Philip Goddard
www.philipgoddard.com
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In this photo gallery section I want to share just a tiny little something of the revitalizing and uplifting experience of my regular hiking in South-West England. Up to October 2006 (when an arthritic right knee stopped me in my tracks) I aimed to go on a single-day solo hike every week, weather and other circumstances permitting, and my chosen routes were normally strenuous ones, typically of some 19 - 21 miles (say 29 - 34 km) with some 1,000 metres of ascent. On strenuous coast path routes, the mileage tended to be a bit less and the ascent anything up to 1,500 metres because of all the steep-sided valleys that are crossed. Please be aware that there is only one way for you to get anything more than a faint hint of it - and that is to do it yourself! I add to the sense of freedom and adventure of my outings by hitch-hiking to and from my walking routes, thus enabling myself to choose satisfying linear routes, without being limited by the times of particular buses or trains. As the bus services to most of my hiking routes are minimal and trains more or less nonexistent, this is just as well. This can make for extremely long days, however, and requires considerable mental and physical stamina! Despite the uncertainties, trials and tribulations of the hitch-hiking, I actually preferred doing it rather than having the predictability of arranged transport - quite apart from my not having the money to spend on fares or sharing petrol costs with anyone. I met many wonderful and interesting people through hitch-hiking, and since I became a healer I found that as many as some 50% of people who picked me up had received some higher guidance to do so because of particular input they needed from me as a healer and spiritual teacher (not purveyor of belief!); occasionally I even ended up giving a mini healing session before being dropped off. |
South-West peninsula (Devon & Cornwall) --North coast |
Attention! Don't stop at the photos! Hear the wildness and uplifting quality of my outdoor and wilderness experience in music! MP3 files to play; CD for sale -- Go to this site's music sectionto explore... Also on this Site...Highly
original |
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Between
Bude and Widemouth Bay,
the
latter off to the left. Looking approximately SSW. The pink clusters of
small flowers are Thrift (Armeria maritima), also
known as
Sea Pink. (May
2001)
This and many parts along this coastline is a surfers' paradise, usually with large swells coming in from the Atlantic. |
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Bude: the
vicinity of the mouth
of
the canal, and part of Summerleaze Beach. Bude is a holiday resort, but
it retains a remarkable sense of wildness along its coastline. (May 2001) |
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Looking
south along the
coastline to
Bude and beyond. This shows again how remarkably unspoiled this part of
coastline is, considering that Bude is a quite busy holiday resort. The
town itself is just off to the left. With (usually) a considerable
swell coming in from the Atlantic, this is a very popular area for
surfing, Bude and Widemouth Bay being really busy surfing centres. (May 2001) |
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On the coast path, looking more or
less north
over
Speke's Mill Mouth to St Catherine's Tor, with the white buildings at
Hartland Quay just showing beyond against the sea, from behind the
hillside and outcrops left of centre. St Catherine's Tor is one of a
number of prominent mini-mountain-like prominences along the coast path
in this area. Hazy sunlight at about 5.45 p.m. (late September 2001) |
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Just north
of Speke's Mill
Mouth,
near Hartland Quay, looking more or less north. The distant island is
Lundy, which is featured in an unusual way in my organ-&-tuba
composition The
Unknown.
The purple-flowered plant in the foreground is just a little bit of
Bell Heather (Erica Cinerea). (August 2001) |
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Land's End peninsula (Cornwall)
Roughly speaking, this area lies west of a north-east / south-west line from St Ives to Penzance. Its rugged character is largely determined by the granite rock there. This granite is part of the same underground mass of granite that breaks the surface to create Dartmoor, Bodmin Moor, the St Austell granite and the Scilly Isles (but not Lundy, which has been produced from a more recent granite system). On the north coast of this area the rock is granite in places, while in other parts it is 'metamorphic aureole' rock - sedimentary rocks that have been heat-metamorphosed by their proximity to the granite when it was still liquid magma deep down inside the root of the mountain chain that was once here. The following 4 photos are from my hike on 1st September 2002 from St Ives on the north coast to Cape Cornwall, which is part of the little west-facing bit of coastline that also includes Land's End. |
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Gurnard's Head, from the south-west. It is a joy to go out onto that rugged headland and scramble about on its very secure rock outcrops. Gurnard's Head is just a little south-west from Zennor. | |
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Pendeen Watch and The Enys (the nearby little island left-of-centre) seen from the south-west. Approaching from the St Ives direction (i.e. walking south-westwards), the last two miles to Pendeen Watch are relatively easy walking but scenically rather commonplace, so a walk finishing there has a feeling of anticlimax about it. But as soon as you go beyond, the coastline becomes much more rugged and exciting again. | |
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Just past the fascinating old Levant (disused) and Geevor tin mines I lost patience with the official coast path that appeared to boringly follow a motor track slightly inland from the real excitement, and I followed this lower-level track that led here into the most rugged and exciting bit of coast path I've been on anywhere, with something of the feel of a narrow and rugged mountain summit ridge traverse. Although the track was secure, it rounded a whole series of craggy cliff buttresses, so that at times there were exposed turns with a delicious drop at my feet, and here and there were very minor scrambles up and down. When I first walked this stretch, it seemed a bit scary because I didn't know what I was letting myself in for, but it turned out to be truly secure. | |
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Approaching
the end of my hike:
in
the glare of the early evening sun - Cape Cornwall, the next most
south-westerly point on the British mainland after Land's End, which
latter is a very few miles off to the left. This view is from just
below the ruin of Kenidjack Castle. (Incidentally, the most westerly point on the British mainland isn't in these parts at all but on the Ardnamurchan peninsula in the Scottish Highlands.) |
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Dartmoor area (Devon)
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In the
Dartmoor fringe area:
the
Teign Valley from the Hunters' Path, with Dartmoor in the distance,
faint in the haze. The area just a little further along this track is
known as Piddledown Common; I'm not aware that it gets more rainfall
than anywhere else in the immediate area! (May 2001) |
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Also above the Teign Valley, on the path connecting the
high-level
Hunters' path with Fingle Bridge. Prestonbury Castle, an Iron Age hill
fort, is on the top part of the prominent hill seen through the trees. (May 2001) |
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High
Dartmoor: Broad Amicombe
Hole -
not a hole but a pass - with High Willhays beyond (the highest point in
Southern England - all of 621 metres above sea level). (September 2001) |
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From on top of the largest (granite) outcrop at Fur
Tor, in
remotest Dartmoor. Looking more or less north towards High Willhays. (September 2001) |
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From on top
of the largest
outcrop at
Fur Tor, looking more or less west, to Hare Tor and the distant
countryside of Cornwall, with Bodmin Moor forming the skyline (not
really discernible in this photo). (September 2001) |
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| (further photos to be added if people show their appreciation by donating...) | ||
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