horizon beneath a thunder cloud sky

scramble a pathway between and look east

to where a habitation of stone once lay

but now sprinkled like so many marbles

on soil trampled and bovine nibbled

leaving only echoes of medieval voices

causing ears to question when mist descends

to infuse ancient hearth where fire burns no longer

and generations that huddled have migrated

to pleasant valleys far from nature’s scorn

replaced by fair weather wanderers

unaware of those who stepped before

Weekly Photo Challenge: The Golden Hour

Posted on Posted in England, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , , 21 Comments

I’d pretty much given up on posting this week but I wasn’t too happy with that because I’ve only missed one or two in more than two years. I have very few early morning shots, not because I don’t get up, I just don’t go out. It’s either too cold in winter or dawn is much too early in summer!

Then I remembered an evening on Dartmoor a couple of years ago, when I went especially for the sunset in September. These photos are taken at the same place, within twenty minutes and facing different directions. Somehow they are in reverse order below!

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/07/12/the-golden-hour/

Jake’s Sunday Post: Bridge

Posted on Posted in England, Photography, Travel, UncategorizedTagged , , , , 25 Comments

‘A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road,
for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle. There are many different designs that all serve unique purposes
and apply to different situations. Designs of bridges vary depending on the function of the bridge,
the nature of the terrain where the bridge is constructed and anchored, the material used to make it,
and the funds available to build.’ says Jake.

My bridge has been around a very long time. It may be small but must have kept an awful lot of feet dry so was well worth the enormous effort involved in creating it from a slab of granite. Small clapper Scorhill

Jake’s post with his clever animations can be found here http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/sunday-post-bridge/

Travel Theme: Pathways

Posted on Posted in England, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , 17 Comments

Dartmoor National Park has over 450 miles of permitted access footpaths. You will find gentle strolls with fabulous views and rugged long distance hikes for the intrepid. Wildlife is abundant, there are quaint villages, old stannary towns, bronze age burial sites and lots of legends. I have explored many areas but there are a few places that I will always go back to, Scorhill and Houndtor are top of my list.
The paths in my photos, are narrow tracks worn into the grass that have been walked for centuries. Houndtors rocks are a climbers paradise and you will find someone dangling from a rope on most days! Once you reach to top the view opens out towards Haytor, Dartmoors most visited site, and in the valley below are remain of a medieval village. It must have been a bleak place to live back then.

I have posted quite a few times about Dartmoor, see my tag cloud for more and join in with Ailsa’s theme at http://wheresmybackpack.com/2013/05/24/travel-theme-pathways/