A Purple Pilgrimage
What I love about Northumberland is its quiet vastness, my journey of 30 miles encountered 5 other cars although it was early Sunday, the promise of a beautiful day in its 20’s it would have been jammed in North Yorkshire. I had meant for this diary to add places in Northumberland alongside the 3 places I visit each month to show how nature changes and write about mindfulness and working through life. Today i also wanted to see Heather in its full purpleness on the landscape.
I am a purple fan and in love with Dioxazine Purple, I just have to have it in my studio. Purple is stated as being a cool colour but I do not experience colours as temperatures but in a way which I cannot explain in words. Purples to me has an intensity and energy which is evocative and mystical drawing me in.
Purple is a colour of the patriarchy and in the ancient times due to its cost to produce was limited to Imperial rulers and then the Roman Catholic Church and Empire. I struggle with the concept of hundreds of thousands of beautiful snails made by God being slaughtered for Bishops who supposed to be Gods ambassadors so they can pretend to be more special than other people. It doesn’t seem that Godly to me.
The given postcode didn’t take me to the exact place , not having my map left me lost but I decided too drive a wee bit further and found a turn off which I chanced to take leading to a car park. There was an information board stating “Simonside Ridge” . I knew my planned route was way-marked and began in a Forest and clearly this wasn’t it.
Follow the given postcode which will take you to Forest Burn Gate on the B6342 and with the pub on your right keep going up the road for about a mile and there will be a left turn , the signpost is partially down. Follow the single track road to the carpark on your right If you want to do the circular on the website then carry on about another mile to the Simonside Forestry Commission Car Park ( if I had my map I would have known this ! ).
Right from the off it is a steep climb up but on good footpaths and signposts which gets you onto a wide ridge with vast rolling hills either side. I always like even though it’s hard work to get the altitude done quickly. Being unsure where I was, I kept on saying to myself just a little more just to see whats beyond , the path is super easy to follow I can hardly get lost with bright blue sky but I lived by Moorlands for many years and I know you should never take weather for granted.
It became a simple there and back walk with some photographs and I was pleased I made the effort to find it.
It is a Heather Moorland and that’s what you get , vast expanses of heather and other ground plants closely hugging the contours to protect itself. Hidden beneath a thick covering of intertwining branches lies unseen world of reptiles , insects and birds taking cover from the wildness of a Northern Britain Moor. Occasionally the landscape is punctuated with what looks like Gritstone weathered into shapes. Not much would survive a harsh winter on these moors that even the stars on this huge sky would shiver. But not today , the sky is brilliant blue and the temperature well into the 20’s.
I came late for a purple show which I should have known that the wonderful spring and summer we received would bring forth the blooming. I guessed the timing as the woodland heather is only beginning to bloom but with these huge expanses there is nothing to stop the direct sunlight. It is still purple in places but the vibrancy of when the jewel like flowers are at their juiciest the place sings out all the hymns of life. There are still a few small patches of this but mainly the purple lost its light and making it look more mauve than bright purple and others to turning a yellowy sienna as it recedes itself for the winter.
I will look forward to returning next year and mark on my calendar to monitor the Heather. Now I know where I am and think that the carpark I found is a better walking option I will plan a better and longer route. You can drop down on the Southside from Simonside summit and walk for a few miles to pick up “St Oswald’s Way” returning back to the carpark which I think would make a better day adventure.
All shown on the OS Explorer map OL42.
During sunrise or sunset would bring out wonderful colours and delight anyone regardless of a Heather wonderland time. The vastness of moorland with its huge skies has such different feel than mountains and worthy if not been to experience. This area is scattered by rock carvings 4000 to 5000 years old creating a legacy of interaction with human beings shaping it through co-existing.
The moorland ominous and foreboding moods are exciting but anyone who has encountered a Northern Britain Moorland knows it is treacherous and can take a life. It is a place for wild hearts , poets and artists where the refuge is in its supernatural, mysterious and somewhat inhospitable realms.
The moorland is always in the hearts and minds of people who live there and who better to make it settings for stories than the Bronte sisters.
The moorland is a gothic cathedral for ancient souls and sanctuary for the Fae and other mysterious beings dwelling in realms we have long forgotten. The home for our only venomous snake, a symbol of before the patriarchy colonised this beautiful island still waiting for us to return back to mutualism and reciprocity of nature.
