steam gets to Cotehele

steam arrives at Cotehele this morning ... parking outside the pub of course (well, tea room now).

on Weir Quay 2

we walked along the footpath going North from Holes Hole, and eventually came upon this stunning view of the river and wetlands looking North towards Cotehele Quay (the grey building towards the top left on the river), and below towards Pentillie Castle on our way back.

on Weir Quay

on a stunningly beautiful day we went for a walk along the Tamar between Weir Quay, Holes Hole and Hooe (the white house in the picture is at the head of the Hooe).

the view from Pleasure rock

the Tamar valley just below Gunnislake, looking towards Drakewalls and St Ann's Chapel, on the old railway line from Devon Great Consul mine to Morwellham Quay (see Tamar Valley AONB link for more information about these walks). I wonder how the rock got its name. Below is a picture of Gunnislake from the south side of the valley.

drawn in the valley

a couple of images from the studio of a local artist, Mel Guy (see link for more), which magically capture in pewter the rhythm and laminar flow of the Tamar, plus one photographic image of the water which illustrates the visual synergy of metal and water to be found in her work.



Her studio was open as part of an event arranged by Drawn to the Valley, a group of local artists, and part of the ever flourishing artistic scene in the SouthWest. Martin Clark is another member of this group, who lives in Stoke Climsland and paints many local scenes. Aren't we lucky.

Royal William Yard

the imposing stone edifice on the other side of the water is the Royal William Yard, and in the background is Plymouth, and the hills of dartmoor.

cloudy Tamar

a quiet day on the Tamar, and below the inaptly named grey wagtail, foraging by the side of the road rather than by fast running streams where they usually live.

the old duck and angler

I feel this would be a good name for a pub ...if only, as seen down on the Tamar today above Latchley

wood anemones

most of the time wood anemones are a soft white, but occasionally you find flowers blushed with pink like these, and they look very pretty in amongst the white.

and a better view from Carthamartha

we returned to Bishop's rock this morning (with permission) to get a better picture of this strangely quiet and isolated part of the Tamar valley

tamar flow

lovely colours in the Tamar as it flows over a salmon (?) weir above Endsleigh

down at Inny foot

if you are an avid reader of Spot's blog you may remember a picture of him standing by a tree in the middle of the Inny (see link). Here is the same tree, 10 feet under water. There appears to be a bulge in the water level here presumably because it is where the Tamar (in spate in the background) and the Inny meet. The water level rises dramatically under these conditions.

Below is a tangled wood photo. It turns out that this pond is by a very ancient road down to the ford at this point. In the mist we can hear the faint sound of footsteps of people long gone, tramping towards the future.

bishop's rock, Carthamartha

we were very lucky today because we met Mr Nigel Jonas on our walk. He owns the woodland that leads to Bishop's rock, a rocky crag overlooking the Tamar valley below Carthamartha (and also known as Carthamartha rocks on older maps). He showed us the splendid view from the top of the rocks. Unfortunately, even after all this time, the photographer forgot to reset his camera for the bright light. So this is a somewhat doctored picture of a buzzard wheeling in the valley below. This link will give a better idea of the view (link). It seems to be a very ancient landscape with numerous iron age hill forts, and a bronze age trackway leading down to one of the easiest fords across the Tamar although in this weather, to use an old joke, England would be cut off.

all blogged out

no, not a scene from the valley but an image of the stunning beauty of Monet's lily pond at Giverny which we visited on our recent travels via Santander, Haro, Alquezar, Rodes, Apchat and Chevreuse. It is reassuring somehow to see how similar our own beautiful valley can be to Giverny. And to realise that Monet was truly the father of digital photography.

Giverny

Kit Hill Quarry (!)

What with the wind and rain, poorly knees and Harriet managing to cut her hind leg badly it is time to take a break from blogging for a bit.

If you are visiting the blog for the first time there are many pictures of the Tamar valley and its flora and fauna within the blog, best viewed by using the labels in the list on the left hand side of this page, or by searching on a specific word or phrase.

We will be back when we are all strong enough to go for a proper walk!

a seed is born

himalayan balsam spreads its seeds by exploding the seed pod when it is touched. The fragment is the remnant of the coiled spring after it has released the seed pod. Great fun, but very invasive.

more green from the valley

everywhere seems to be a very luscious green at the moment. This is taken at one of our favourite places to take a dip before the serious business of the long walk begins. A tree has fallen into the river adding to the sense of lush vegetation on the river; sometimes with the birds singing in the canopy it feels almost like a tropical jungle.

more from the Tamar valley AONB

Inspired by the nightjar walk, we decided to explore the Tamar trails created by TV AONB. We started at Bedford saw mills and walked down to the Tamar and then up and down the trail that follows the river. The first photo shows a giant hogweed. It is described as an aggressive and nuisance invader and it is irritant to the skin, but nevertheless it is very impressive. The sheep are grazing in meadows of Blanchdown farm Unfortunately this means you cannot walk along the river bank at this point.


The water in the stream below has stained the rocks a vivid green I suspect this must be due to minerals washing out of mine workings higher up the valley. The foliage also looks an unnaturally bright green and that always makes me suspect that there are high concentrations of metals in the soil. (Is this the explanation, see link )?

river crossing

the Tamar, above Endsleigh, standing on a bar where the Inny comes out. The water levels are very low.

green brushstrokes

somewhere in this green dream there is a grey wagtail

keeping one's head above water

a young heron in a sea of grass, and Chairwoman Mao crossing the Devon Yangtse