Adventure Time: O'er Hill and Dale
Sep. 28th, 2014 09:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tealinWa-hey internet, it's time for more photos!
Whilst an unemployed bum, I figured it was best to make the most of my lack of contribution to society, and so took to the rural byways of England with another no-good layabout who happened to be a friend of mine. And though those feet in ancient time walked not on England's mountain green, had there been a reasonable travel package from Jerusalem at the time, they might have enjoyed a ramble in this green and pleasant land.
First up was a leisurely stroll over the South Downs from Lewes to Brighton ...
Lewes looked a charming town, as well as historical, but we had walkin' to do so I only got a snap of this Carrollesque garden.
We took the left track up the down. This got us onto the South Downs Way, which is like super ancient and stuff. I had a bit of a nerdish breakdown when my travelling companion informed me how much history I was walking on.
Real poppies!
If you've ever wondered what a scarlet pimpernel looks like ... this is it.
Brighton Pavillion, predating Mary Blair by 170 years.
Brighton has supposedly become the hipster capital of Britain, and as readers of this blog will know, I love hipsters. Here is one of many charming and eclectic alleyways in the old part of town.
From what I had heard, and the few images I'd seen, I'd thought Brighton would have a similar feel to San Francisco, but it actually reminded me quite a lot of San Diego. I suppose that makes sense as San Diego was a popular place to take the sea air as well, so it's a case of convergent evolution. Perhaps San Diego was supposed to remind one of Brighton, rather than the other way around.
Need an ironically chauvinistic wedding cake? Choccywoccydoodah has you covered.
The gracefully curving station ... bye bye Brighton!
Next was a trip through Wind in the Willows country, with a brief side trip to Sleepy Hollow.
Ignore the digger.
Kenneth Grahame lived not too far away so we had fun associating landmarks with parts of the story. There was little doubt as to Toad Hall.
The village of Hambleden was impossibly adorable (and had most excellent food); the area reminded me ever so slightly of southeastern Vancouver Island and made me wonder if the early settlers of the Vancouver Island Colony wanted to recreate what they knew from home. It could still be done!
We climbed a hill intothe Wild Wood a beech wood, which was as one would expect of a beech wood, until near the top there was a patch of strange lianas with no identifiable leaves. ??? On a later walk with other friends a similar vine was called out as a wild clematis. I don't know if that's what these were but all I saw were beech leaves, I'm just saying.
I am still not over taking photos of green. Expect this to resume in May.
The walking guide said 'check out the church, it's worth a side trip.' Boy, was it! But not in the way expected. First of all the churchyard had some yews that looked as if they move around at night ...
... then there was the vampire house ...
... and the tomb which was not a movie set at all, though you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise.
The family herald seems to be a stag, and all the headstones in the fenced-in vicinity of the tomb bore that icon, which is not remotely creepy at all.
But shortly down the trail was a view of the sort of countryside that gets poems written about it, and all residual cobwebs vanished.
A very trimly tailored beetle joined us for drinks on the riverfront, and then we were off back to London.
I believe this was the Twyford train station ... some little Victorian job in a minor town, yet they bothered to build in these little details and take the time to paint them ever since. Why can't we have nice things like that nowadays? Does everything have to be Utilitarian Minimalist? It might make some jobs, at any rate ...
Next time: anturiaethau yng nghymru! (... which the internet assures me is 'adventures in Wales', in Welsh. Welsh-speakers, please feel free to point and laugh.)
Whilst an unemployed bum, I figured it was best to make the most of my lack of contribution to society, and so took to the rural byways of England with another no-good layabout who happened to be a friend of mine. And though those feet in ancient time walked not on England's mountain green, had there been a reasonable travel package from Jerusalem at the time, they might have enjoyed a ramble in this green and pleasant land.
First up was a leisurely stroll over the South Downs from Lewes to Brighton ...
Lewes looked a charming town, as well as historical, but we had walkin' to do so I only got a snap of this Carrollesque garden.
We took the left track up the down. This got us onto the South Downs Way, which is like super ancient and stuff. I had a bit of a nerdish breakdown when my travelling companion informed me how much history I was walking on.
Real poppies!
If you've ever wondered what a scarlet pimpernel looks like ... this is it.
Brighton Pavillion, predating Mary Blair by 170 years.
Brighton has supposedly become the hipster capital of Britain, and as readers of this blog will know, I love hipsters. Here is one of many charming and eclectic alleyways in the old part of town.
From what I had heard, and the few images I'd seen, I'd thought Brighton would have a similar feel to San Francisco, but it actually reminded me quite a lot of San Diego. I suppose that makes sense as San Diego was a popular place to take the sea air as well, so it's a case of convergent evolution. Perhaps San Diego was supposed to remind one of Brighton, rather than the other way around.
Need an ironically chauvinistic wedding cake? Choccywoccydoodah has you covered.
The gracefully curving station ... bye bye Brighton!
Next was a trip through Wind in the Willows country, with a brief side trip to Sleepy Hollow.
Ignore the digger.
Kenneth Grahame lived not too far away so we had fun associating landmarks with parts of the story. There was little doubt as to Toad Hall.
The village of Hambleden was impossibly adorable (and had most excellent food); the area reminded me ever so slightly of southeastern Vancouver Island and made me wonder if the early settlers of the Vancouver Island Colony wanted to recreate what they knew from home. It could still be done!
We climbed a hill into
I am still not over taking photos of green. Expect this to resume in May.
The walking guide said 'check out the church, it's worth a side trip.' Boy, was it! But not in the way expected. First of all the churchyard had some yews that looked as if they move around at night ...
... then there was the vampire house ...
... and the tomb which was not a movie set at all, though you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise.
The family herald seems to be a stag, and all the headstones in the fenced-in vicinity of the tomb bore that icon, which is not remotely creepy at all.
But shortly down the trail was a view of the sort of countryside that gets poems written about it, and all residual cobwebs vanished.
A very trimly tailored beetle joined us for drinks on the riverfront, and then we were off back to London.
I believe this was the Twyford train station ... some little Victorian job in a minor town, yet they bothered to build in these little details and take the time to paint them ever since. Why can't we have nice things like that nowadays? Does everything have to be Utilitarian Minimalist? It might make some jobs, at any rate ...
Next time: anturiaethau yng nghymru! (... which the internet assures me is 'adventures in Wales', in Welsh. Welsh-speakers, please feel free to point and laugh.)
