Photo diary

Today on my walks I ended up in the village of Addingham.  A small prosperous place with a shop, several pubs and plenty of traditional cottages and posh new housing estates.

Cottages with what looks like a traditional telephone box.

But it is in fact one of the new free libraries that are springing up.  Where you can take a book and leave your own books 

The village church of course.

One of the people I spoke with.

Parks and cottages.

On the way home on this humid day, I took a bus which was full of people and it stank like a public toilet.

  • Not just loony bins. 

    I expect a lot of us were similarly detained in the workhouse too...

  • A few weeks ago while on one of my walks I noticed a village with a clock tower in the distance.

    Today I visited it.

    It turns out it's a large former victorain mental hospital.  Now being turned into luxury accommodation.

    I wonder how many unfortunate autistics were incarcerated here for having behavioural problems and left here to rot?

  • Another hot sunny day.

    I have to be very careful where I walk.

    The heat is definitely having an effect on these sheep.

    My favourite forest photo of the day.

    Flood warnings in a Riverside park.  The irony is that today we're in a drought and the flowerbeds in the park could do with some rain

    This town has a Maypole.  Wonder what kind of pagan rituals take place around it!

    Also a second hand bookstore.  These have become increasingly rare.  I spent much of my teenage years in libraries and second hand bookshops.  They were a safe place of refuge from the outside world.

    And finally another unwelcoming public house.

  • I was going to post a group photo of the people who made it to the summit.

    But will this breach the anonymity rules of this forum?

    Although I am unaware of any connection of the people in the photo with autism or NAS.  They can identify me as the person who took the photo.

  • ..."The Higher, The Fewer..."   

    (Still liking the Pictures very much, and Saying Thanks plus Upvoting, is about all I can do.)

  • Today I went walking with the ramblers association.  After a very strenuous walk I  took photos from the top of the climb.

  • ...That was a quick reply (!), be aware that I am not good at "live" chat, though...

    Thank You for replying, Sir. I spend more than £5 just upon travelling from A to B in London. Also in London, the central areas charge about 200% the prices of the same item (in the same store) than in outskirts. It is known as "Tourist Prices"... 

    But this Thread is not for talking about such things, surely. I always mean what I say, and so this Thread is fer-lipping brilliant, like a breath of fresh air, here, is what I primarily say. I am very glad to see here people doing what I cannot (yet?)... I am not rich either, yet "one day" we may all be...?

  • I'm not rich.  I try to save money by travelling cheap.  And not everything is rosy.

    Some places I visit are so awful that I'm grateful to leave and go home.

    Today I spent £4.90 on a unlimited countywide bus travel ticket.

    £2.50 on lunch ( 2 chicken legs from Morrison's).

    In Skipton it was market day and since the town is prosperous.  The market is overpriced compared to shops back home.

  • Greetings! This is me, upvoting your good self again, and posting in June at a Quarter-Past-Nine... (Aaargh, the light!!... )

    I said before that it would be nice if NAS turned your photos into a calender (to raise funds), but no-one said anything about that...

    Also, please keep going again. This Thread is probably like a "Television Programme" within the midst of "Radio Broadcasts".... i.e. Pictures as well as just commentary. Hopefully anyone knows what I mean, there. 

    (I cannot afford a camera or to travel outside of London, so all of this to myself is AWESOME.)

  • Today we had almost uninterrupted sunshine so I visited  Skipton.  

    The parish church looks small

    But inside we have a café, public toilets, a shop , a children play area and the traditional stained glass windows.

    Nearby we have a castle.

    The front entrance.

    I went on a two hour hike along the canal and through the woods behind the castle.

    Finally a typical English pub on a Friday afternoon.

  • Thank you.

    Today I'm in the market town of Skipton and it's market day.  And we have a clear sunny day. With plenty of visitors & tourists in the town.

    I've just visited Rackems ( a house of Fraser store).  Even at sale prices I'm horrified.  Shoes I was looking at ( was £100, now only £60,. I'm only prepared to pay £10).

  • Robert, I think you're very brave and your photographs are beautiful!

  • From them I learn where the official footpaths go.  Then return a week or two later and walk at my leisure choosing my own routes and walking at my own pace.

    This is a very very good strategy to do. 

    I myself am weeeeird, though: I can follow animal tracks and paths as though I were a Telvision-Cliche-AmerIndian... Look for where the grass bends or for bent leaves upon the trees. Or, alas, litter, put there by humans...

    Thorns and Stinging Nettles are almost always places where "yer common-or-garden human" has never been. When I used to go "rambling", if people gave chase, I would storm through a BlackBerry Patch, Mmwhaaha.  (Escape and food at the same time, there!)  

