A Monochrome Look Back at Lockdown

Browsing through my photos of five years ago, it was soon clear that they were all local views. Scenes taken during my solo Covid Lockdown wanderings exploring every local path that I knew, and some that I didn’t. We’re limited by having a river near our house, with no local bridge. So instead of having a whole circle of walks at our disposal, it’s only a semi-circle. That didn’t stop me discovering woodland I hadn’t explored, hitherto uninvestigated quarries and farmland, secret tracks near the river. I didn’t always take my camera, because I preferred being ‘in the moment’ as I tried to identify birdsong, enjoying clouds, grasses, emerging blossoms and flowers.

And just one from our village, where families got busy confecting scarecrows celebrating all the keyworkers who kept on working while we all stayed at home.

For Leanne’s Monochrome Madness.

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

32 thoughts on “A Monochrome Look Back at Lockdown”

  1. Such an odd time. I remember glorious weather at the beginning. I’ve lived in Bath for well over thirty years but still discovered paths and back roads I’d never been down.

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      1. I feel a bit guilty too. Lucky to have the space of a house and garden, and although we were limited to a 5km radius of home in the worst of it, there were plenty of parks to explore, and there was one that intersected with my BFF’s 5km, so we could meet up and stroll around and chat.

        I also used to walk around the neighbourhood each day and select my Garden of the Day and post it on our local Facebook group with a description of the garden and why I chose it. So many people were using the time to spruce up their house and garden, it was easy to find a lovely places, and it was a good way to make connections with people who were usually out at work.

        Introverts generally fared better, and it must have been awful for extraverts.

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      2. You clearly had a creative way of approaching that strange period and one that involved your community too. What a lovely way to make connections! Yes, I was an only child and used to my own company from an early age. I’m sure that helped.

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  4. I wonder whether we’d all be so obedient now? I regret not driving to the beach in that glorious weather. I got very bored of my lanes. Love your heron and the lambs in their oversized suits.

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    1. Oooh, you’d have been jumped on here if you’d gon out in your car without a good excuse. I think fear kept people obedient. I wasn’t particularly a disinfect-the-letterbox type, but I know plenty who were..

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  6. it was a strange old time, fortunately I had some interesting very local paths to wander around found all sorts of stuff to take photographs of, and Was generally not unhappy. kept in contact with good friends on Zoom… one thing that tech was useful for

    Love the trees in P11700112

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  7. Margaret, it was indeed a dark time for a lot of reasons. I, too, found solace in walks and paying attention to the world around. It gave me hope to have strength for a better world. that’s why I enjoy the sunsets when I can see them. Stay strong and hopeful. Peace.

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  8. It was a very surreal time and such beautiful weather through April/May. Like you, I enjoyed the solitude and appreciated the privilege of having open empty spaces to wander in. The challenges that followed, for us as a family, will remain my overall memories but at this moment five years ago, that was yet to come. And the sun just kept on shining.

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  9. It seems strange to look back on those days now, with the perspective that coming out the other side has given us. Like you I discovered places I’d never previously been, despite living here for decades!

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  10. Those were sad times, and yet…there were a few good things that came out too. My husband and I lost his brother to covid….but we were home during Katie’s last couple of years, so she got to have her people near her all the time as she got older and then sick.

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  11. I can hardly believe now, looking back, how we lived then. Our walks were necessarily urban but they improved my observation skills and I noticed all sorts of details of the buildings around me that I had previously been oblivious to. I still had my mother at that point and keeping her safe was a real worry so my memories are definitely not happy.

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  13. Oh Margaret! These are profound photo memories!! The COVID-19 lockdown was a unique period, revealing our resilience despite the uncertainty. It highlighted our adaptability and strength in unprecedented circumstances.

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      1. I recall receiving a call from my sister on Christmas Day 2020 (we were already in lockdown) Her whole family, including my mother, who was 89 at the time, had tested positive for Covid19. It was a frightening time.

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