The end of something?

I am now into my second year on WordPress and this is my plan for the year.

I have changed theme and removed Postaweek2011 from my blog. Now we hit 2012 hard and fast. Swift kick in the nadgers and we are off and running. Seems odd though no longer having all those people posting under 2 banners. Being able to see how they got on each day and week, the struggles and the successes.

Breaking out into the New Year

I started the postaweek last year to help my poetry writing. It gave me targets to reach, a propulsion to write, even when it was inconvenient. This year I want to try to edit more and do more rewrites. To try to put together a collection of sorts. And also to submit work to magazines, lots more of that.

I was surprised at how much people enjoyed the walking posts, it is a pleasure for me to share the pictures and relive the walking. I want to take more pictures and walk locally this year. To see the places we miss because we see them all the time.

Take a bow Mr Shakespeare

A look Across the Year.

This may end up being the longest post of the year. This year has been pretty good, we sold a house and finished renovating another one. Next year we will be gardening, and trying to sell another house in France. All part of the grand consolidation plan we are working to. We have travelled a lot, both between England and France. Plus our road trip to Hungary, which was a great experience. We have managed to see the family more. Next year, I hope for more of the same. I hope that the illness of close friends and family is healed. I hope that we all stay safe and healthy.

I want, a different category. I want to climb more mountains, to write more, to see more. I want a good year, better than the last but with room for improvement in 2013.

Looking forward to 2012

For now, remember the journey is more than the destination. Enjoy the trip. I’ve taken the hint from the Dailypost and answered the questions this time. I’ll see you all next year.

Why did you start the Post a Week Challenge?
To give myself impetus to write more. Both Poetry and Prose. I think I have succeeded in this, and hope my writing has improved as a result. I have to thank everyone who has read and liked my work. Especially those of you who took the time to comment.

Describe the state of your blog at the time you started the challenge.
Lacking focus, apart from my starting premise of Poetry and Travel there was not much to hang it on. But this year has been good for inspiration from others around me, and from the places I have visited. Mostly from the support of people around me.

How did your blog evolve over the course of the challenge?
It surprised me how much I enjoyed writing about the places I have visited.

Did you post as often as you had hoped? Why or why not?
I think I have posted more than I expected to. And pushed through writing during busy times. A big achievement for me.

What type of blogging strategy works best for you?
Write as often as possible, and try to write work of a good standard.

If you could go back to the beginning, what would you do differently?
Don’t know, looking back is never good. Look forward and try to know what you want to do differently

What are you most proud of accomplishing this year?
consistency?

Name 3 great blogs you discovered through the challenge.
Pat Beans Blog
Starbear
Gillian Holding

How can I stop there I have found so many interesting places and people. I’ve put some more in later.

What surprised you about the challenge?
How it made a community of many different people.

What advice would you give to others who want to blog regularly?
Write.

What are your blogging goals for 2012?
To post more in 2012 than I did in 2011. To improve my grammar and punctuation.




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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone, Here’s some more people I have met this year, metaphorically speaking. It’s been a fun ride. No order or priority to this list, just saying hello.

Zendicative
Lesley Carter, travel and adventure
Joybound
C B Wentworth
May Days Are Swell
Broadside
Words vs Pictures
Claire Wade
Planaquarium
Sue Healy

I should probably stop now, there might be a rule against to many links. Anyway, all these and many more. Good luck and happy posting for next year.

Last but most, my wife. She has to live with me while everything happens, thanks and lots of love for everything.

River Torridge

I’ve been trying to get time to post for a week now, and have finally grabbed a moment. Sorry to all of you who have left comments. I’ll get to you.

Proper Telephone and post box. In a Devon village.

River Torridge Ramble

The weather forecast on Friday was at best, wet, with the added bonus of strong winds. So rather than head for exposed rocky cliffs I left our chalet and went for a ramble along the River Torridge. There is very little in the way of marked footpaths, so I headed along the bank following the field boundaries and animal trails. There is usually some kind of way along the edges of rivers, though you need to be aware of the streams that will need crossing and the areas of mud and marsh.

