Keep Right on to the Top of the Road

‘Look for converging lines’, instructs Jude.  They’re there to add depth and distance, so she wants to see what we can find as illustrations.  So I went to Cádiz, I went to Brussels, I went to Yorkshire – of course.  And finally I went to London.

Here we are on the road by the seafront in Cádiz. The road, our eyes are lead inexorably towards the Cathedral.
Now we’re in Brussels. I quite like it that the street’s more easily seen in the plate glass reflection. And that the lines on the window, and on the pavement are also working towards converging.
Since the Tour de France started in Yorkshire in 2014, dear old Buttertubs has been elevated to being called Côte de Buttertubs. You can cycle it yourself … or not. Look at this picture and decide.
Nothing can top your very first ever walk in the snow. This was William’s first chance, back when he was three.

2020 Photo Challenge #16

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And Then I Toppled In …

About once a month, I re-blog a post from our years in France.  Hunting for a Top Theme for Becky, I came upon this one.

April 19th, 2010

Terre Rouge – Ciel Bleu

Whenever we think we’re beginning to know the areas near home quite well, something comes along to surprise us.

Take Couiza, for instance, a town in the Aude that has been the centre point for quite a few of our walks.  It can offer, within easy reach of the town, a typical Audois landscape which is almost Tuscan, with rolling hills, vineyards and cypresses. Or craggy, scrubby garrigue, almost Spanish looking. Or there’s le Domaine de l’Eau Salée,  where the streams are pink with salt washed from the earth, and have been exploited by man for centuries.

Yesterday, however, we went with le Rando del’Aubo to Terre Rouge, an area near Couiza which astonished us with the rich red colour of the earth which dominated the landscape.

It supports a rich variety of plant life which is just springing into flower: Tiny daffodils, less than 3 inches high, bright yellow potentilla, grape hyacinths.  Bluish grasses bind the dry and sometimes sandy earth, and the air is rich with the strong scent of various wild thymes and lavender.

This red earth is all-encompassing.  And then suddenly, it stops. And we’re back again among more pallid yellowish soils, enjoying views of the distant Pyrenees, and the mountain which dominates this part of the world, Bugarach.

Bugarach. The dominant mountain top around these parts.

The walk was on the hottest day of the year so far, with clear, vivid blue sky.  We shed jumpers, long trousers, and our pasty winter skin turned the colour of that red earth. There was a wide shallow stream at the village where our walk began and ended, and a few of us enjoyed a paddle.  I greatly contributed to the end-of-day bonhomie by toppling in…….

Taken just before I toppled in. Nobody was unkind enough to take a snap of me all bedraggled.

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Top Withens

If you’re a Brontë  fan, particularly of you’re a Wuthering Heights fan, you’ll know all about bleak, cold and windy Top Withens, where Catherine Earnshaw, love interest of tortured anti-hero Heathcliff is said to have lived.

The last time I was there it was a sunny and cheerful day, perfect for striding out on the moors.

But even on a day like that, Top Withens still looks starkly austere.  Enclosing it in a square makes it less so, so I include the original photo too.

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Top Scran (2) … or Top Scran Too

A few days ago, I showed you our top food tip for this time of year – wild garlic.  The local sheep disagree.  For them, nothing beats a mangelwurzel, and this sheep here is jealously guarding her pile of them.  This time, I have no recipes to share, top or otherwise.  Sorry.

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Top Secret! Top Sleuth Needed Now!

The other day we got this postcard in the post.  It’s from a friend, deciding against constant Social Media communication in favour of something a little more personal.  It’s a lovely idea which I plan on copying.  There’s just one problem.  We can’t read the signature, and we don’t recognise the handwriting – who does any more in these days of emails?

Who is our Mystery Friend?*

* Clue.  We don’t think it’s Jonah.  Or the whale.

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Six Word Saturday  

Top Tributes to our Top Key Workers

Scarecrows are appearing all over our village.  Not to scare any crows, but to say ‘Thank you’.  Thank you to all NHS and care workers, to shopkeepers and assistants, to delivery drivers … to everyone in the front line, helping us, and helping patients.  Here’s one, chosen because it’s atop the fence, making sure that all of us who pass by take notice, and are grateful.

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Vertically Challenged

It’s time for Jude’s 2020 Photo Challenge again, and this week, she’s asking us to focus on the vertical.  It’s not surprising that I’m heading for cityscapes on the whole: though not entirely.  I wanted to have something for #15 Squaretops too – so look out for a topsy-turvy image at the bottom of the post.

Here are two riverside skyscrapers: quite similar.  But I like the way that in one – in Seville, on the Guadalquivir – the upward sweeping lines are emphasised by its reflection rippling on the waters beneath: and in the other – in London, on the Thames – it’s the contrast with the blocky cranes that does the job.

Then I chose a couple from Cádiz.  Palm trees.  In one the tall palms lead your eyes to the – rather small – moon, and in the other, two wayward palms making an impromptu arch contrast with the properly upright trees they’re next to.

Back in London, Greenwich actually, the standing figures echo the massed skyscrapers of modern 21st century London.

And I liked this shot from Warsaw. The vertical lines aren’t all that pronounced, but still lead you up to those precariously perched window cleaners.

Finally, an image (square of course) taken on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal near Gargrave.  Have you noticed it’s upside down? Topsy turvy? That’s the water up above, and the trees and sky down below.