Wordsworth's daffodils

It was on this day in 1802 that Dorothy and William came across their 'golden host' on the shores of Ullswater, and they were splendid yesterday too. 

"Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
    Fluttering and dancing in the breeze"

                                  

Wordsworth was walking back to Grasmere with his sister on 15th April 1802 (and on the shores of Ullswater near Gowbarrow Park) when they came across the scene that gave rise to "I wandered lonely as a Cloud..." 

Dorothy, describes the sight equally well when she wrote in her Journal..."We saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road. They grew among the mossy stones about and about them; some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness; and the rest tossed and wheeled and danced, and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind, that blew upon them over the lake; they looked so gay, ever glancing, ever changing."

Pooley Bridge to Glenridding - the Ullswater way

The Ullswater way is right round the lake and 20 miles, so we decided to do this as  two part walk. Today we started at Pooley Bridge and walked the way to Glenridding before returning on the steamer. The path was varied and well waymarked, with the daffodil logo,  initially through woods and fields; then through recently felled conifers and into woodland with superb old trees and out onto the open fell. The path was great - flat and yielding superb views over the lake. 

Portnahaven lino cut

Well it won't be long until we are back up ....but in the meantime I'll have to do with printing off a linocut!

Dob's Linn graptolites

A cold trip out to Dob's Linn, near Moffatt. This is a classic locality for graptolites - various species - made famous by the work of Charles Lapworth.

Quoting from www.birmingham.ac.uk/facilities/lapworth-museum/about/lapworth

Lapworth recognised the importance of the graptolite fossils within the rocks of the Southern Uplands, and how they could be used to zone and correlate the sequences across the area. He realised that in order to record individual rock units, and associated graptolite biozones, the area had to be mapped in great detail. He pioneered the use of detailed, large-scale geological mapping, which proved vital for the interpretation of the geological structure and history of the region. His work resulted in the Geological Survey having to re-map and re-interpret the entire area, and producing in 1899 the great Memoir on the Geology of the Southern Uplands of Scotland which has been described as 'a monument of the man [Lapworth] who made it possible'.

The photos below show different graptolites that we found linked to their stage in graptolite evolution. These are likely to be Number 1: Dicellograptus, No 2: Climacograptus and No 3: Rastrites.

Carrifran Wildwood

An interesting walk up this hanging valley. It was cold, but spectacular. The valley has, thanks to evidence from pollen analysis from peat cores, been replanted with over a half a million trees - native species. The aim is to restore the natural habitat that once existed, before man felled and over-grazed the habitat. More details are given on the Carrifran website: www.carrifran.org.uk. I look forward to going back in warmer conditions when the flora and fauna will be more evident. The clouds were atmospheric as they rolled in and out of the valley!

Port Charlotte hand-coloured lino cut

Today I finally got round to labelling and packing these up!

Kynance Cove oil painting.

It wasn't as sunny as this when we were there, https://juliagarner1.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/predannack-wollas-to-kynance-cove.htmlbut here's a 60 x 60cm oil painting of Kynance Cove. The view is from the Mullion side of the cove.

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