IN SEARCH OF BLUEBELLS!

It was great to get out again for an early morning walk.  Today I went with Belinda on a mission - to find an easily accessible bluebell wood, that would be suitable to take her mother to!  As she lives in Wells, we drove to Dulcote and took a bridleway towards the city, until we veered off into woods on the right.  There we were rewarded with a result - drifts of bluebells creating areas of beautiful blue/purple haze!

Unfortunately, even on this lovely route, the problems of graffiti and homelessness cannot be escaped.  We passed several structures in the woods, that had signs of occupation at sometime.  As we passed one (see above top right), we could hear the sounds of someone sleeping inside!

We also passed a Romany travellers camp, complete with horse and traditional  gypsy caravan (see above), and in the middle of the woods (see above, middle right), we came across one of the big problems of the countryside today - fly-tipping... 

Although the sun wasn't shining, and we haven't had rain for ages, everywhere looked green and lush.  It is such a lovely time of year with an array of fresh greens, and the delicate colours of the wild flowers...

LOOK TO THE SKIES!

The interesting thing about walking early in the morning this time of year, is that the light conditions change completely during the course of our time out.  Today when we started it was dark - we could see a half moon (see above, middle, left), and the large tree by the Market Cross was shining brightly with the Christmas lights (above, top, right), that were officially switched on by our local celebrity, the founder of the Glastonbury Festival, Michael Eavis, last Friday.

When out, especially on high ground, we often look to the skies to see wonderful colour combinations.  My camera doesn't do justice to them.  Sometimes it is the sun rising with beautiful pinks, oranges and purples or at other times it is stormy and moody with great cloud formations and delicate pastel colours.  By the end of our walk today (see above), the sky was looking very dramatic and held the promise of a sunny morning. 

  
The other thing that was special about this morning's walk was how warm it was for this time of year.  We were soon unzipping our jackets and I even took mine off for a short time!  Although the trees are almost bare, the grass is still very green and growing - testament to the wet and mild conditions...

We spied this ironic piece of graffiti on a lovely old natural stone wall that encloses the local cemetery.  I feel there are places where this sort of graffiti is not amusing and is just vandalism, defacing a place that has special meaning to some people...

JO JOINS US

Here we are up high above Shepton with fantastic views.

Special day today, our guest walker was my good friend Jo...Helen and myself were interested to hear all aspects of her work, as a Health Co-ordinater and Fitness Instructor ..and a three way conversation worked better than I thought.!

We spoke on how fitness levels are vital to your mental health as much as physical , and Jo explained that a good walk was as good as any high impact exercise for raising endorphins ..Hope she comes along again very soon..

Here we are back in Shepton.  Jo tried to befriend a cat and we saw graffiti, council style!

One footpath we followed took us through a field of maize - I almost disappeared - you can just see my hands!!

MONDAY MEANDERINGS

A warm, but cloudy start to the walk today, but as we were going home, the skies started clearing.  As Jenny said, in the previous post, we do see some graffiti around Shepton, mostly crude text and spray marks but nothing much.  I remember being shocked when I stayed in Estoril, Portugal as every wall of every building seemed to be covered in mindless graffiti - nothing like the fantastic artworks I saw recently at Upfest, in Bristol, Europe's largest Street Art and Graffiti Festival.  These works were done on large boards or designated walls.  As you can see by the photos most were still at the 'work in progress' stage when I saw them.  I would have liked to see them all finished, although I did get a glimpse on our local TV news programme. 

Here are a couple of characters that we saw today.  The gnome was high up on a garden wall and looked fast asleep!  The hiding scarecrow was guarding some veg being grown in a delightful front garden!

We often go past the Market Cross on our travels.  It is the most iconic image of Shepton and is used on posters, guide books etc.  It has been the hub of Shepton for over 500 years and has seen some history.  In 1685 rebels from the Civil War were hung, drawn and quartered from it!  It has altered over the years and recently had a facelift. It is well looked after as you can see by the gorgeous hanging baskets and is the centrepiece of the Friday weekly market.  The signage, which gives distances to local towns and cities, reminds us how convenient Shepton is situated to get to all sorts of places! 

Our arrival on a footpath going to Bowlish was greeted with great distaste by a gaggle of geese who came flying towards us making a tremendous noise.  I can see why they make great guard dogs!! 

SUNNY MORNING

Today's walk was pretty routine, as far as route was concerned, but we always see something absolutely intriguing,  and things that make us smile...  like the Babysham deer - looked stunning in the morning sun. Rather liked this view of it but we thought it should be in a more prominent position, like next to my salon maybe!

We stopped to enjoy one of our favourite houses and front gardens, The Masonic Lodge. We were met by a nice friendly face - a guest at the Lodge, so we stayed and chatted a while. Very interesting to know people are randomly staying in Shepton and enjoying it .

Walking with Helen, I very often get an arty head on, and see arty compositions and interesting things everywhere.  I hope our photos give you a flavour of what we feel and see - beginning to sound like her now!

Graffiti divides opinion and does appear in the most unexpected of places.  Makes a good photograph but can ruin beautiful old walls. A guest walker is joining us for next Wednesday's walk - great to have a third party on board. It will be interesting to see if she gets a word in edgeways!