100 Days | 100 Walks | 100 Paces
This project is one of several that Walking the Land artist’s are undertaking for the ‘100 Day Countdown’: a series of 100 slow, meditative walks that use some of the movements and internal disciplines of Tai Chi and Xi Kung
The walks will sometimes be linear – sometimes circular (appropriate, as our decision-maker’s also keep going around in circles) or even forming spirals, but each of just 100 paces.
Walks will take place daily at various locations and each will where possible, have a view of the River Severn, one of it’s sources or some body of water (dependant on other geographical commitments)
I decided to reflect on this particular body of water because of proposals to construct a capital project in the form of a huge power-generating tidal barrage. As a result of this, The River it’s wildlife, tides and delicate infrastructure is another potential casualty in our attempt to reduce carbon emissions.
The intention of the walks is:
to be mindful of the need to develop workable practices that will confront Climate Change.
to represent the pace of decision making and viable action.
to reflect on the moment and walk, not in order to get to a final destination but to slow down, observing each step and movement as well as the significance of the place.
where possible to walk, cycle or use public transport to locations or use those that need no extra journeys.
The walk itself, the resulting marks made on the ground and any other relevant material will be recorded in any way the artist/s choose.
I’ll be making walkworks every day for the next 100 days. I’d love some company if you’re not in a rush and so will make every attempt to post times and locations. If you would like to join with me on this project, please drop me an email or call
Best wishes
Kel
The walkworks are all ‘in progress’ and produced with the intention of capturing the moment. Currently they comprise visual (and written) notes rather than finished works, which over the next few weeks will be developed, replaced or removed.
The first 50 Days (click to see Days 51 -100)
Day 1 | Arlingham overlooking the River Severn
circular walk
time: 9:27- 10:09
date 29/08/09
weather: fine, sun passing cloud
temperature 19°
wind speed/direction SSW 2-3
walking with Tara – aware of her quiet footfall beside me – white egret feeding on the shoreline – softness of grass underfoot – patches of sunlight lighting the River – water, nearly still in the channel – ripples left on sandbanks – Newnham church clock chiming the quarters – warm wind on my skin – sounds of moving grass – small trains rattle and bellow along the riverside.
Day 2 | Edge above Standish
spiral walk
time 16:13 – 16:33
date 30/08/09
weather: overcast, light drizzle
temperature 16°
wind speed/direction SSW 2
solo walk – feet tread wet boggy field – soft rain on lush meadow grass – knap weed flourishes – crows call warnings to buzzards – cows bellowing for afternoon teas – distant silver Severn – helicopter hovers, throbbing and circling Standish – feint traffic noise from the M5 – Mayhill disappearing through the low cloud – Gloucester lurks in the murk
Day 3 | Scottsquar Common, towards the Malvern Hills
circular walk
time:
date 31/08/09
weather: overcast, light drizzle
temperature: 15°
wind speed/direction: SSW 2-3
height above sea level:
solo walk – circling a clump of rose bay willow herb, pink and white against green – dull, flat evening light – Malvern Hills rise into dark, wet clouds – Gloucester’s ‘white sheds’ sprawl along the valley floor – damp smells of Autumn – seen over trees, the snaking silver river divides the land – Border Collie (in this ‘border land’) – walker’s greeting – turning towards the east, Painswick’s Spire points and accuses, where Dobunni once ruled.