The old Motte and Bailey fort marked on the map is all but hidden by the overgrowth of trees, I could tell from the way it commanded high ground over the river that it would have dominated the area in the past, and the name of the area, Woodford Wood and Woodford Bridge, give clues to it’s reason for being. The clouds were low and grey, not stormy, just full with rain that was to pass in thin bands during the day and leaving enough breaks for the sun to bring out the shapes of trees on the skyline and the lush green of riverside vegetation.

The tracks, after a dry summer and recent wet start to December, have become very greasy. It has an upside though, because the rain cleared old traces of animals and left fresh ground to look for the clues to what animals are living along the river. I’m very much a beginner at spotting these tracks and traces but it makes a pleasant change to be slowing down and taking the time to see what’s around in nature, listening to the sounds of the river and woods as you pass.

Along the stretch I found Otter prints, Deer, Pheasant and small bird tracks. Stoat or Weasel, I’m not sure how to tell them apart. Plus many signs of the routes they take through the woods and fields. Slipways into the river, worn paths under hedges and fences, and the holes of smaller rodents.

Winter opens up visibility in the woods and I was lucky enough to see a herd of Deer walking along the edge of a field across the river, A female and about six or seven young. They drifted along before jumping the fence and heading off to wherever they head to live. The river is quite full due to the rain and crossing some of the streams feeding it proved interesting, sometimes you just need to accept you will get wet or muddy, or both. The force of the water can be seen from time to time, in the debris scattered about the banks, or held on a bend in the water itself. Blockages like this will free themselves eventually.

After the narrow tracks of the river, it was all change as I crossed the bridge at Haytown, entering the domain of man. Past the Olde Mill House (It is spelt like that, no artistic licence from me) and into Bulkworthy. Its chapel is plain and dark with the local stone, well looked after and the village consists mostly of Town Farm. It was time now to follow one of the Bridleways that cross the English countryside. Wide and not too sloshy with mud I had views across the river bottom I had just walked along, out over the heaped domes of the Devon hills.

Open country is a different challenge, and some farmers plough footpath anyway to discourage their use. Usually though you can see the trace of the feet of ages crossing the field. Over stiles and through kissing gates. Into the heart of a farm to return to the Chalet. A pleasant stroll around Devon, with only a little rain to dampen the sky.

Windswept Tree

Vine Detail

Mushrooms

Fox

Don't know what this one is.

First view of the River Torridge from the fort

Little feet, Otter I think

River level Marker

More tracks

Bird Feet

Streams to be crossed

Water Rat Hole, small furry creatures.

Mud! If you walk by a river, its expected

River blockage

Vines on Oak

Tree Line and Blue sky.

More Fungus

Small Waterfall

Church Detail

Church Detail 2

Church Wall Detail

I’ll look at the layout of this post later. Sorry if its a bit rough.

Devon travel

We are spending a week down in Devon. Driving in the west country is like nowhere else in England. Narrow deep lanes, mostly single track. And every trip takes longer than expected. The scenery in summer is wonderful. In this wild weather its is dramatic, with arching skies low clouds and wind coursing across the landscape. The trees are windswept and bare, the fields are lying in wait for the spring.

We drove across country last night, headlights bouncing of the steep sides of the lane and the bushes above. If we had met anyone coming in the opposite direction it would have been interesting. Tomorrow I am heading out for a walk around the cliffs of the North Devon coast, past Hartland point. There is a storm forecast for this afternoon so I hope tomorrow will be wild and woolly.

Sorry I haven’t replied to anyone this week, internet is intermittent at the moment so next week I will be catching up. We are heading around the country to see family and friends before work starts in January on some renovations and repairs on the house. So it will be Birmingham, Nottingham, Doncaster, Manchester. Then home in Weston-super-Mare for Christmas. In between all of this I hope to be able to do some shopping for presents. Who knows how it will go.

