Train ride from Penzance to Edinburgh

I love riding trains almost as much as ferries.  And since I have been driving, I have hardly gotten enough trains around here.  So, as I am ending my stay in Britain, I decided to take one of the longest train rides available.  I traveled from Penzance, Cornwall to Edinburgh, Scotland where I am spending my last few days before leaving the country.

Thanks to my Senior Railcard, and to purchasing ahead, I saved so much money that I felt able to upgrade to first class.  As you see in the above photo, not that many others were traveling first class on a Sunday morning from Penzance.  The car filled up later though. But all I had to do was sit back and enjoy the scenery, order coffee, relax with my books and sudokus, chat with fellow travelers as they got on and off.  A sweet day.

Plymouth Harbor, the first big city from the Penzance end.  I am reading the Patrick O'Brian series of seagoing adventures in which Plymouth figures prominently.  If you have not read them--they are a great read about a naval captain and his surgeon sidekick during the Napoleonic wars. A great read and just the right thing for a long train journey.

The midlands with farms and wind farms.

The northeast, farming and old industry.

Crossing the River Wear at Durham just at dusk.

Waverley Station in Edinburgh.  I took this the next day as it was dark and dreary on Sunday evening.

Taxi to my temporary home in the New Town neighborhood of Edinburgh.

The Silversmith's Art: Edimburgh

Today was another of the surprises that delight when traveling in a wandering way.  I am in Edinburgh on a cool but beautifully sunny day.  A stop at the National Museum of Scotland brought me into an exhibit of British silversmiths.  My eyes are filled with beauty.

The Silversmith's Art displays the work of about 60 individual silver and other metal craftspeople and seven bespoke silver craft companies.  The Worshipful Society of Goldsmiths, the original goldsmiths guild from 1427, has undertaken to collect the work of contemporary silver artists in Britain and assists the artists with access to markets and commissions. Some of the artists interviewed reflect that their work has emerged from the 19th and 20th C. Arts and Crafts Movement, appreciating the guild assistance to promote respect for individual craftsmanship. A theme of the exhibit is that the Silver Craft Movement is a uniquely British contribution in the art world.

For me, it was an unexpected pleasure.  I had gone to the museum to see the Scottish history and industry galleries which were wonderful too. A turn too far and I was drawn right in by the piece by Jane Short shown at the top of the post, Millennium Dish.  It is about 18" across, engraved silver around the rim, enameled in the middle.

This bowl by Hiroshi Suzuki is about 12" across the top.  It is a double-skinned bowl made with hammered outer and polished inner layers.

The bottle in the same case is also by him using the hammered plate technique.

Beakers are about 4" tall.  Jane Short did the enamel and gold foil outside design.  Michael Appleby created the beakers themselves using hammered silver.

Bowl, by Michael Lloyd, is about 15" across.  It is hand-raised and engraved, inlaid with gold.  The inside is gold, the stand is forged silver.  It was a presentation to a person who had headed the National Trust so the wording is in appreciation of the work that the Trust does to preserve historical and national sites.

Birdwatching on the Isles of Scilly, UK

Watching the field for Little Buntings, a rare migrant from Arctic Russia

Isles of Scilly.  On a map they seem so remote and tiny.  Only reachable by ferry or air.  Clearly a destination worth exploring for those of us who like to poke around in unlikely places.  Then, upon poking, I find that it is a major birdwatching destination, especially in October when I will be finishing my time in Britain.

Turned out great.  Beautiful scenery, great weather, birds I would never see anywhere else.

I went with a group of birders all British with a bird-specialist travel company: Birdfinders.  I recommend them.  When we got there, the place was alive with birdwatchers. This place is famous as a safe haven for migrant birds from various points north--Siberia, Scandinavia, Greenland, Canada. Birds fly through or over or are blown in by the wind. Thus, birds that British birders cold never otherwise see.  Me, either.  Everyone was wearing binoculars, carrying giant scopes and cameras.  I felt right at home.

Every day we tromped around the lanes, roads, fields.  Many birders were using radios so that sightings of rare birds could be reported. 

Upon hearing "three 'little buntings' in fields near lower moors" off we and everyone else would rush.  

"Ashy flycatcher on airport runway" and off we would go.  "Red-flanked bluetail on Bryher Island"--folks were planning for the next ferry.

We saw them all as well as meadow pipits, chaffinches, fieldfares, gulls, waders.  One day was a pelagic trip out to the far reefs to find seabirds like skua, storm-petrel, puffins, gannets.

A great week.