Day 4 | Harsfield Beacon, overlooking the Severn Vale
circular walk
time: 09:19 – 09:48
date 1/09/09
weather: bright, sunny with rain clouds coming in from the west
temperature: 14°
wind speed/direction: SW 3-4 gusting
height above sea level: 232m
Over Standish church towards distant Wales Bristol, Oldbury nuclear power station and The Severn Crossings – fields ploughed ready for Autumn – harvest bails scattered – wind driven cloud shadows – incoming rain. buff, brown and green fields – agriculture’s marks on the land – sheep wandering slowly over wet grass – trig point sentinal – ancient earthworks
Day 5 | Maiden Hill, Ash Lane, Randwick
linear walk
time:
date 2/09/09
weather: clouds blowing in on the wind
temperature 12°
wind speed/direction SW 3-4 gusting 5
height above sea level:
blackberries glisten – river shimmers – cattle and sheep ruminate in the valley – Severn crossings – creamery steam rises – Peter Scott’s refuge – tall maize crowds together, awaiting harvest – Brecon almost seen through Welsh hills – May Hill makes it’s perky point – Mondrian fields – bleak Stonehouse industry
Day 6 | Heathrow Airport, Terminal 2
linear walk
time: 09:19 – 09:48
date 3/09/09
weather: bright, sunny with rain clouds coming in from the west
temperature 12°
wind speed/direction SW 4-6 gusting
height above sea level:
through a connecting tunnel – 100 paces take me the length of the travellator- people wiz past me, accelerating to heaven knows where – the travellator’s rubber tread bounces them along – viewed out through the small oblong windows – except for quiet whirings, everything is silent – giant coloured tailfins perky and errect – heavilly laden baggage trucks busilly hurtling – airport transits articulate – jets take off without a murmour.
Day 7 | Athens, rooftop These entries are being slowly updated from Greece
circular walk
time:
date: 04/09/09
weather: bright, sunny
temperature: 33°
wind speed/direction S2
height above sea level:
Athens rooftops far below our hotel pool – The Acropolis dominates all around it – through the slight smog, distant hills where 2 weeks ago wild fires raged, threatening the whole city – street sounds bubble up 14 floors – sirens and horns vying for attention almost form a rhythm – shouts – 2 strokes whining – police lounge, riot shields ready – Pyreus, only a short distance away, remains unseen
Day 8 | Athens, suburb: N. Kosmos
circular walk
time:
date: 05/09/09
weather: bright, sunny
temperature: 32°
wind speed/direction WSW1
height above sea level: 20
painted walls, tagged with unreadable names of gangs – marked territory that forms this wasteland – Syngrou Avenue, just right for formula 1 – Matcho Greek cars racing taxis, buses and bikes – not a place for people, just cars – closed and boarded shops – underpasses become the underworld – The Acropolis peeps through between the car showroom and ‘Interamerican Home’ – Asian shopkeeper smiles and sells me water and beer – what would Aristotle & Plato make of their city? – the sea, close enough to smell is just at the bottom of this speedway, but totally inaccessible.
Day 9 | the deck of the MV Achilleas
circular walk
time:
date: 06/09/09
weather: bright, sunny
temperature: 32°
wind speed/direction: NE5
height above sea level: 0
engine throbs to it’s own rhythm – strong light over the sea – mountains, flat and iron grey against bluest blue sky – travelling east towards morning – past outcrops of rock – whitecaps race with one another over seas that Odyseus sailed – mackerel clouds foretelling rain – I mix the waters of The Severn with The Aegean
Day 10 | Town beach, Skyros
circular walk
time:
date 07/09/09
weather: cloudy, heavy squalls
temperature 22°
wind speed/direction NE 5-6
height above sea level: 1
beach bamboo blown horizontal – cloud covered mountains – wind driven waves explode on the land – empty loungers await the sun – white foam, white buildings vying to occupy the shore – beach sand absorbs my footprints – yellow boat points to the wind
Day 11 | St George’s Monastery, Skyros
circular walk
time:
date 08/09/09
weather: Heavy squalls, low cloud
temperature 22°
wind speed/direction WSW4
height above sea level: 220
high above the sea, wind shadows warn as squalls race towards land – salt smell mingled with fresh figs – bright peligonia – bamboo bending – white walled chapels – curved horizon – wild waves cascade onshore – mountains, obscured by rain cloud – far below, sheep graze on valley floor
Day 12 | Skyros Harbour, Molos
circular walk
time: 14:28- 14:59
date 09/09/09
weather: fine, sun, passing cloud
temperature 25°
wind speed/direction SSW 2-3
height above sea level: 1
warmth reflecting from the sand – frayed nylon ropes – ribbon-like seaweed, soft underfoot – boats pulled onshore – remains of ancient windmill – breakwater boulders – reflections in clear water – sea holly – distant mountains rear-up from the sea – multi-coloured nets lay tangled – lapping water – white chapel hewn into the rock
