Good Friday

'There they crucified him, along with the criminals - one on his right, the other on his left. 

Jesus said: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." ' Luke 23: 33-34

Lee Abbey sunset

So, that was my holiday journal... I took so many photos! I hope I haven't been boring about it. I wanted my own record of a very enjoyable 'grand tour' of the south west of England  - and anyway, I haven't been taking many pictures at home recently.

Finally, just because I can't not show this - here is another sunset shot, taken during the time I was at Lee Abbey, Devon. The sun drops down over Lee Bay into the sea and each night it looks different, depending on the cloud cover. Irresistible to watch - and to photograph. It was like having your very own light show, night after night. As the sun neared the sea, it seemed to change shape from a sphere to an oval. Absolutely compelling. It seemed as if there should be a symphony playing but instead all was quiet. Even the people watching stopped talking and simply enjoyed one of the masterpieces of God's creation. Such peace.

"If I can put one touch of rosy sunset into the life of anyone, 

I shall feel that I have worked with God."

G K Chesterton

Devon: Coastal detail

Sometimes, capturing the 'essence' of a place is as much about the detail as the wider view. These are a few of the details that I was drawn to as I wandered around Porlock Weir, starting with a hidden heart that reminded me that I am loved.

And 'the one that got away'... or at least, tried to!

Devon: Porlock Weir

We spent a day down at the pretty coastal village of Porlock Weir, a few miles along the coast from Lee Abbey. Our brief was to seek to capture the essence of the place. There has been a port here for over 1000 years, though many of the cottages, some of them still with thatched roofs, date from the 17th century. The harbour is tidal (and again, the tide was out!) and mainly now used for leisure craft. The bay is relatively sheltered and there is a tale told of how, in January 1899, the Lynmouth lifeboat was unable to put out to sea due to a storm. It was hauled by men and 20 horses over the very steep hills to Porlock Weir, where it was successfully launched and rescued 13 sailors.

I found it hard to know whether to concentrate on the shingle beach: all soft blues, greys and pinks, or the more colourful area around the harbour. In the end, I tried to cover both!

Devon: Quizzes in the Valley of the Rocks

The area on the North Devon coast between Lynton and Lee Abbey is known as The Valley of the Rocks - for obvious reasons. There's an exhilarating walk round the coastal path.

Most of the time I was at Lee Abbey, the valley was full of film vans as they were making a movie, a Games of Thrones type thing, I believe. It is a bit wild and bleak and has often been used in film and TV series as well as providing poets, painters and writers down the years with inspiration. I had a walk there on one of the days when there was a sea fret, so it was very atmospheric.

It is also noted for a herd of feral goats that live there, which some people love and some hate. They are very smelly if you have a close encounter with them! See how many you can spot in the photo below. 

There are, of course, many myths and legends associated with the valley. One is the White Lady. Can you see her in the photo below, standing on Castle Rock, in the swirling mist? 

For a long time, I assumed she was the face I can see in profile on the left below... I can also see a Yorkshire man with a jutting chin and a flat cap, again in profile, on top of the outcrop on the photo below right. What fun you can have with pareidolia!

Devon: Contemplation

One day, our theme was 'Contemplation'. That's not difficult at Lee Abbey. Around the house and on the estate there are many places to sit and contemplate, often with wonderful views of Lee Bay. There are delightful, meandering walks through the woods and a wealth of wildlife, carefully nurtured by the farming and estate management systems used there. These are some of the images that caught my eye that day:

The vantage point known as Upper Jenny's Leap gives a great view down onto the beach. The spot is supposedly named after a sad young woman, Jennefried, who, in the 1600s, was due to marry but then discovered her lover had married someone else. Legend has it that she wandered the estate all night and in the morning her body was discovered by the water's edge. Happily the people by the water's edge when I looked down were alive and frolicking! I loved the patterns the waves were making.

There's an abundance of wildflowers and thus insects and butterflies. The one below is a common Large White but attractive nevertheless.