My busy lost mind covered up my present state which then I forgot to just spend a moment in the carpark to breathe and set my intentions of connecting to the energy and just to spend 30 minutes at the top in stillness and remembering my old soul
Bakethin Nature Reserve
There is a lovely spot within the forest section of Bakethin which has been a source of magic for me. There is a brook running through and the ground is mostly covered in Moss with trees framed in clover . It is the source of the Hard Fern which only exits on the other side of a fallen tree like it’s chosen a spot less likely for boots to crush it. It is there where my first of the year Mushrooms have displayed themselves.
It is honour to be shown these delights so I may photograph them and tell the world how beautiful our planet is and we should look after it as if it was our own children.
Sometimes less is more when wandering to take photographs in nature as it’s easier to find a subject to capture and a solo plant has much of a poignant message than abundance. It is time to realise your own strength that you may need to push a little further this year , shine a little longer and perhaps your fruit come a little later. Each time is different and instead of attachments to expectations be open to how it feels and be accepting which allows things to evolve naturally.
Leaves are beginning to turn and this time I am going to take particular attention to the synchronicity of trees and plants as the journey into Autumn and Winter.
Apart from curiosity it is learning to connect to my nature places I visit and experientially understand it through being here watching. This is what I think the hunter gatherers would do , they would know and revere their environment as much as they would know themselves. Each year you begin to embody nature , its rhythms and patterns becoming integrated and accepted back into Mother Earth.
Hareshaw Linn
My initial intention was for this week to show more of the Woodland than the preceding areas on the outskirts of the woodland. But the Elder trees , Grasses turning colour and one or two yellows and purples persuaded me differently.
It is not hard for these beauties to ask to be shown and I love the contrast which leads you into quite a dark native woodland which is full of mystery. There is a deep breath of light before you venture inside the wood. It certainly can still pull a few gazes with a new flower I haven’t seen before to an elegantly dressed insect investigating the dried seed of a plant.
The coolness of the woodland and everything was wet from days of raining sparkles the greenery and brings out the coloration of the tree bark. Wherever I look there is another little Fern story , maybe a bunch of ferns growing vertically from a tree or just a singular strand on a mossy stone.
What I always try and find which I can never be bored of is a little story of a prehistoric plant sitting next to a tree , a tree which species was one of the first back after the ice age. I begin to think of the hunter gatherers 30 or 40 thousand years ago seeing the same combination. I think about the Amazon tribes as most of this island was covered in impenetrable trees how they began to learn about the plants and how to build relationships with nature. Which plants taught them what is good and bad.
Although the woodland is quite dense with trees there are still openings along the path ways and beyond which allow woodland flowers to flourish albeit only a few are left. But doesn’t a plant with all its petals gone still look as beautiful , or when the petals have dulled and turned into tertiary colours.
Bull Crag Peninsular
Glorious and proud is a simple Knapweed when the purple sprouting flower has given way to a burst of cotton like material looking like a mighty punk rocker. Just look at that attitude of “I am here” in full pelt , Vivian Westwood would be jealous of this get up. They are my champions of Bull Crag and for ten years I look forward to seeing them along the Hedgerow verges in Nidderdale.
The remnants of the first showing of flowers are still visible as petals slowly reduce waiting for the next storm to arrive to leave its structure remaining to dry out in the sun and let the rain deepen its colour each time around and then finally in a few months I will be scratching my head wondering how I am going to capture empty verges.
I have been more interested in the shapes and colours of grasses since I have moved here. It has been like a little awakening , maybe from finishing my Insight mindfulness module my awareness has deepened. I realise to myself that these plants are my ancestors , my long lost friends and family and now my muse to tell of their beauty to others , but not just beauty , their innate connection to humans
Purple along the lakeside verges are now bursting out and showing themselves off for the last showtime of the year. Little delicate crimson flowers sprout from nowhere and then a party of flowers and grasses catch my eye which quite often I have to return back as I cannot let it pass without honouring them with a photograph.
And then a riotous burst of Yellow greets me along the lake shore path.
As my first year in the area this surprise is joyful and it reminds me of letting life unfold instead of over thinking as you can never know what may come next and that there is no reason for it not to delight you.