Day 13 | Lone Oak Tree above Skyros Village
circular walk
time: 18:45 – 19:23
date 10/09/09
weather: bright, light cloud
temperature 22°
wind speed/direction WSW1
height above sea level: 27o
I mix together the soils from Skyros with soils from Gloucestershire – evidence that goats shelter under this special tree – thorn bushes await the careless – dusk light – town’s sugar cube buildings tumble down hillside – gates made from wire and luck enclose goats
Day 14| The Plateia, Skyros
circular walk
time: 14:28 – 14:59
date 11/09/09
weather: fine rain
temperature 20°
wind speed/direction NNW4
height above sea level: 75
hills obscured in unusual, damp September mist – siesta empty town square – wet checkered paving – graffiti on church walls – brown grass still dry despite the rain – chill wind – vacant cafe chairs await customers – war memorial accuses the grey sky – monastery looms high above – Striped Greek flag moves half-heartedly in chill wind
Day 15 | Wet Town Walk, Skyros
linear walk
time: 9:15 – 9:34
date: 12/09/09
weather: Heavy rain and cloud
temperature: 21°
wind speed/direction: NE5 gusting 6
height above sea level:
skyros is a stranger to summer’s rain, now the parched ground drinks – grey light deadened, colours desaturate – wet reflections on the ancient cobblestones – black dressed septagenarians rush under unfamiliar umbrellas – torrents descend down from the hilltop streets – sea and sky meet, avoiding horizons divisions – talk in the cafés of Poseidon’s anger
Day 16 | Reservoir Construction, Skyros
liner walk
time:
date: 13/09/09
weather: sunny, clear
temperature: 25°
wind speed/direction: NE4
height above sea level:
walking silently with Heather, Nancy and Sophie – the rough, narrow track leads to the construction work of the reservoir that’s being built to store water on this dry island – progress since this time last year…zero – have they run out of money? – locals say the soil is too porous for the scheme to work – anyway, somebody has top sliced the cash – still, frogs plop and goat bells ring in this for now ruined, desolate place that with it’s sad and ancient chapel, was once beautiful.
Day 17 | Rupert Brooke Memorial, overlooking Molos, Skyros
spiral walk
time:
date: 15/09/09
weather: clear, sunny
temperature: 23°
wind speed/direction: NE2
height above sea level:
the eternal poet stares, naked and looking south towards a grave – both Byron and Brooke died here in Greece and when they died all those years ago, what was the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere? – what would they make of our concerns?
Day 18 | Mountains above Skyros
circular walk
time:
date: 16/09/09
weather: clear, sunny
temperature: 24°
wind speed/direction: NE3
height above sea level:
High-place soil exchange, soil from Edge mixes with Skyrian soil – thorn bushes – white, isolated chapels – rich blue sea melts into the sky – Leonora’s Falcon swoops – suspicious goats bells – roped dogs challenge – donkeys welcome – optimistic, twine-tied gates – white smallholdings – bee hives – warning goat skulls – wind bent trees
Day 19 | 100 fence panels Skyros
linear downhill walk
time:
date: 16/09/09
weather: clear, sunny
temperature: 25°
wind: NE2:
height:
gravity leads my steps – one pace wooden panels – like my pace, each unique –
rutted track washed out by recent rains – crickets jump – ants train back plunder – large jewel like black beetles – summers scents
Day 20 | Skyros
circular walk
time: sunrise
date: 17/09/09
weather: broken cloud
temperature: 19°
wind speed/direction: NE1
height above sea level:
wine dark sea, scarred by boats wake – red dawn clouds – sliver of rising moon – ghostly white chapel sits – cockerels wake donkey – early breakfast lights from village below – lone motorbike’s buzz – dawn breeze brings jasmine
Day 21 | Beach Walk, Skyros
linear sea-walk
time: 16:41 – 16:55
date: 18/09/09
weather: fine, light cloud
temperature: 24°
wind speed/direction: NE3
height above sea level: 0
white egret struts rapidly through the shore break in front of me – looking around it keeps one black eye on me – wading through small waves, warm waters envelop – pink stones washed round by waves, glisten – realising i’m getting closer, the bird takes off into the breeze, circles around out to sea, then returns behind me – the Aegean, so blue – the Severn, so grey –
Day 22 | Harbour Walk, Linaria, Skyros
linear walk
time: 07:38 – 07:55
date: 19/09/09
weather: fine, light cloud
temperature: 20°
wind speed/direction: NE2
height above sea level: 0
Leaving Skyros on a grey, just-post-dawn, morning – trucks drive cautiously up the clanking ramp – horns attempt to wake us – foot passengers career out of control, suitcase wheels squealing – coffee smells waft – diesel rainbows on the water’s surface – harbour police get agitated as departure time closes – water surges as ferry engines are started – waving, lots of waving – some tears.
