We walked from Drewsteignton to Chagford on a rare hot, sunny day. I was being introduced to the walk – “It’s a great walk. Not too difficult.” It is and it wasn’t.
digital technology
Insects and thistles – the detail of walking
Moving away from boats for a moment and on to walking and photography . . .
Two short Cornish walks – spring flowers
The purpose of the walk was the walk, a small group of friends following the coast. We were surprised and charmed by the sheer variety of flowers.
This became a photo challenge for me which I took on – with the result that I have learnt that I have a long way to go before I master the art of flower photography. Some of the results appear below – with qualifying notes.
Photographing at sea to show pace – trial images
In the previous post, I mentioned the difficulty of photographing waves at sea – the boat moves in tune with the waves and it’s difficult to record their size on a still photograph. Yesterday,the wind was gusting heavily and we were at the point when I considered reefing. However, the sails were reasonably balanced and the tiller easy enough to control the boat with one hand while holding a camera in the other. I wondered whether it was possible to share the pleasure I was getting on the water by trying to demonstrate the pace we were going.
Reviewing the blog – a rough path to follow
In February I changed the WordPress theme for this site. This started as a cosmetic gesture – I wanted it to be easier to read and easier to search. However, in the process, it has opened up new possibilities. At the moment, these possibilities are inklings at the back of my aging mind. Discovering them means teasing them out, being honest with myself about what I think I am doing . . . and why. Therefore the aim of this post is to review what’s going on beneath the surface and reassemble the contents. I want to do this without losing the ‘Folksong’ and ’Maritime History’ elements that I started back in 2006. The path I am taking roughly follows this route:
- Visualising the current content
- Reviewing the motives for writing the blog
- Deciding the tools for learning ‘on the job’
- Considering the content and how it might develop
- Putting it all together
- The final tweak . . .
- . . . and Publish
We took the train to St Ives . . .
. . . a birthday treat. The train meandered through Devon – Newton Abbot, Totnes, Plymouth, and on to Cornwall, threading it’s way down the county, stopping everywhere – Saltash, Liskeard, Bodmin Parkway, Lostwithiel, Truro, Par, St Austell, Redruth, Camborne and Hayle, before we changed at St Erth, with time for a coffee in the tiny station cafe. And then Lelant Saltings, Carbis Bay and finally St Ives, to step from the platform into a world discovered by artists long before the holidaying public came to stand and stare, to eat pasties and ice creams and tempt hungry seagulls that know no better.
Gene pools and seed banks – an analogy
In a Radio 4 interview yesterday morning, a student from Bicton farm said that she was looking forward to the lectures on ‘rare breeds’. They had become rare over the years because the popular breeds were more profitable, easier to breed and to manage. The problem was that, in the long-term, the more inbred a species became, the more its vulnerability to disease. Apart from liking the animals themselves, she pointed out that the rare breeds were an important part of the gene pool for sheep, pigs and goats etc.
Beyond Steeple Point 