Rock and Roll

Tortured anticline rock formation north of Port Dafarch

 A small possie of four hit upon a perfect day in November to paddle from Port Dafarch to Abrahams Bosom and then back to play on the tidal race at Penrhyn Mawr, North West Anglesey.

The bright winter sun intensifies the colour of the rock and weaving my kayak in between small narrow spaces shows off stunning sights around every corner

Snacking spot in the sun

Geo that splits deep into the cliff

John surfing the rucked up races at Penrhyn Mawr

The tidal races off North west Anglesey at spring tides with a strong wind can build up to monster proportions.
We visited at neap tide with light breeze so played in a gentle trundle.

Will on the outside race with Lleyn Penninsula in the distance

Chris and Wil on a glassy sea

Moon over Port Dafarch

A Walk in the Woods

Illiff planting an Ash

 I spent a day as a volunteer with The Welsh Wildlife Trust in Nant Y Gain Woods, near Cilcain in Flintshire, Wales helping out with planting an Ash Dome.  The ancient woodland is owned by Iliff Simey, or should I say the woods are shepherded by Illiff in a way that cares for the wood almost like an entire society of plants and creatures all living in a way that they give mutual support to each other. The result is a place that is beautiful to be in with sounds, smells and sights that vary from ground to sky, small to giant where time seems to pass as slowly as trees take to grow or as fast as it takes a fungus to burst out of the ground.

Illiff uses natural forestry practice to support a woodland habitat rather than 'farm trees'  for further info see this link....http://www.naturalforestpractice.com/

 Our little gang used picks and mattocks to dig holes into a hard limestone plateau which has been surrounded with arena like seating with a rope cobweb over head.
It will take decades for this to grow into a dome shaped through cutting and weaving to shape the trees to create a living arena.

Old fallen trees are a food source for fungus, insects and birds as well as providing shelter

wood for warmth and ..

wood for music..children play on giant xylophone

I find it a relief to put work into a project like this and support small local conservation work as sometimes  worrying or complaining about  'The Environment' is too distant and large scale to deal with.

Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness

The onset of Autumnal Evenings has encouraged me to write a new post. Somehow, |I don't feel the need to blog about all the amazing outside things I get up to in sunshine  but captured moments in the midst of wild weather seem like moments to treasure and think about.
I walked with Tim and Pippin (dog) along mile after mile of unsurfaced shrub lined lanes from Lixwm to Rhes y Cae. The lanes were joined by field and woodland. We only occasionally could see the beautiful landscape rolling off to the Clwydians Hills but being closed in focused my attention to the microcosm of songsters and scurriers that live in our hedgerows....what a cosy way to be sheltered from the wild wind that whipped over our heads as we walked along the ancient lanes of Flintshire.

Robin's Pincushion or aka Rose Bedguar Gall- contains larvae of small gall wasp

Hen Caerwys: Archaeology Dig Last Day

The archaeology digs at Hen Caerwys Woods today finished and as both sites were covered up I felt a little sad to see all of what we uncovered closed up like a book to be opened to read again some other day.

The first site which comprised of a huge embankment of loose limestone, possibly once face with dressed blocks in places, enclosed a large rectangular clearing in the woods. Not a lot was found except for a possible shin bone of an animal discovered in some fallen inner wall and a early (likely)  medieval horseshoe. The archaeologists on site though it to be from the 1200s or thereabouts. Also in the box of finds was a flint and a whet stone found by the landowner a few years ago. The limestone pavement that the embankment sits on is beautiful and has smooth curvy hollows and pits carved out by weathering and reminds me of the Burren in Ireland. The experts on site thought it quite a positive thing that not many finds turned up as it suggests the site is indeed very old and makes it likely to be early medieval or older...who knows..it's nice just to wonder about it.

The second site where I spent most of my time was on the site of a long disappeared late medieval house which is though to be one of four close by each other sitting on a limestone bank overlooking pastureland with a stream on the lowest part of the landscape. We kept digging down in waterlogged root infested soil trying to find floor but just came across layer on layer of fallen stone and it was hard to make sense of why the stone wall had fallen in every direction. Subsidence was one theory, an earlier botched dig by amateurs in the 60s was another ( apparently the two men involved did not get on and were thought to have hidden finds from each other..indeed the one big collection of pot and domestic bits and pieces found around that time  has been 'missing' for many years..intriguing stuff!
While we were digging we chatted and pondered over how these people lived. We thought them to be poor families, the kind that work hard for not a lot and prop the richer layers of society up. We wondered if the stream which is quite a walk down and up a hill was there only water supply or whether it came from a limestone spring , one of the many that come and go without warning leaving people without a water supply. Someone suggested that these people were not farmers but were a small mining community possibly mining limestone for an unknown nearby kiln......we were left with more questions than answers but then again that is what makes the past so magnetic as it appeals to our instinctive curious nature.