Day 23 | Huddinknoll Hill, looking through the trees over the Severn vale
linear walk
time: 10:00 – 10:19
date 20/09/09
weather: fine, sun, passing cloud
temperature: 23°
wind speed/direction: SSW 2-3
height above sea level: 220
strange to be back in England’s soft Autumn light – damp, woodland smells – fungus, strangely beautiful, perhaps toxic? – wind-broken tree eerily looks like a spider – through the gaps in branches, the Severn passes – Gloucester’s white boxes sit squat in the landscape, monuments to industry and consumption
Day 24 | Blow Memorial, Seven Leaze Lane
circular walk around memorial stones
time:
date: 21/09/09
weather: patchy cloud
temperature: 17°
wind speed/direction: SW4
newly restored with a smart new roof, the inscription reads: “I cast mine eye’s to the hills” – generations of Blows, Lords of the Manor of Painswick have their memorials here – looking out forever over the Vale – smoke slowly rises in The Forest
Day 25 | Scottsquar Hill, Equinox sunrise
linear walk towards the rising sun
time:
date: 22/09/09
weather: patchy cloud
temperature: 13°
wind speed/direction: SW4
waiting for clouds to break the pre-dawn gloom – climb over a wire fence and through trees to see the river – over long rough grass and ant hills towards the brightening sky – Painswick’s street lights dot the town – westerly wind moving trees and me – brown, Cotswold cattle with their long white stripe, view life suspiciously – equinox sunrise explodes, red then gold.
Day 26 | from Painswick Beacon, the sunset over the Severn Vale
linear walk along earth ramparts
time: 16:29- 17:03
date: 23/09/09
weather: heavy clouds, with occasional breaks
temperature: 16°
wind speed/direction SSW 2-3
exchange of soil from the Acropolis to Gloucestershire – shimmering silver light – hills of Sugarloaf and Breconshire. north to the Malverns – Gloucester hit by streaks of sunlight – helicopter throbs out of the west – pigeons fly towards the setting sun –
Day 27 | Stockend
linear walk
time: 10:41 – 11:01
date: 24/09/09
weather: fine, sun, clear
temperature 16°
wind speed/direction NE1
height above sea level:
walking with Vicki – white vapour trails pierce through blue sky and heart shaped clouds – farmer’s machinery clangs along with traffic sounds from the 5 miles distant M5, breaking this quiet Autumn morning – striking, red rowan berries – – a magpie seems to be having a quarrel – I pass through a tunnel of leaves – in the middle of the track a horse has passed by, leaving a heap – moss-covered dry stone walls – leaves turn colour – yurt looks cosy
Day 28 | Temple, Cornwall
linear walk
time: 15:43 – 16:01
date: 25/09/09
weather: overcast
temperature 16°
wind speed/direction SW2
height above sea level:
grey sky matches Cornwall’s grey granite – China clay pits, like small, white alien mountains, the Cornish Alps – dry stone wall, overgrown with grass – sheep with spendid horns, shows off behind a 5 bar gate – trees bent double by the prevailing wind of this high place – although I’ve looked, I can’t see a temple here, just fishing lakes – old rail wagons now used as storage, gradually decompose – on the light breeze, I can smell the sea – steel fences corral the land
Day 29 | Ventonwyn Tin Mine, Coombe, Cornwall
linear walk
time: 6:50 – 7:24
date: 26/09/09
weather: dawn sun breaking through low cloud
temperature 13°
wind speed/direction SW1
height above sea level:
