It was difficult to leave lincolnshire this afternoon without seeing all the folks in the area I'd wanted to visit, and it was more difficult with Ethan tearful at the departure of his old grandad. But we have had another fun packed time over the easter weekend with a nice river walk, an easter egg hunt at Elsham Hall Country Park and an afternoon at the easter fair in Scunthorpe. I still have a day with Mark in London next week so I'm looking forward to that but for now my family time is over, so below is a small captioned gallery showing the last of lincolnshire for now. The main image is Ethan standing below Cadney Bridge on the river Ancholme at the halfway point of our river walk.
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After a very civilised train ride along the east coast of England that saw me enjoying a full english breakfast as the world outside scooted past at 125mph, I arrived in Doncaster where Mark was waiting for me on the platform. I was soon settled into the spare room and enjoying a bit of Lincolnshire life. The first few days has seen me walking locally past acres and acres of flat farmland, observing the duck population increasing, going to the driving range and then playing 9 holes of golf with Ethan showing me how it's done, watching Ethan swimming, and catching up with friends and family. The simple things are often the very best, It feels good to be home.
I awoke in London this morning at 04:30 which is common in the first few days of arrival from Canada, rather than lay around trying to get back to sleep I took a gamble on a sunrise at tower bridge and made my way there via the night tube to London Bridge and walked the rest of the way. As the sun rose from behind St Katherine dock I was in position to capture it on camera. I made dozens of images of the sunrise and Tower Bridge but as usual I'll just post a few until I get back to Canada and have the time to post more. After the sunrise I walked a circuit through London crossing the river and calling at various points along the way. I slowly worked my way back to London Bridge tube station and was back to the hotel by noon. A shower and change saw me on the express train to Milton Keynes Central where I could visit Neil, Paula and Adam and (most importantly) cash in on the hugs I'd been sending via text message. I told Paula I'd post some of the shots I'd made today, so there's a captioned gallery below that everyone can look at, but really it's just for Paula.
With the weather looking gloomy for the day I made a short 6km loop in a local forest just off highway 66. It's not the best hike but it's local and gets the blood moving in the veins. There's a few captioned images in the gallery below just to record the wander. If you would like to see the route, access, parking and area map you can see a previous more detailed post here.
On the return leg of my hike to 'Hummingbird Plume Fire Lookout' today (see post below) I noticed an animal of some sort behind the trailside bushes close to the forest but just visible as he moved. I stopped dead and slowly reached for the camera in it's bag by my side, I couldn't see what it was but it looked cat like or perhaps a fox. I took a shot of it behind the bushes (the first image in the gallery below) and was sure then that it was a cat of some sort. My heart was racing as I have never seen a bobcat or lynx in the wild and the adrenaline began pumping as he stepped out from the bushes and began a slow deliberate walk toward me. Luckily it was cold high up on the trail and I had put on my hat, coat and gloves which are all black, my hiking trousers were dark grey and my boots black, I stood so very still in the shadow of the trees hoping he wouldn't see me as he walked up the trail toward me. His huge paws were placed so gently on the ground that he made no sound at all as he skulked along. At one point he was hunting voles under the snow, what a shot that would have been had he caught one. Later he looked straight at me and I looked back, he'd seen me and no doubt this wonderful encounter was over, but no, he took a look back to make sure I wasn't surrounding him somehow and kept coming toward me. He slowly covered all areas of the trial in his hunt for voles before turning into the forest. I really didn't want this to end so I made the slightest of movements as I began a step toward his entry point, within a split second he had heard and seen me and scurried away at incredible speed disappearing into the trees absolutely silently. What an incredible encounter and what a beautiful creature to see in the Canadian wilderness. The gallery has no captions as they aren't required, but try making out this lovely creature in that first image and then follow his approach toward me. The main shot is the final one as he entered the forest and pulled off his silent disappearing act.
Snow still sits heavily on the bigger mountains in Kananaskis but a trawl through my catalogue of Canadian hikes reminded me of this lovely hike to Hummingbird Plume via Troll Falls, it's one I've made a number of times but is always worth a revisit and is perfect for spring. For those seeking to make this hike you can click here for full details of parking, trailhead and maps on a previous version. The weather today was perfect lower down but still hat and gloves stuff up at the lookout. The falls were hollowed out with water flow and I'm sure they will be gone in a few days now. The best part of the day by far was an encounter with a beautiful Canadian Lynx on the trail, but he will be getting a posting all of his own above this one. This post focuses on the hike with a captioned gallery below the main shot of Troll Falls showing just how hollowed out it it with light streaming through the ice in numerous places.
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AuthorWe arrived in Calgary, Canada on 29th December 2011 to continue our journey. This blog is intended to keep our family and friends informed whilst we explore Canada.You can use the RSS feed below to stay updated. Categories
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January 2024
The Shaman, West Texas
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