On top of a hill overlooking the sea there are three wooden crosses, sometimes used as a focus at Christian festivals, always there as a reminder of the sacrifice Jesus made and as a prompt to contemplation.

Devon: Lynmouth at night

After sunset one night, a few of us went down to Lynmouth, the nearby resort, to take some night shots. Places appear totally transformed at night, don't they? It was a bit of a muddled scene with all the varied colour temperatures of the lights. The tide was out (again) too so the boats in the harbour were stranded on mud, which made for a less than pleasing aesthetic in my view. Never mind, you can only photograph what's there... It was atmospheric though and pleasant on a summer's evening, so warm that it felt like being in the Med!

Devon: A gentle sunset

Sunsets at Lee Abbey are often stunning, as the sun sets right over Lee Bay. Most nights there'd be lots of people out on the beach, sitting on benches or leaning on the fence on the lane, just watching the show as the sun sank, the sky and sea turning from pretty shades of pink and blue to an ever-deepening gold and red. It lasted each night for about three-quarters of an hour of absolute magic, so peaceful and quiet.

Devon: Sea fret days

It was warm, sometimes hot, in Devon, even at the coast. There were a couple of days when a sea fret was blown in: warm, moist air condensing over the cooler sea and being blown inland. It was wonderfully atmospheric and quite a pleasure to find something other than clear blue sky to capture in photos. 

Above: Sea fret meeting storm clouds (although the storm never materialised) and below: looking across Lee Bay to Woody Bay.

Above: Countisbury church, shrouded in a gentle mist
Below: Tendrils of mist whispering up the lane from the beach to the house.

Devon: Close up

As well as scenic shots, we were invited to look for the detail and take some close-up images. It's surprising what you notice when you start to look around... These are just some of the random pictures I liked from that day's haul. Some of them defy explanation. I've no idea why it said 'Friday' on a fence next to the church. 

The rather Mondrian pattern is the detail of a glass panel in a boarded up window in Malmsmead, not the kind of image you'd expect to collect in rural Devon. 

A feather is perhaps more to be expected. It had rather pretty markings but I'm not sure what bird it came from.

The tangled leaves of a succulent plant:

A little basket of violas, juxtaposed with a random spray of grasses growing in the wall:

Another image I wouldn't have expected to find: plastic ball-pit balls in the window of an old shed, looking almost as if they were frozen in ice.

A label attached to a gate-hinge, perhaps related to an orienteering game? I'm glad they were 'feeling good on [their] last day'.

And the beautiful, sad eye of the ever patient horse:

Devon: Oare church

In the novel 'Lorna Doone' by R D Blackmore, Oare church was where Lorna was shot by her half-brother, Carver Doone, as she was about to marry John Ridd. It seems the book has a sad end, but then it becomes clear that she was not killed, only wounded. Phew. 

In real life the church, St Mary's, is nestled in its graveyard in the valley, in a pretty setting. It's light inside, with some impressive box pews, some painted plaques listing the Ten Commandments in that quaint old script where 's' sometimes becomes 'f' and a memorial to the writer R D Blackmore, whose grandfather (?) was the rector here. 

I won't tell you how long I had to wait before the church was empty of my fellow photographers and their tripods and I could take an uncluttered interior shot! That's the only downside of going out in a group. 

Devon: Doone Valley

Lee Abbey is situated on the edge of the Exmoor National Park. Our third day's programme saw us exploring the area of Exmoor known as the Doone Valley, around Malmsmead and Oare. Malmsmead is a picturesque hamlet with a ford and an old packhorse bridge over Badgworthy Water, the river that forms the boundary between Devon and Somerset. I loved all the place names displayed on the signpost. There was lots to photograph, including some patient horses.

The Doone Valley is named after the famous Victorian romantic novel 'Lorna Doone' by R D Blackmore. It's set in 1685, the the tale of a local farmer, John Ridd, who falls in love with the adopted daughter of a band of outlaws, who lived in a hidden valley near Oare. It is said to be culled from real-life, based on tales of a band of Stuart sympathisers who fled Scotland for Exmoor, where they preyed on travellers.