wet dew soaked grass – flat, just post-dawn light and pink sky – ancient buildings errupt like the fingers of long dead tin-miners – pheasants running in confusion – burrows, newly dug – buzzards mewing and seeing me 75 metres away, fly off safely to a tree – dead eyes stare – fresh kill lays waiting the breakfaster’s return – seven miles away, the sea’s flat calm
Day 30 | Arlingham, River Severn
linear walk
time: 16:40 – 17:05
date: 27/09/09
weather: overcast
temperature: 16°
wind speed/direction SW1
height above sea level:
I release soil from Skyros to flow down The Severn – river sand cracks into crazy paving – bird prints, dog prints, man prints, there until the tide changes – should the Barrage happen, no more marks on the sand
Day 31 | Maitland Woods, Edge
linear walk
time: 18:10 – 18:25
date: 28/09/09
weather: setting sun, high cloud
temperature: 16°
wind speed/direction SW1
height above sea level:
setting sun dips behind cloud – heading westward, rooks roost, noisily – an airbus flies silently through the last of the blue day sky, heading westward – The River catches the last of the days silver light, as i look westward through the woodland.
Day 32 | Edge
circular garden walk
time: dawn
date: 29/09/09
weather: rising dawn sun, high cloud
temperature: 12°
wind speed/direction SW1
height above sea level:
orange cloud and vapour trails on deep blue sky – purple lustrife in soft light – morning star, a bright dot – rooks now hungry, head eastward – chill air – dew and grass on my shoes – beans still cropping – robins starting to get their early voices
Day 33 | Hawkwood, Stroud
linear walk
time:
date: 30/09/09
weather: sun, high cloud
temperature: 15°
wind speed/direction SW1
height above sea level:
looking south west towards the estuary, the blue profile of Uley Bury – badgers footprints in the yellow sandy soil – the Gloucstershire Alps rise, brown – beech, oak, hawthorne and field maple – footpaths make crosses in the fields
Day 34 | Ruscombe
linear walk
time:
date: 1/10/09
weather: sun, high cloud
temperature: 16°
wind speed/direction NW1
height above sea level:
Nympsfield wind turbine slowly generates power so we can usefully illuminate shop signs – bees are seduced by ivy’s scent – pigeon sets off westward, towards afternoon sun – newly fallen leaves and folded bus tickets litter this quiet road – in the distance, 2 bridges span The River, linking 2 countries – 2 power stations quietly radiate
Day 35 | Washbrook
linear walk
time:
date: 2/10/09
weather: overcast
temperature: 15°
wind speed/direction NW1
height above sea level:
fallen crack willow – golden leaves spiral in the quiet Washbrook waters – further down this lovely valley, they drop gently in the Frome – Frome waters fall into the Severn – Severn waters roar into the Bristol Channel – Bristol Channel waters become the Atlantic – Atlantic waters mix to become two-thirds of our planet’s surface – meanwhile, glaciers melt – I release water from the Aegean into the waters of Washbrook
Day 36 | Haresfield, garden centre
circular walk
time: 9:50 – 10:12
date: 3/10/09
weather: overcast
temperature: 15°
wind speed/direction NW5
height above sea level:
looking to the south west, over colourful heathers, imported plant pots, potted trees (blown over in the wind) past the Tyndale Memorial and round the corner…. if it was a clear day, I’d be able to see Wales – classical garden statues, carefully moulded in concrete and fresh from central China – plant pots (frost resistant guaranteed) all the way from the frozen wastes of Thailand – do things come from the UK? – beech is one of our native woodland species that will suffer from changes in temperature and rainfall, maybe we should be planting forests of yucca, palm and eucalyptus?
