This is probably a weed, but I thought it was pretty. The many staircases have a Lord of the Rings vibe to them. Sadly, I don’t have pictures of them all because I was busy trying not to fall up or down them. This is the last sign you want to see when the path you have to take leads through the center of the field you just walked into. I looked everywhere and couldn’t see a bull, which may have made it worse. Was the farmer screwing with everyone, or was the bull relying on the element of surprise? This field was being harvested as I walked by, and the chaff floated in the air like being inside a snowglobe. I have a soft spot for gnarly trees. Burgh By Sands is an amazing place where cattle have the run of things. A cattle guard crosses the road and on the other side, beasts just wander about wherever they want, whether in the tidal marshes or to the door of the B&B where I was staying, There is a cow hiding in this picture. See if you can spot her. In Bowness, I sat on the bench next to this sign to eat my lunch and this wary cow snuck up on me to see what I was doing. It took a while for her to work her way over to me, but after she sniffed me from head to toe like a dog, I gave her some bread from my sandwich and we became friends. I love that there are animals like this just roaming free here. This is how the world should be. A local man I chatted with on the path told me to find a series of old photos in a box outside the church. One of them, he said, would include a picture of local men using Haaf nets, a type of fishing net brought to the area by Norse settlers from the Viking era and still in use today. A Haaf net left by the Solway. From June to September, fishermen stand in the water in a line holding the nets at low tide as the tides are turning and catch mainly Atlantic salmon and sea trout. It took a while, but I made it! There’s a poem on the railing inside: I sing my song; of the Solway tides; like a sky-riding bird; my heart soars high Hadrian's Path: Part One
Hadrian's Path: Part Two
Hadrian's Path: Part Three
Hadrian's Path: Detour
Beautiful pictures and lovely written commentary, Jacquie! That mosaic is absolutely stunning!
The weed is Himalayan balsam, which made its way to these shores thanks to well-intentioned and well-travelled Victorians. It's beautiful, but it's very invasive and unkind to other plants - it chokes them. In some areas it's a major problem, particularly alongside waterways, where it very easily spreads. https://www.rhs.org.uk/weeds/himalayan-balsam