Tag: Meliesha

A walk with Meliesha

May 4 2019 – Somewhere near Ambleside, Lake District.

I have come up to Yorkshire to attend a one day photo walk on the bank holiday Monday. After I booked the trip my daughter took a work-away job at a small yoga retreat near Ambleside in the Lake District. I have never been to the Lakes and it has been on my to-do list for ages. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to take an extra day off work, come up to Yorkshire early and drive the extra 60 miles to where Meliesha is staying. Luckily she took the day off work!

The drive from Settle to Ambleside was mostly traffic free, and pretty good, until I arrived on the outskirts of town where I got stuck in a massive queue of barely moving cars, this is the Saturday morning of a bank holiday weekend. I was expecting this; at least the scenery is great, even the town is attractive enough.

I arrived at Meliesha’s work place just after 10:00, she is living on a small farmlet, apart from being a family home it is also a yoga retreat. She has been cooking and teaching yoga. Meliesha teaches yoga in a yurt.

After meeting the family who own the retreat and having a look around the property we set off to Coniston, on the edge of a small lake, Coniston Water. We stopped for coffee and a snack in the town, before starting out on a walk down to, and along side the lake.

The Lake District is one England’s premier tourist locations, an area of outstanding natural beauty and I can see why it is so popular, it is a beautiful area, and good weather made it even better.

Coniston is a much smaller body of water than nearby Lake Windemere, though it is equally nice to walk along, quite peaceful and relaxing on this spring bank holiday weekend. Maybe the crowds I saw in Ambleside had yet to make it this much further.

There was some really nice small sections of forest along the shoreline, old forest by the amount  of blue bells we saw. What I liked most about these small treed sections was the moss and ferns. We have a lot of ferns in Epping Forest, but not much of that deep green old moss, and no old moss growing and living on even older stone walls. Almost tempted to move up here!

On the way back to where Meliesha is staying we passed a sign pointing to Wray Castle, not being one to pass a castle by I turned down the side road and we went for a quick look. The castle is not particularly old, being built as a revival castle about 180 years ago by a wealthy family from Liverpool, it is pretty cool though.

We took a walk down to Lake Windemere from the castle, like the path along Coniston we had lake on one side and trees on the other. Like Coniston it is a lovely, light, cool and airy walk.

There were also a heck of lot of bluebell patches. I have never seen so many before.

Though I was there for less than a day, and saw only a tiny section of the area, not venturing into the hills at all, I really enjoyed my time. I am very much looking forward to coming here again for a proper holiday.

I dropped Meliesha back at her work early in the evening and then drove the hour or so back to Settle and my B and B. It was great seeing Meliesha somewhere different again, apart from when she comes to stay with us in London, I don’t think we have spent time together in the same place for years.

Arriving back in the car park in Settle, I was lugging all my stuff from the car to my room. Bending over to get my room key from my trouser pocket my big camera, the Canon 5d Mk1, fell out of the top of my bag, smashing on to the tar seal. The 50mm lens broke into a number of pieces, probably saving the camera body. The lens is a cheap plastic one, the ‘nifty fifty’, a most beloved lens, but fortunately easily replaceable. What is proving more difficult is getting the battery door fixed, it was the only damage the camera sustained, but it is so old they do not make parts for it any more. A choice has to be made. How do I replace the camera?

Monday I do the photo walk, and not I do not have my main, and, by a long way, best camera. Doh!

Walking and chatting. The River Lea with M.

Saturday 14 April 2018. River Lea, Walthamstow.

I think it is reasonably safe to say that I can be a little obsessive. I am no single issue fanatic, often obsessing over multiple things at the same time; work, photography, books, writing, fitness (lack thereof). Flipping and flopping my focus, thus ensuring I never achieve anything at all. This strategy has served me reliably, if not well, for most of my life. I never suffer humiliation and public failure, and dreams are never shattered because I never quite finish things. There is always something shinier and newer that catches my attention, and the last thing languishes unfinished, often at a tricky or awkward stage in its gestation.

Recently this obsession has been reading books set in and around where I currently live. I don’t mean to be unfair to Walthamstow, but on the surface it is not the most exciting part of London. It does have the longest street market in Europe, but to be honest, the market is not something I particularly value. What Walthamstow does have is some authors who make the place sound interesting. I have mentioned Will Ashon’s book about Epping Forest in the past and I have recently enjoyed reading ‘Marshlands’ by Gareth E. Rees, stories set in and around the River Lea and the ‘marshes’ that edge it. I have Esther Kinsky’s ‘River’ to read next, more tales of the Lea and the folk that live nearby.