Day 37 | Standish Woods, Cotswold Way
linear walk
time: 10:22 – 10:39
date: 4/10/09
weather: sunny with light cloud
temperature: 16°
wind speed/direction WNW1
height above sea level:
red berries – amber leaves – flashes of red of a passing woodpecker – blue haze of Somerset and Wales – pale, golden sandbanks of The River – white sheep – buff fields, rain starved for ages – green light diffuses through this tunnel of trees – magpies raucously call to one another in competition with a farmer’s chainsaw – wren plays hide and seek
Day 38 | Painswick Stream, behind Tesco, Stroud
linear walk
time: 13:05 – 13:23
date: 5/10/09
weather: overcast
temperature: 14°
wind speed/direction 0
height above sea level:
on it’s way to The River Frome and nearing Stroud, Painswick Stream is corralled by sandbags, railings and concrete, sent through tunnels and decorated with occasional debris – but the brook and trees make a green lung on it’s way through the town – tarmac footpath meanders alongside and behind the foodstore under Brunel’s arched viaduct, pillars now unofficially painted – urges to ‘have fun’ – how different, a kilometre up the Painswick Valley – 125 passes rumbling above – closing my eyes, all I hear is rushing water – and a dipper may have just flown past
Day 39 | Rodborough Common
linear walk
time: 16:05 – 16:20
date: 6/10/09
weather: cloud, light rain, incoming squals
temperature: 17°
wind speed/direction SSW3
height above sea level:
great, grey clouds full of rain – occasional patches of sunlight get through the murk – The Severn only just visible – cows looking despondent, chew – after several dry weeks, leaves glistening with welcome water droplets – landscape lovers Mabel Alice and Walter’s names carved into an elderly bench – how many changes in our landscape since they last sat here?
Day 40 | Stonehouse, Bath Road
linear walk
time: 22:58 – 23:14
date: 7/10/09
weather: Light drizzle
temperature: 9°
wind speed/direction NNE2
height above sea level:
damp pavements reflecting light – empty street, apart from me and a late night dog and his walker – the Indian restaurant looks mournfully empty, staff waiting optimistically for one final customer – Stroud and Swindon’s lights, enough to keep this small town illuminated, contributing blissfully to our carbon exhaust – have their directors considered that this needless addiction to light (when at this late hour, there’s nobody to enjoy it) can result in the careless destruction of The Severn?
Day 41 | Purton, hulks
linear walk
time: 15:45 – 16:12
date: 8/10/09
weather: bright, sunny
temperature: 16°
wind speed/direction NNE3
height above sea level: 0
Boat’s bare bones protrude from the muddy ground, their ribs like the carcasses of long dead mythical animals – names from a previous age still resonate, Edith, Harriet, Selina Jane, Ada, Mary Ann – once working boats, they still work to prevent The River from taking back The Sharpness Canal – the Cardiff train gives voice on the opposite bank – grasses, mud, hulks, heron, gulls, crows, part of the fragile riverscape – Berkeley Castle overlooking this space with it’s darkly dangerous neighbour – if turned into a lake, how different this River will become
Day 42 | Capel Mill, River Frome, Stroud
linear walk
time: 15:52 – 16:27
date: 9/10/09
weather: scattered cloud, dry
temperature: 16°
wind speed/direction SW2
height above sea level:
100 paces take me from the quiet river and under another Brunel viaduct, to Stroud’s traffic – calmed by green light and water sounds – aware of the ground’s changing surface; tarmac; mud; stone and soil – how long does this water take to flow the 8 miles before reaching The Severn?