I love Christmas and believe that you should go out and choose gifts for people not just get what they ask for. This does lead to some confused looks but hey, that’s the way it goes. It’s the thinking about someone and choosing a gift that counts.

Should be on track next week anyway, I’ll try to get some pictures of Devon up this weekend.

1st December

Today we packed the car. Tomorrow we say bye to our friends, Saturday we head north to the ferry and Christmas with the family. Fair warning, we are on our way. I always believed that packing was an art. Now, each time we prepare to leave, we say to ourselves “only the essentials” when the open boot lid hits the bridge of my nose, I know the car is full. But the temptation to fill the space is almost too much. Our car works hard for its money, it is a working beast, not pretty, useful and does what we need it to do. We will cross half of France, get the ferry Sunday morning, then be home Sunday night to watch the football. (The kids will, I’m sure, object to this plan)

I have posted off two competition entries this month, so we shall see what becomes of them in the New Year. One requiring more than one poem, occupied some time as I ferreted about in my writing folder making choices, we shall see.

For now, a brief trip across France, soon we should have the time to take the back roads. It is Autoroutes with the comfort of steady speed and light traffic. We arrive relatively fresh and in good spirits, mostly.

The car is as full as it has ever been, more things to be returned to England. This time, we are taking paint back to the UK, a first in seven years of renovating houses in France. It is just before six in the morning, not my best time of day, when the dark and the damp make the final checks worse than normal. Water off, lights off, doors locked, a list we are now fairly good at organising between ourselves. Leaving Rilhac should be simple, catching up with the family, seeing friends and Christmas shopping.

Soon we bump along the back roads through fields clear and ready for winter. Misty water coats the windscreen, enough to be a pain, not enough to need the wipers. When we hit the main road there is a mental line crossed. The point of no return. If we have forgotten anything now it is too late and we won’t be going back for it. Passports and tickets being the last check we make before driving off. The headlights make grey out of the darkness, not much of an improvement but better.

We have four hundred miles to cover before we make Ouistraham and the ferry to Portsmouth. For this early start there is nothing of the mountains to see except black shapes beside the motorway, so we listen to an audio CD, a background sound that passes the miles, comfortable above the rumble of travel. Dawn slides down the hill as we start the long descent into the Allier region.

We passed Clermont Ferrand, its black cathedral and the jelly shaped lump of the Puy de Dome a while back still under cover of low cloud. Now as the sun clears the mist a little, leaving just rain we can see a bit more of the passing French countryside. We are leaving the high ground of the Massif Central, foothills compared to the Alps but still a beautiful place to explore, and we drop about 300m to the Allier. This is the point when we think that’s it, we’ve left. And the point on the return journey when the end is in sight. The Aire du Volcans has one of the best views along the famous Chain des Puys along to The Puy de Dome after which the region is named.

The hills are lower now, rolling through the Centre, past Bourge, Vierzon and then a left turn towards the Loire valley and Tours. It always amazes me how much the scenery changes, and as we cross some of the biggest rivers in time passes quickly. We do two-hour stints at the wheel. A throwback to travelling with Rosie dog, who we lost last year. But taking the time, coffee breaks and snacks make for more enjoyable and less tiring travel.

After Tour, we again head north and pass by Le Man with its 24hr circuit. The services here has one of the sports cars in the lobby. We are getting closer now and as we start seeing signs for Caen, we also start to see the directions to Commonwealth and American war cemeteries. A reminder of the 6th of June, when so much was given by soldiers from around the world. Normandy and we start to smell the sea. Ouistraham, the ferry port, fishing boats. We can almost smell the fish and chips now. In the local bar though, I opt for moule frite. Fresh and done well it is one of my favourite foods. After it’s time for the hotel and bed, ready for the boat in the morning.

Next time I write, we will be in England and building up to Christmas.

I like this time of year, don’t you?