    Please continue this Thread as you can! (Outdoors is better than Cement and Central Heating.)     :-)

  • I'm considering going on this group walk on Saturday 

    http://www.ramblers.org.uk/go-walking/find-a-walk-or-route/walk-detail.aspx?walkID=3949912

    They are well organized with leaders & back markers and everything. 

    From them I learn where the official footpaths go.  Then return a week or two later and walk at my leisure choosing my own routes and walking at my own pace.

  • I rarely feel anxious once I'm truly out in the countryside, but it soon returns as soon as I'm aware that "civilisation" is nearby.  I share your problem sharing a walk with others though.  It isn't just that I want to go at my own pace, it's also that I like to explore and take my time to let the experience of the things that I find truly sink in. I can happily spend an hour or more fascinated by some unusual insects that I've found or the patterns made by lichens on a tree trunk or wall - especially if I have my camera with me and want to get some good close up shots.

    I have known a few people who seem to treat a country walk as little more than a session in a particularly picturesque gym - rush, rush, rush to get those calories burned.  There is nothing wrong with that of course, and keeping myself fit is part of why I go out - but I always feel like those people are missing the essence of the experience by zooming past so many fascinating things.

  • I have the same attraction to the woods.  I do appreciate all kinds of landscapes, but being amongst the trees is definitely the most calming and fascinating of nature experiences.  As you say, it isn't just the visual beauty of the flora and fauna, but also the way that each type of tree sounds different when the wind blows through it, the chatter of the birds, etc. (though I also share your dislike of the loud, repetitive and monotonous call of wood pigeons - almost as bad as peacocks!) And the petrichor odour of the damp-woodland floor is the most marvellous smell on earth to me.

    And like you, I hate that humans come along and spoil the silence and degrade the landscape with their litter. This enrages me sometimes - to see food packaging thrown everywhere and empty drink containers floating in the plunge pools etc. It is the height of laziness and lack of consideration to carry all of those items out to the countryside when they are full of their contents, yet not bother to carry home a few scraps of plastic and card which weigh almost nothing.  If an empty packet falls from my hand and is caught by the wind, I will take chase and retrieve it if at all possible rather than leave it to spoil the experience for others and possibly harm the wildlife.

  • I still have anxiety issues and panic attacks when traveling alone.

    A few times I've been walking in a group with the ramblers association.  But they are very fit and it's difficult to keep up.

    Walking alone allows me to go at my own pace and choose my own path.  But sometimes I follow a path that just tapers off into nothing and I find myself in dense undergrowth and I have to do a U turn.

    At other times I get panic attacks about my safety.  Worried about attacks from dogs or other people.  Or I just feel lost and afraid to go forward.  Again a U turn.  

    A few weeks later I find myself approaching the same place from a different direction and I realise that there was nothing to be afraid of.

  • You again...!   :-)

    http://www.walkingontheweb.co.uk/index.php/walking-in-the-uk/walkingengland/walkingnorthyorkshire/eborway

    Have a go at that, Good Sir. Or just type EBOR WAY into any WebBrowser...

    As to "Scary Woods"... Not at all scary for myself. A relief from crowds and Tarmacadam, for me. If uncertain, then stop and listen: Use Hearing and Smell as much as Eyesight. That is reassurance to know where is safe to go or not (what is "scary"/"unknown".) No matter how long it takes, stop and listen, and take in the air. Step off the path if safe to do so. Humans (here) always make noise and are clumsy and smash things and twigs and drop litter...

    Also, wear Jeans, not trousers, since Thorns and Stinging Nettles are less able to go through Denim...

    A little "moaning" from me (although this begs a Wildlife Thread again.): WoodPigeons are THE noisest birds in existence. They think that no-one hears or sees them, but they are wrong! If you hear a faint "crashing" sound in a Wood, it may be a Blackbird, but WoodPigeons stomp around and stare and then fly away with a massive clapping noise! I always calm myself by thinking of just how TASTEY the thing might have been, had I caught it...

    Good Fortune to You, as always (!)...

  • Tomorrow it's back to work.  So I went walking today.

    Not a good walk because I've been watching my entire DVD collection of Grimm, a fantasy/horror with lots of grizzly murders in the woods and these woods reminded me of it !!!

    First I was following something called the EBOR way?

    Then the dales way link.

    It's all decisions decisions.  Which path to take. 

    Next time I will try one of the other ones.

    Now the scary woods.

     

  • Archery event.  Something i always wanted to try.

    Me, too. (Pictures Upvoted again!)