I am off to New Zealand and Australia for two weeks from next weekend. A quick trip to see my family, and to make sure the grand kids don’t completely forget who I am. My daughter, nannying for a family in Stroud, wanted to come and visit before I left. She chose the best weather weekend of the year to come down. Today was glorious; warm sun and no wind. A perfect day to stroll the Lea down as far as the shopping centre in Stratford to buy some gifts to take back to New Zealand.

We took the long way, walking up Forest Rd, through Ferry Lane to Walthamstow Wetlands. I wanted to stop for coffee and then walk M. through the Wetlands to Coppermill Lane. However the Coppermill Lane exit was closed, so we carried on along Ferry Lane to the Lea, which was not a bad second choice. It was not too busy at that time of the morning, a lot of runners out; maybe a last minute stretch out before the London Marathon, but few cyclists. It was nice to just stroll and chat; without having to duck out of the way all the time. Spring has finally started to deliver some natural colour to the city, it is proving to be popular.

There is a lot to see, though for some reason I did not take any pictures of the river or the many river boats that are moored here. I guess I wasn’t really thinking photos and blogs when we walked and talked, as we have not seen each other in a while.

The filter beds feature in the ‘Marshlands’ book, I have been planning on visiting here again after a wander through a couple of years ago. Bright sunshine did not set the right mood, or light for the photographs I had in mind, though no mist has descended on this part of London for ages, not once all winter. Unusual.

The Middlesex Filter Beds were built in the 1850s in response to new thinking about cholera, after an epidemic in London in 1849 took 14,000 lives. Physician John Snow correctly deducing that cholera was spread via contaminated drinking water, not the thick dirty air of London. The filter beds were built where the River Lea met the Hackney Cut canal and filtered the cleaner water of Essex through sand and gravel and pumped it into reservoirs and on to the homes of NE London. The filter beds expanded massively over the years until the Coppermill Waterworks, nearer the reservoirs, was opened in 1969. The area has been left to be re-wilded and is now a nature reserve. It is very green.

I have been here twice before, and been virtually alone both times, seeing only a ‘romancing’ couple under the trees on the bank of the Lea last time I passed by. Today it was really busy, families with kids, bikes and strollers. We are re-wilding our landscape for the benefit of the urban and urbane, the least wild of us.

Back out on the Lea-side path the traffic got heavier as we made our way towards Hackney, M. wanted to walk barefoot so we detoured off the broken chipped path on to a mud track in the grass, feet having softened from a few months in Europe. It was nicer in the trees and off the path. The A12 road bridges have long been a shelter for river barges and boats under repair, sheltering from the rain and the worst of the wind. There has always been graffiti and odd artworks on the concrete shoulder and bridge abutments. This morning there were three guys working spray cans on the wall and a stone-carver at work, I have never seen the actual artists before. There was also a group of climbers, practising roping up the short, thick round pillars supporting the hellishly loud road above.

We stopped for lunch and coffee at one of the new cafes on the Stratford side of the river, they were all really busy, but we found spot in the sun to chill and wait, people watching the new East Londoners who mean that places that serve vegan food and nice coffee exist.

We had left home with the intent of walking to the mall in Stratford, which was only a few minutes from where we sat sharing nachos in the sun. It was early afternoon and though I really needed to get gifts to take with me it was just too nice to even think about walking into a busy and noisy mall. We chose to turn round and start walking home.

On the way we had passed a stand of young silver birch, back from the river, and behind a fence. I have seen these trees before and always wanted to find out how to get amongst them. Though had never seen away through the fence when coming from the direction of home, walking the other way an entry point was obvious. The silver birches were a bit disappointing, though this path covered by arched trees revealed itself to us, a haven from the now very busy tow path.

We followed this new path and the mud tracks as far towards home as we could, finally stopping for a cold pint before jumping on a bus at Lea Bridge Rd.

El was at the football on Saturday night so M. and I went to Brick Lane for a dosa.

I had a great day, I really like spending time with my daughter, we are different enough to disagree on many things, but share enough passions and ideas that the differences of opinion (and age) do not get in the way of long, rambling and enjoyable chats.