Mostly Green Things

Monsters?

A few weekends ago I visited some dear friends in Dumfries and Galloway. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, so a walk through one of the many forests was called for. I had a "Ooh all the plants are so lovely" day and went a bit snap happy with my camera. There were some weird plants though! A copse of monkey puzzles and millions of skunk cabbages. Who would of thought you could find those in D & G.

Monkey puzzles on a telly tubby hill

Jaggy!

Almost tropical!

Very straight trees

A skunk cabbage. Smelly!

Cabbage as far as the nose can smell

 

Rhododendron

Dead tree

Foggy

All photos by Caroline Harvey

Hepburn

Fantastic view and blue skies

With the memories of soggy Spain well and truly behind us, we have had much more successful and cheaper trips down the A1 to Northumberland recently.

 I love my bouldering. I am not super strong, I often fail on problems because I have the flexibility of a plank of wood and will never achieve fame or recognition for my performances, but it is great fun! Especially on sunny days with good friends.

Hepburn was our choice of venue on both occasions. It is a very peaceful place on the moors with great views and some excellent and tricky problems. Many of the problems have obviously not seen much traffic, so be prepared to go with a brush or two, and I highly recommend you invite Emma too as she is ever so slightly obsessive about cleaning, so you can be guaranteed good clean holds.

A pretty wall and tree

Pretty flowers

Dandilion, before I blew it and made a wish

Emma on a warm up traverse

Me getting pumped on the warm up

A slightly more flattering angle of photo than the previous one

Clean me, clean me now!

Emma. OCD. Never.

What a lovely clean hold.

Trough traverse 6c

All photos by Caroline Harvey with the obvious exception of the ones of me which were taken by Emma.

All Gone

The Spring blossom, it never stays for long, but this year I feel it was out longer than usual as the winds did not blow immediately after the buds opened.

 I love the delicate cherry and apple blossom trees that grow all over this city if you care to look for them.

Till next Spring, goodbye blossom.

All photos by Caroline Harvey