Day 43 | Bristol Docks
linear walk along the quayside
time: 11:15 – 11.34
date: 10/10/09
weather: fine, sunny with scattered clouds
temperature: 18°
wind speed/direction WSW 2
height above sea level:
walking past moored boats often named after fictitious females, fish or birds – eights and singles rowing past like pond skaters – Saturday’s café culture on a warm October day – 9 miles until this fresh water becomes salt – against a blue sky, the waning moon forms an exclamation mark with a wanton cloud – dock waters cormorant black, yacht hulls mute swan white, the bird that shouldn’t really be here, the Canada goose, grey and black and white – bungee jumper’s screams, chatter and bird sounds mingle with ferry boat’s rhythmic throb
Day 44 | Stratford Park, Dawn Redwood to Washbrook
linear walk, downhill towards the water
time: 16:20 – 16:41
date: 11/10/09
weather: fine, sunny with scattered clouds
temperature: 15°
wind speed/direction NW 2
height above sea level:
The Dawn Redwood, endangered in it’s native China flourishes in our parks – today I decorated this one in brightly coloured robes and garlanded it with flowers – the Thai’s often sanctify trees in a ritual called ‘buad paa’ in order to protect them – maybe we should initiate something similar with our River – Washbrook’s waters alive with duck and gulls squabbling for yesterday’s bread from Sunday walkers – magpie’s rasping chatter – leaves now falling rapidly into the slowly moving water, forming circles – squirrels chase around trees, ‘invisible switches’ rapidly turned on and off – low sun reflections dazzle on the waters surface
Day 45 | Painswick Beacon
linear walk
time: 10:16 – 10:35
date: 12/10/09
weather: fine, sunny
temperature: 16°
wind speed/direction WSW 2
height above sea level:
incredibly blue sky, void of clouds – Brecon’s mountains pierce the distance – glint of the River’s silver against the gold of dried grasses – Autumn leaves form a linear trail along the footpath – walking slowly can be quite noisy – light breeze brings scents of dampness – rocket-like, white birch stems streak skywards
Day 46 | Arlingham
linear walk
time: 14:43 – 15:12
date: 13/10/09
weather: fine, sunny, scattered cloud
temperature: 16°
wind speed/direction NW2
height above sea level: 0
mud, marks the footprint passing of untold numbers of birds – mud, that absorbs the detritus of the world – mud, that seems so solid so rapidly drowns – mud, that is home to invertibrates – mud, that is home to wintering birds from the north – mud, scoured by the passages of dark water into fabulous shapes – mud, made from long dead Welsh mountians
Day 47 | Horsepools, Edge, Gloucestershire
erratic linear footpath walk
time: 16:58 – 17:14
date: 14/10/09
weather: fine, sunny
temperature: 14°
wind speed/direction ENE1
height above sea level:
footpath across rutted field, excavated by mining rabbits – deep dusky purple, the last of the year’s sloe berries plump before frosts – last rays of the day’s sun, catch May Hill unawares – sky, deeply blue towards the direction of the cool breeze – going-home traffic hurtles, taking workers back to take-aways, Master Chef and celebs dancing.
Day 48 | Edge, Gloucestershire
linear walk
time: 21:50 – 22.05
date: 15/10/09
weather: rain, fog
temperature: 9°
wind speed/direction: variable 1
height above sea level:
smell of cattle in the damp air – rain soaked evening reflections in amber street light – close by trees seem like wraiths in heavy, swirling mist – the lights of towns; Gloucester, Lydney, Stonehouse usually so visible, all extinguished by the murk – fallen rain flowing down gulleys, through culverts, streams and fields to feed the pourous River
Day 49 | Scottsquar Hill
linear walk
time: 16:15 – 16:38
date: 16/10/09
weather: fine, sunny, scattered cloud
temperature: 9°
wind speed/direction: N2
height above sea level:
Low sun casting long eastward shadows over this Cotswold limestone grassland – trodden by cattle, these dark pathways through tired grasses, once green now becoming amber – my footfall unsure on the uneven ground – looking westward into the sun’s glare towards the Vale
Day 50 | confluence 1, Framilode, where the Rivers Frome and Severn join
linear walk, precariously along the sea wall
time: 16:41 – 16:54
date: 17/10/09
weather: overcast with patches of sunshine
temperature: 13°
wind speed/direction: N1
height above sea level: 6
walking 100 unsteady paces along the sea wall that’s shear-dropping into the Severn’s well travelled mud – trying to find where 2 rivers join, probably they meet at the end of somebody’s back garden – broken wooden stakes driven into the river bed, fail to hold back the tide – garden waste heaved over the wall, taking wall flowers away by the rising tide to the Atlantic – gulls play on the wind swooping, over the opposite bank – possibly these wandering sandbanks, will be victims of The Severn’s containment