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: 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: 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: Self portrait

Each day of the Photography programme involved a session of input covering technical and compositional considerations, and some spiritual reflection linked to the day's theme, before we went out with our cameras. I've long found photography to be a source of spiritual blessing for me, a form of active meditation, especially when I'm out on my own with my camera. It was enriching therefore to find this confirmed, developed and shared with others.

Our theme for the first day was 'self-portrait'. Aaagh! I'd much rather be behind the camera than in front of it and I'm not fond of my tripod, so this was a real challenge. I went down to the beach, with the idea of taking a picture of myself with the sea behind. It's a beautiful cove, but quite rocky - and it was very, very, hot with hardly a breath of wind on the beach. I set my tripod up, with difficulty, clambering about on the uneven rocks. Then followed a fruitless time of trying to get the camera at the right height, myself in the right position, taking photos with the timer... I got hotter and hotter and crosser and crosser and didn't get a single picture that looked good and properly focussed, though it was pretty hard to see them in the bright sunshine on the backscreen of my camera. In the end I retreated to the small chapel carved into the rocks by the beach. There, in the half dark and relative cool, I did manage to get a photo that was at least in focus. It's by no means one of my favourite photos of myself, all dishevelled and hot! Yet I'm sharing it, simply because the point of the exercise was to be vulnerable and to be honest. So that's me, with no artifice.

It's a steep walk back from the beach to Lee Abbey, still too hot. I paused for breath and noticed my reflection in the window of the hydro-electric plant by the waterfalls. This one's out of focus too, but in this case the blurring was the result of the reflection in the dirty, warped glass and seems rather more artistically pleasing!

It was a good, and humbling, exercise.

Devon: Lee Abbey

OK, back to my holiday. After a meandering journey down (and having negotiated the usual endless traffic jam on the M5 round Bristol, this time in 30C heat!) I made it to my ultimate destination, the coast of North Devon near Lynton/Lynmouth. I was staying at a Christian retreat, conference and holiday centre called Lee Abbey. I've stayed there many times before (though I think my last visit was as long ago as 2010) and it's a place I love very much. The week I had booked on was a 'Contemplation and Photography' programme: a chance to enjoy my hobby in the company of other like-minded people, to learn, to share the fun and to enjoy some quiet, reflective time too. 

The centre nestles in an idyllic setting beyond what's known as 'the Valley of the Rocks'. It has a large estate of fields, woods and its own beach. It has never been an abbey. Originally it was a private house, built in the Victorian Gothic style. It eventually fell into disrepair and was bought in 1945 by some visionary Christians, who turned into the centre it now is. 

It is home to a large, resident community from about 20 different nations, many of them young people who come for a year or more, for a variety of reasons: perhaps taking a gap year, exploring community life or a vocational call, developing skills, perfecting their English, living in a close-knit and hard-working Christian community, with all its challenges and joys. There is a smaller core management team of more mature individuals and families, who commit several years to the community but it is all run very collaboratively, a home rather than a hotel. Guests are treated extremely well and it has all the comforts of a good hotel (lots of cake!) with the added bonus of interesting programmes on a variety of topics and the opportunity to join in the spiritual life of the community - or not, as you wish.  

I hugely enjoyed my stay, and the weather was as perfect as I've ever known it there, with sunsets to die for! It is truly what I call 'a thin place', where I feel very close to God and creation. I'm using my blog as a kind of holiday journal, so bear with me - but, over the next few days, do enjoy my photos of some of the beautiful places and things I saw.