#15: B&W Images: Nympsfield Long Barrow - Dursley

Hartstongue Ferns & Steps

#14: B&W Images: Stroudwater Navigation Canal - Ny...

Selsley Common

#16: Dursley - North Nibley

Towards the Tyndale Monument from Stinchcombe Hill

Russet Apples

The western escarpment of the Cotswolds appears to be perfect territory for golf courses. Today's walk was the third or possibly the fourth. The walk circumnavigated the whole course which is situated on the top of Stinchcombe Hill and which, like all of the others, commands spectacular views of the surrounding countryside. The far south point of my last walk was Dursley where I walked round the church but failed to find a really good b&w picture that I liked. Later I thought about something I'd seen in the church and decided I needed to return. That was easy as Dursley was today's walk's most northerly point. I now have the picture I missed last week.

It was much calmer today but still not quite calm enough for the hartstongue ferns. One day ...

The panorama above was beautiful in the early morning light. I've also photographed it with my large format film camera and am anxious to see if that has worked out well too. The imposing Tyndale Monument visible in the distance was built in 1866 to commemorate William Tyndale who first translated the bible into 'Early Modern English' in the 16th century. He was born at North Nibley, the village below the monument. My next stretch of the walk passes close by the monument.

My new boots had their first outing today. Verdict - very comfortable and much better than my three other pairs. Success.

#15: Nympsfield Long Barrow - Dursley

East from Cam Long Down

Yew Berries on John Wilkin's Tomb

One of the challenges this walk poses for me from time to time is not related to the walk. It's the wind. Photography with a large format camera requires the use of very small apertures (typically f32, f45 or f64) in order to secure sufficient depth of field for sharp focus. This in turn leads to having to use very slow shutter speeds in order to let sufficient light on to the film. If a sharply captured image is what you're after, and I generally am, then wind causing the foliage to thrash about like crazy is your number one enemy. At least it is in the relative darkness of a woodland walk which again was the case for a substantial part of today's walk. And today was not just breezy. Well, it started breezy at 8am - and steadily became strong and gusty. All the more frustrating as today I found the best area of the walk so far for Hartstongue ferns of which I'm desperate to make some good photographs. The woodland stretch between Nympsfield Long Barrow and Uley Long Barrow has many fine areas of these beautiful ferns but they were waving about like promenaders at the Last Night of the Proms. I will return when it's calm - John Sexton's "Quiet Light" is called for. I did find one small very sheltered area where I chanced a picture - fingers crossed - which I'll get to process next week.

I stopped for my cheese sandwich lunch on top of Cam Long Down. In spite of the wind it was warm in the occasional sun and I found some shelter from the wind on the lee side where I must admit to lying back and dozing for 10 minutes. I was woken by the croaking cries of 3 ravens directly above me enjoying the uplifting wind from the escarpment. It seems that for the sheer fun of it they were engaging together in their spectacular 'flip upside down' aerobatics. A joy to watch. And several hundred feet above them was an elegant slender sailplane enjoying the updraft in almost the same manner.

October's issue of Cotswold Life Magazine

Cotswold Life Magazine has confimed that a selection of pictures from my walk will be in the October issue.
It is advertising this on the front page of its website with a link to a short article and a link to this blog.

#14: Stroudwater Navigation Canal - Nympsfield Long Barrow

Old Style Stile - with a teepee on the horizon!

Himalayan Balsam

All Saints Church - Selsley

This stretch of the Cotswold way offers two alternative routes from Ryeford (where the Stroudwater Navigation Canal passes through) which split and rejoin, the western route being 1.5 miles whilst the eastern route is 3.5 miles making a 5 mile loop. As I'm walking The Way in both directions I chose to walk them both as a clockwise loop. The eastern route turns south off from the canal towpath and takes a route that leads into a field that eventually passes Ebley Mill. That field is one to take note of for two reasons. As I enetered the field I had my second bull encounter along the Cotswold Way. This time I saw it in plenty of time, saw that he had his six wives with him (and no calves), and I concluded that he was more interested in scratching his leg that chasing me. So I chanced it - and I was totally ignored - whew. At the far end of the field was an incredibly churned up thick gloopy muddy couple of hundred yards which had been liberally supplemented by the cattle and which I couldn't avoid. So, a lot of scraping and cleaning at the far side was called for.

I'd anticipated some interesting photography in All Saints Church at Selsley so I was very disappointed to find that it was under wraps for roof repair. Strictly no admittance whilst work was in progress. It is a church associated with the Arts & Crafts movement so I was hopeful of something a little different. I'll have to return.

I first became aware of Himalayan Balsam about 30 years ago when I saw a few plants alondside a local river. Now it grows profusely along so many of our river banks and damp boggy areas. It shows just how successful an invading species can be away from its home.

I'm looking forward to processing a couple of today's b&w images - one of a disused quarry whilst the other is a conventional landscape view - clouds and fields. I keep hoping that one day there'll be absolutely no breeze whilst I'm walking past a bank of hartstongue ferns. There have been a few banks of these beautifully photogenic ferns along the way, but they've always been swaying. And as they grow in very shaded areas a slow shutter speed is always needed.

#13: B&W Images: Shortwood Spur - Stroudwater Navigation Canal

Stroudwater Navigation Canal

Ryford Railway Bridge

Disused Lock Winch