Birds

Fieldfare

My favorite bird, the Fieldfare migrates through this area on its way from Arctic Europe to Spain and N. Africa. Later, populations from Arctic Russia will migrate in to Britain and Ireland to stay for the winter.  They eat all the holly and hawthorn berries.  Quite a few were seen during the week and it was not something anyone rushed off to find-it is a common winter bird in U.K.  But I would never have any other chance to see it as it does not enter North America. And I am so happy to see it in the excellent scopes of my fellow birders.

Red-flanked bluetail

One of the very rare birds--even written up in the London newspaper The Guardian--is the red-flanked bluetail. It is not abundant in the world and only one or two are seen in Britain in a year. Maybe none. They nest in the area of Finland near the Russian border and usually migrate through the Himalayas to China for winter.  It does seem, from the range map that they are spotted in Britain and Northern Europe with enough regularity to show up on the maps but do not seem to winter here.

I have been totally unaware of this bird until now. It was quite an experience waiting for about an hour with fifty birders for one bird.  But it did begin hopping around the hedges and sat out on a branch for me and others to get a good look. 

Every night birders gather in the Scillonian Club bar for the bird log.  Such rarities as the bluetail are called out with glee and exact location described.  People are very careful to respect private property and it appears that most of the farmers are gracious about granting permission to go on their property to view the bird.  The farmer where the bluetail was seen grows daffodil bulbs in the field where the bird was seen.  We were all careful to stay on the road; he held back on some of his farm activities for a couple of days so that the birders could see the bluetail.

Getting around

The Isles of Scilly is a charming area.  Five major and many minor islands make up the Scilly archipelago which has been a major shipping and shipwreck location for centuries.  To my delight, we went by ferry from island to island, then walked everywhere on land.  I can't believe how many miles I logged in honor of finding birds, even though I skipped some.

Every boat has a dog.  This little guy is on the ferry to Bryher Island and wanders the boat at will. The red harness is a flotation device.

Daily life

A meeting point in town is the "Bishop and Wolf" pub--we ate there one evening.  Who thinks of these names?  Turns out that "Bishop" and "Wolf" are the lighthouses farthest east and west of the Scillies. Makes sense after all but it took me days to find out.

Food was so English.  Hearty fare.  I did find lemon meringue pie one night for desert.  Northern Ireland has this pie beat but this is the only actual lemon pie I have found anywhere.

Standard pub fare in Britain includes lasagna.  Since I became something of an aficionado of lasagna in Italy, I gave this a try.  Not like Italy but good hearty pub food after walking miles to find birds.

We stayed in the Mincarlo Guest House--the tall grey building--at the north end of the main strand.

 The harbor and quay from our terrace. All the ferries depart from the quay which is based on the 17th C. defenses.

--
Bird photos are from Royal Society for Protection of Birds or National Audubon Society.  We will get a CD of the actual birds we saw and I will see if I can put them up here.  But it will be awhile.

Other photos--mine.

Summertime Artmaking - Nancy in Seattle

Nearly always when I come to Seattle I take a course or two at Pratt Fine Art Center or at Gage Academy. This time it was Gage Academy, where I was attracted by Julia Ricketts' class in Sumi-e painting. Black and white. Botanical subjects. A new technique. Yum.

Sumi-e is a Japanese ink-drawing technique that encourages bold moves. Every stroke is a permanent record; there's no going back. This requires confidence, which is wonderful practice for me.

The brushes are different from watercolor brushes, made of softer hair and longer, more flexible. The hair doesn't spring back after a stroke like watercolor brushes. Somehow the hair absorbs enough fluid for long, long strokes, but it will make blots and puddles if you're not moving constantly. It's quite a discipline.

You hold the brush vertically using only your thumb and two fingers, and move your entire arm, not only your wrist, to make a stroke. How easy it is to over-reach! For quick toning of large areas, we used bits of sponge and scribbled in backgrounds or details - fun! 

Here's one with shadows added:

We used big paper, 18x24 or even 32x48, measuring in inches. Well, I have been traveling for a year, and hauling big paper around the Continent is impossible. I was used to 7x10 or even 4x6 paper. Hard to make a statement at such a small scale. Big paper is much more fun.

Sumi-e paper from Japan is very soft, and ink spreads relentlessly from one's initial stroke. Also, it goes right through the paper and stains whatever is underneath. Controlling that is frankly beyond me at this early stage. So I was grateful that Julia specified drawing paper, which has less sizing than watercolor paper, and absorbs more ink, but isn't as thirsty as sumi-e paper.