Butterfly Orchid I found at Hen Caerwys a couple of years ago

Needless to say I am achy this evening from digging, trowelling, carrying bucket after bucket of soil and stones to waste heaps. Everything I wore is caked in muck. On day two I have never seen so much rain fall in one place while people carried on happily working away. No one seemed to mind the horrible weather but buzzed all day about what an amazing place Hen Caerwys is. The devotion and determination of the family who own the land to discovering more about the history of the place and their generosity to making the space available to the community is remarkable.

Archaeological Dig at Caerwys

This weekend I have volunteered to help out with a dig organised by the landowner and Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust to explore some extensive earthworks, lumps, bumps and mysterious embankments in woodland around Caerwys  where I live. I walk through these woods a lot and love to wonder about the strange unnatural shapes that I walk over and who built them and how they lived.

The woods are simply beautiful and the man who owns them has spent years clearing out much of the trees and overgrowth to uncover the archaeology and after years managed to persuade the archaeologists to pay attention to what is there to discover.

The clearing has  allowed light to get to the wood floor and all sorts of wild flowers have grabbed the chance to do their thing and fill the place with colour.

we removed top layer of vegetation using mattocks ( a heavy pic), shovels and hands-hard work!

 This is thought to be a medieval house and there are 3 or 4 houses in a row overlooking fields

section of trench with limestone rain sculpted paving (though to be natural surface) Cleared this using trowels and brushes

higher manmade huge embankment made of limestone enclosing a massive rectangular area- may be roman or iron age

 Nothing has been found on this dig apart from a piece of flint and a bit of red brick or pot but the uncovering is amazing to be part of and it's fascinating to listen to all these experts surmise about what is the story of  this huge area of human habitation.

I'm back for a full day of digging tomorrow and day after...I'll have muscles on my muscles after!

a refreshing run in the rain

I found myself caught out in a downpour at the bottom of Maes Mynan Woods this morning. I had run down to the bottom of the gorge  and was throwing Pippin's ball in the river for him. Before it really got going it had been spitting away and the river that had felt stagnant and dead a few days ago was coming alive and the smell of earth and sweet pine sap and garlic was becoming intense. The air was full of sound with birdsong and tingly rain on leaves.
The water showed no mercy and as I ran up again I could hardly see but it felt so good as all the smells became liquid in the air..passing the meadow full of clover was just delicious. All sound was drowned out by the deafening rain. The path became more liquid too and I slithered along and envied Pippin's in built paw grips. The 'dado rail' path at the top was lethal as it is criss crossed with roots. I have learnt a knack to run down here- use jig like steps-small, fast with pointed toes.
What a way to start the day..aromatherapy and a shower in rain infused with pine sap essence.

Seil Island Scotland June 11

The rain stopped and Monday brought sunshine...yes!

Liz and me headed off to the Bridge over the Atlantic aka Clachan Bridge to enjoy scenes like this all day...

Some days in my kayak feel unreal..I have to pinch myself to make it feel real as the sea can be so heavenly beautiful. There are days when the sea is a challenge and it puts me right in the moment but when the sea has an ethereal feel it makes me melt away to dreamtime.

map check to find Cuan sound

scontastic-Oyster Bar/Easdale

experimenting with portage technique on slippy seaweeed

another fine mess you've got me into

Easdale pier-world skimming stone championships held here

experimental paddling technique with too much slippy weed and not enough water

leaning and pulling on 2 boats works well if you can stop laughing

view of Kerrara from Oban campsite

We missed trying oysters for lunch as Easdale Oyster Bar as we spent too much time floating about in Cuan sound waiting for it to get lively....(we did go back next day to console ourselves with another downpour day to have oysters and I had a scallop/mussel/fish chowder-yum)
After a day of sun and silly shenanagins we set up camp and our midgenets helped stopped being eaten as we ate.
We did plan to kareer in kayaks round Kerarra next day but did it rain..where and how does all that water come from...................we bailed and drove home!

All photos by Liz Jordan..I'm still saving up for a new camera.