Celia Hart's blog about what's going on in and around her studio.
Art, printmaking, inspirations, gardening, vegetables, hens, landscapes, wild flowers, East Anglia, adventure, travel.

Monday, 2 May 2011

May Day

Somewhere mingled in with Easter and the wedding of the century and all those bank holidays, April blended into May – I hope you all had a lovely May Day!

I spent May Day walking outside my comfort zone and not just because Tarragon our beautiful Lavender Araucana cockerel, in a moment of hormone-fueled rage, speared my ankle with one of his spurs (and yes it did hurt . . . a lot); but the main reason I was in unknown territory was that I was walking in Wales . . . Cliff and I went to The Gower for a few days and on Sunday (after a little practice walk, to test how well my ankle had healed, went well on Saturday afternoon) we walked from Llangennith to Rhossili and via the beacon on the top of Rhossili Down and back via the magnificent sandy beach, a total of 11 miles – and that meant I had to do hills!

As you probably know if you pop into my blog regularly, I'm a Fen girl and a 'hill' is land above a couple of metres above sea level; if you were to pile up Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, like a stack of pancakes, they wouldn't be as high as the top of Rhossili Down! And although I can walk up hills without puffing too much, hills as things scare me . . . but this one had a big flat beach next to it and a huge expanse of sky all around, which made me feel at home.

The weather was overcast but warm, and the wind blew the cobwebs from our minds and the sand blew in curious strands across the beach to the crashing surf . . . I won't describe it, you can watch the movie . . .



The soundtrack is 'The Lark Ascending' by Vaughan Williams
to remind me of the skylarks that were singing all around us
as we ascended Rhossili Down.


Here's a map of the route - click on it to enlarge.


Celia
x

BTW if you are unable to view the video
please let me know and I'll try to fix it.
Posted by Celia Hart on Monday, May 02, 2011
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13 comments:

  1. Anna2 May 2011 at 21:33

    Your post made me chuckle - I spent the first eighteen years of my life in Peterborough so thoroughly understand your definition of a hill. My mother suffers the opposite fear as she grew up in the hills just outside Rome and then came to live in the Fens :)

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  2. Threadspider2 May 2011 at 21:53

    11 miles on hills is a goodly walk for a fen girl with a speared ankle! Glad you enjoyed it. Happy May to you too Celia.

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  3. Anonymous2 May 2011 at 21:55

    I can't get the hang of flatlands at all. To be honest I think I find them a bit scary. On the other hand when puffing up the hill on my bike I do wish I lived in the Fens :)

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  4. Matron3 May 2011 at 07:34

    I had a wonderful holiday on the Gower a few years ago. Stunning beaches!

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  5. Unknown3 May 2011 at 09:57

    I went on a trip to The Gower for my Geography O' Level which was more than 5 years ago I can tell you! but what I remember of it was beautiful... you should come up to the Lincolnshire Wolds... gentle rolling hills and some stunning walks and you can stop by my house for cake!

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  6. Kath3 May 2011 at 12:49

    I grew up in Manchester, in sight of the Pennines. We used to say, if you could see them clearly, it was going to rain. (If you couldn't, it was raining!)

    The Holderness peninsula where I now live, seems VERY flat (like Norfolk!)

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  7. Chrissie3 May 2011 at 12:56

    What a wonderful walk - the beach could almost be Holkham! (Nice piccie at the end...)

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  8. petoskystone3 May 2011 at 14:27

    it isn't the height of the hills but the narrowness of the paths which worry me! ;) what a lovely video--thanks so much for sharing. & that's another cd on the wishlist....

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  9. dottycookie3 May 2011 at 19:04

    Ouch to the ankle laceration.

    I miss hills.I grew up walking on the South Downs, and then we used to live in upstate NY with the Adirondacks and Catskills close by; and Cambridge is ... well ... you know.

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  10. Chicken lover3 May 2011 at 19:17

    Hi Celia
    as a Derbyshire lass I am used to hills, in fact we live at the top of a very steep one!
    I would love to explore the Gower peninsula, one part of Wales we have not explored yet. We too spent the weekend walking - 7 miles on Cannock Chase with a pub to finish!
    Jane

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  11. Ben3 May 2011 at 20:35

    We spent last Christmas at Rhossili, and there was snow on the beach. The steps down from the village had icicles dripping down them and the streams on the beach were frozen. There were still about 20 crazy people surfing on boxing day. I have never been so glad to have a coat on.

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  12. Janet/Plantaliscious9 May 2011 at 10:23

    That's a beautiful walk, and a far better introduction to proper hills than e.g. Snowdonia! The view over the beach and sea is wonderful, I am envious, I haven't done it for years.

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  13. erasercarver17 May 2011 at 18:36

    Such a beautiful video, the beach and hills, the landscapes of my life :)

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