Travels with my camera

This is going to be a bit different from my normal blog. It's probably going to go on a bit, and will be open to ridicule too, but however, it's something that has been on my mind for a while now, and I want to share it with someone.

It concerns the place that I often post about on here, and have done lots of photographs. It's the place that I term my favourite. It's by the river, with the bridge, the farm fields, the church. I'll put a couple of pics at the end to refresh your memories. It's also where I saw the kingfisher last week, which is part of the story.

I first went there with my ex and our then dog, Spooky, probably about 9 years ago. We went a few times, but not regularly as Spooky was a disobedient bugger, and would run off so he didn't often get a walk, we had our own acre field with a river anyway then, so didn't need to venture far.

Then we split, and I got Emma in 1999, and it was the following year that I first went there with her, I actually lived nearer to the place then, only four miles away instead of eight. There's always been something about it. It doesn't seem to matter what the weather is elsewhere, it always seems warmer there, calmer, a kind of serene stillness, especially in one particular spot. The river itself varies along its length from gentle open pools, to rushing, noisy white water and then back to stillness.

When I first went there with Emma, we parked near the Church, and you walk down a track through woodland to the river. You can then either walk the length of the river under the shelter of the trees, but this tends to get quite muddy as the sun rarely gets on it, or you can go through the iron swing-gate stile and walk on the public footpath through three fields until you hit the lane and turn back. I usually do both, it takes about half an hour at a reasonabe amble so that Emma can have a good old sniff and not be too hurried, and of course, the water. Emma used to be funny about the walk. Sometimes she still is. She will just stand and not want to go on. They say dogs can sense things we can't, and I often wondered if it was because of the graveyard. There is an old part to the graveyard, the Church at the top of the hill looks old too but I've not found out much about it, but shall do so now. There's also some modern graves with bright shiny headstones. I often stop and read them. The church itself stands high, with almost a sheer drop behind down to the valley where the river runs.

Once, I walked down the track to the first bit of the river you come to and there is a grassy bank, with a couple of trees, but the sun gets to this bit, it's nice to sit and watch and contemplate. Round the base of one of the trees was a little bouquet of flowers, and you could see clearly that someone or something's ashes had been scattered. I wonder if it was a dog.

Okay I've set the scene now, what I'm trying to get at is the fact that I think there is something about this place. I have always got this feeling here. Emma's uneasiness, my good vibes feelings, then last week, the kingfisher, when I thought about one, and instantly, there was one. Now I want to put about yesterday.

I will try to be brief, two years ago now, I fell out with a very good friend, over something very trivial. Things had been building though for a while. I was depressed and mentally getting tired of my life, and various things which I won't go into now all got on top of me about our friendship. She had just met a new guy, and I was thrilled for her, it took a bit of pressure off me, or so I thought, as she was becoming too reliant on my help, and I couldn't keep it up any longer, I had enough of my own problems. So to cut a long story short, I was glad of a way out. I didn't want it to mean end of, nothing, but that's the way it turned out. I have often felt awful about this, and we did meet up once after I relented because she kept phoning me, but it didn't work out, and ended up being very nasty (from her) I got a snotty letter and was told I needed professional help. Little did she know that I was getting that at the time, but still.

Anyhow, she lives about 12 miles away, and our paths have rarely crossed. I have seen her in the distance about three times in 18 months, but I rarely go where she goes. I actually saw her about two weeks ago now in a nearby town, across the street looking in a shop window. Since then I've been thinking what a shame we couldn't still be friends, I do miss her company, but I can't stand the way she is with all the animals she has, that's what really got to me, she has dozens and dozens, and they don't get looked after properly, I won't go into more detail, but I just found it too upsetting seeing the conditions of her pet cages, bird cages, and outdoor animals living in filth. I ended up being a skivvy to be honest, because I felt sorry for them, and her really. I can't get back into that again. But anyway, she has been on my mind.

Yesterday, I went to my place, and her car was there. I should've explained, she has 4 dogs, well she did when I last had contact, knowing her, she could have 10 by now, I think she has that many cats...

My first reaction was oh hell no, I'll go somewhere else, but then I thought, no why should I, and I was then actually quite eager to meet her face to face, to say hello, how are you, etc. Her car was parked on the road by the bridge, there's only enough space there for the one, so I went down the lane a bit further and parked in the car park by the village hall. From there, I walked up the slope to the church, down the track to the river, knowing I wouldn't meet her on that bit, she doesn't walk on slopes. No sign. So Emma went in the water, and I started walking along the river back toward where her car was parked to see if she was heading that way. No. I went all the way along as far as I could till I could see her car, the car was still there, she wasn't in it. So I thought she must be on the fields. So Emma and I walked two of the three fields, there were cows in the third, so forget it! No, she wasn't there either. Mysterious, I couldn't possibly have missed her, no way, unless she had seen me and was hiding! But her dogs would have given her away.

I felt a bit disappointed. I really had wanted to say hello. We started back toward the stile, and then I saw her! On the other side of the river, ah-ha, that would account for it. There's a private track for the fishing club that side, but I have walked it a few times, makes a change. I stayed where I was, and watched her, and she was definitely hiding from me. Everytime I looked across, she hid behind a tree, so I just stayed where I was and pretended I hadn't noticed and was looking at the water. I thought it strange that there were no dogs with her though. I thought, oh this is so stupid, and started up towards her car, I thought, you will have to come out eventually, I'll just wait by the car, then you will have to speak to me. The car was gone! I then thought oh Jon must be in on it, and has driven off and will come back for her, how odd. Anyway, I waited by the bridge,and could see out of the corner of my eye, she was making her way out to the bridge too. I was looking down into the water, and when she was within about 10 yards of me on the bridge I turned to say hello, and IT WASN'T HER!!!!! It was a guy. They had exactly the same build, wearing exactly the same clothes, a bumbag round the waist, the same as she always did, cropped hair, dark blue shorts, t-shirt, same figure (she was overweight) I couldn't believe it.

So why was this person hiding, and how the hell did Wendy get back to her car with dogs or even only one dog, without crossing my path, it was impossible.

I am completely freaked out about this now. I hope you haven't found this too boring, but I wanted to put it all down. There is something about that place I'm sure, something strange goes on there. I must find out more about it. It's like some kind of time warp.

The Church

















The bridge

















The fields