A Walk Through The Woods To The Sea

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

As I breathe in the wild garlic woods
I resurrect a memory.
In bursts of fiery vision
Both eyes and nostrils
Recall the path
Descending without haste
From cornfield to woodland dell
To fern and rill
Beneath the high arches
Of the viaduct
Soft tread over the bracken-strewn turf
Beside the bubbling beck
To meet the waiting waves
On that bleached beach
Promising not only present joy
But with purpose
Though without foreknowledge
Building a cornerstone 
Of my being
Nature’s Marble Halls
Erected to sustain life
To ensure that richness of experience
This continuity of pleasure
Which brings meaning now
When I had thought
Only the memory remained

 

Cornwall – The South-East Coast

[  Photograph Gallery #70  ]

Moving west from the coast of Somerset, which was the subject of my last photographic gallery  ( See –  ‘Coleridge and Watchet’ ), I intend, over the next few weeks, to offer some of the photographs which I have taken in England’s western-most county, Cornwall, mainly in its coastal areas, on my several visits there over the last ten or so years.  I begin today on the south-eastern coast of the county, covering part of the area between Cothele on the border with Devonshire and Fowey (pronounced (Foy).

Map of the South-East coast of Cornwall

Calstock and the Viaduct from Cothele House (National Trust)

The Harbour at Looe

Polruan

Polruan Siesta

Polruan – Coastguard Lookout Station

Rame Head

Cawsand

At Mount Edgecumb

School’s Out – at Mount Edgcumb

Cottage in Fowey (pronounced ‘Foy’)

Old timbers at Tor Point

Ship’s Figurehead at Anthony House

Glenfinnan

The Glenfinnan Monument, looking South West towards Loch Shiel, Scotland

GLENFINNAN

Glenfinnan is a village in Lochaber, an area of the Highlands of Scotland.   In 1745 the Jacobite Rising began here when Prince Charles Edward Stuart (“Bonnie Prince Charlie”) raised his standard on the shores of Loch Shiel. Seventy years later, the 18 m (60 ft) Glenfinnan Monument, at the head of the loch, was erected to commemorate the historic event.  (Wikipedia).

 

Glenfinnan is one of the most beautiful spots I have ever visited.  In whichever direction one looks the views are stunning.  Even on a rather cloudy day, as it was on my last visit, the scene which confronted me had colour, beauty and drama, and displayed in all its magnificence the manifold beauties of nature – the natural splendour of mountains, water, trees, sky, wild-flowers, all visible from the one spot at the head of Loch Shiel on Scotland’s west coast.   But the scene also resounds with historical drama – signified by the impressive Monument situated at the head of the loch, which marks the spot where Bonnie Prince Charlie’s standard was raised, and where the clans flocked to join his , albeit ill-fated, cause.   As well as the natural beauty of the location there is so much history associated with this particular spot, which marks the commencement of a momentous period in British history.

Although they cannot do true justice to the beauty of the scenery, I reproduce below some of my photographs, all taken in 2007 from the spot at the head of Loch Shiel where the Glenfinnan Monument now stands, most of them taken from the top of the actual Monument itself. 

Loch Shiel from the Glenfinnan Memorial

The Glenfinnan Railway Viaduct

Looking North from the Glenfinnan Memorial

Looking North from the Glenfinnan Memorial – close-up

The Glenfinnan Memorial

Plaque . . .  ‘On This Spot’ . . .

Charles Edward, Bonnie Prince Charlie

In the Shadow of the Glenfinnan Tower

Foxgloves by the Glenfinnan Tower

Bonnie Prince Charlie himself – atop the Memorial

NOTES:

Prince Charles initially landed from France on Eriskay in the Western Isles.  He then travelled to the mainland in a small rowing boat, coming ashore at Loch nan Uamh just west of Glenfinnan.  On arrival on the Scottish mainland, he was met by a small number of MacDonalds.  Stuart waited at Glenfinnan for a number of days as more MacDonalds, Camerons, MacFies and MacDonells arrived.

On 19 August 1745, after Prince Charles judged he had enough military support, he climbed the hill near Glenfinnan as MacMaster of Glenaladale raised his royal standard.  The Young Pretender then announced to all the mustered clans that he claimed the Scottish and the English thrones in the name of his father James Stuart (‘the Old Pretender’).

Eight months later, Charles Stuart’s claim to the thrones of Scotland and England ended in failure at the Battle of Culloden, on the 16 April 1746.

Hogwarts Express on the Glenfinnan Railway Viaduct

 

The filming of the second and third Harry Potter books, ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ and ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’ took place in this area with the Hogwarts Express crossing the railway viaduct and calling at Glenfinnan Station.