The final stage of the Wayfarer’s Walk, filmed in July 2019, from Portsdown Hill to Emsworth. The walk passes through Bedhampton before meeting the coast at Brockhampton, and along to Langstone and Warblington.
The final stage of the Wayfarer’s Walk, filmed in July 2019, from Portsdown Hill to Emsworth. The walk passes through Bedhampton before meeting the coast at Brockhampton, and along to Langstone and Warblington.
From the downland village of Hambledon, through Denmead and the eastern edge of the Forest of Bere, the path then slowly climbs the north side of Portsdown Hill near Widely.
Unfortunately my camera didn’t record the views from the hop overlooking Portsea Island, so I used a couple of pics found online to illustrate the hazy scene that day.
Six months after the west section, here is the video for the eastern part of the Oxdrove Way
I started back in Old Alresford and proceeded in a 22km loop around Abbotstone Down, Bradley, Lower and Upper Wield and back over classic downland. The walk follows ancient green lanes and ox droves and is often contained within tree tunnels.
In January, on a cold, clear day, I walked the western part of the Oxdrove Way. For one reason or another, I only just round to editing it. The eastern section follows soon.
The Oxdrove Way is a 25-mile looped long distance path in mid-Hampshire. I started in Old Alresford and headed west, above the Itchen Valley to Itchen Wood and the M3, then back over downland via Abbotstone. Much of the walk follows old cattle droves or green lanes.
“May there be peace among the gods,
in heaven and among the stars;
may there be peace on earth, among men and animals;
may we not hurt each other;
may we be generous to each other;
may we have that intelligence which will guide our life and action;
may there be peace in our prayer, on our lips and in our hearts.”
– Sanskrit Prayer.
Stop for a while
Don’t do anything
Conversation
Browsing
Listening
Reading
Watching
Stuff
Stop stuffing yourself
Media
Food
Stop for a while
Sit down
Lie down
Stand down
Nothing special
In breath or in posture
Don’t do anything
It’s okay
Your back is got
Don’t wonder by whom
Or argue if it’s true
Or believe it so
Your back is got
How long is a while?
Awhile
Don’t put on the brakes
Trying to stop thinking
Think
Don’t think
Breathe
Don’t breathe
Relax
Don’t relax
Squirm
Resist
No control
For a while
Here is the final batch of photos taken each day. Spring abounds, with fresh greens, blossoms, the fading of the daffodils and the arrival of bluebells, taking the project full circle. These are mainly taken in Hampshire, with a couple in the Cotswold village of Burford.
Here is the next batch of photos taken each day, taking us from late autumn into winter. The autumnal colours fade out and mornings get crisper, with some lovely morning sun. These pictures were taken mainly around Alresford and Brockwood Park in Hampshire.
Here is the next batch of photos taken each day, taking us from Late Summer into Autumn proper. A mixed bag, including a day’s canoeing in Dorset, a new mountain bike, the Alresford Scarecrow Festival and some of the last flowers of the season.
Here is the next batch of photos taken each day, taking us deep into the serotinal Late Summer season. It includes a visit to London for the Krishnamurti Concert at Cadogan Hall, the coast at Meon Shore and West Wittering. Otherwise most photos are at Brockwood Park and mid Hampshire.
This batch is mainly focussed on our summer holidays in the Swedish archipelago south of Stockholm
He leant back against the hives, and with upturned face made observations on the stars, whose cold pulses were beating amid the black hollows above, in serene dissociation from these two wisps of human life. He asked how far away those twinklers were, and whether God was on the other side of them.
…
“Did you say the stars were worlds, Tess?”
“Yes.”
“All like ours?”
“I don’t know; but I think so. They sometimes seem to be like the apples on our stubbard-tree. Most of them splendid and sound — a few blighted.”
“Which do we live on — a splendid one or a blighted one?”
“A blighted one.”
~ Thomas Hardy
Here is the next batch of photos taken each day. A trip to the Lake District, a rare orchid, summer in full glory. (Random order.)
Spring turns to summer in this batch, nature bountiful, a first aid class, solar cooking, a hike on the South Downs.
Here is the next batch of photos I’ve taken each day. Spring deepens, blossoms and bluebells continue, fresh leaves arrive. This set includes trips to the Isle of Purbeck and Puy L’Eveque in Lot, France.
Gundleton Rail Bridge, Watercress Line
God’s Acre Cemetery and Corfe Castle
Kimmeridge Bay and the Jurassic Coast, Dorset