Ink is intense. Somehow it gets a lot more tone per milliliter of water. Somehow it seems way more brilliant than any color. Amazing how that works.

We got into color too. You can start with blobs of pale color and later add details in stronger color. Or, you can start with the details and later superimpose paler color that feels like background.

In this one on the right, the light was coming strongly from one side, washing out the distinctions between blossoms on the right and emphasizing the dark leaves on the left. They don't look like hydrangea leaves, but never mind. The goal in my mind was play, and getting the feel of this new medium. I cut myself slack on perfection.

The photography here is defeating me with this picture of irises - the background should be white, for one thing. I thought of having some of these professionally photographed, but decided against because they are trials and not finished level. I have a new computer, and thus I don't have Photoshop Elements any more. This is Paint.net, and I haven't learned it yet very well. Getting rid of the strip along the right? Hmph. Good luck with that. So I could leave this picture out altogether, but I like the original, and a little imagination will help.

I tend to be very demanding of my painting...if it isn't perfect it's no good at all. This summer was an effort to liberate myself from that binary thinking. I certainly managed imperfection! And yet, I had a good time. I got a kick out of the uncontrollable parts of the picture - even the drips and blotches. The un-realism. I like those blossoms heading out, leaping out of the too-small vase, which can't contain them as they take flight.

I think my painting could actually improve from this experience. Certainly, my attitude toward painting has improved.

Of course, I took this new way of looking at painting out of the classroom and into plein-air. The picture at the top, canas at Volunteer Park in Seattle, was one attempt. Here are two more, dahlias in Donna Ellefson's back yard, and a view of Gasworks Park from a small road next to the Water Patrol. You're not supposed to park there, so I hauled everything in - easel, chair, water, board, paper, ink, palette. Improvements must be made to my haulage, in future.

I'm starting to travel again, so it's back to small paper and only as much as I can carry. No easel. No chair. Everything little. Hoping for good outcomes, as long as I remember that I'm there to have a good time.



by Nancy
New York City
October 18, 2015

At home in Llanwnda, Pembrokeshire, Wales, United Kingdom

Time to stop and live somewhere for awhile.  I am in Llanwnda in the lovely home of Carmen and her family.  I have the pleasure of playing house in a really nice place for a few weeks, plus the pleasure of meeting folks who live in the area. Cooking, laundry--yay!  Walks along the National Coastal Trail--more yay!  Neolithic and Iron Age remains, seabird watching sites--more and more yay!

Llanwnda is a village--no businesses but a collection of farms and houses.  Houses have no numbers, only names.  Is this like a British novel?  I have only lived in houses with numbers until now. Unfortunately, the names are in Welsh so I cannot pronounce them nor remember them.  Sigh!

A lovely small church dates back to the Middle Ages when Christianity was re-established in Wales in the 5th and 6th C after the withdrawal of the Roman forces. We are part of Goodwick and Fishguard which are actual towns. From there a ferry goes daily to Ireland or a train goes several times a day to Swansea and then to England.  Llanwnda was bigger and more important in the middle ages as it was part of the pilgrimage path to St. Davids and even on to Rome and Jerusalem.  It is a tiny place 3 miles west of Goodwick now. For those who walk the Pembrokeshire section of the Coastal Trail, it is a bit of a jig off the main path.  The whole area is part of the National Park and walkers park here to access the trail. Thus, to many it may seem remote.

For me right now, it is the center. As I prepare to move on to the next phases of my journey, I recognize that I am sad to leave.  I have met really nice people here--folks I would like to keep as friends. As usual, I find that I have barely scratched the surface of the things to explore.

Carmen's House
I found Carmen's house on Airbnb.  As usual, it was a "best guess" of a place I might like.  It has been delightful--a combination of peaceful time to myself with social activity with the family and village friends.  Best of both worlds.  If you come to Wales, you should stay here.  Follow the link to find the place.  There is also a fine B & B here, snugged right up next to the neolithic cairn and with a lovely view.  Follow this link for more information about the area.

My home for a few weeks on the edge of the national park

Sunny kitchen--beautiful and well-equipped

Morning coffee and toast in front of the fire

Ingenious laundry solution for a rainy area

Church
St. Gwyndaf's Church has been central to this village for centuries and remains so today.  It is important enough to have its own post so follow this link for more.

Eccentric tea house
The first thing you see in Llanwnda is this eccentric place with many signs inviting you in for a cup of tea.  If you were walking the trail, you would have seen the invitations at the gate of the path.  It is so charming--dirty boots and wet dogs welcome. I only briefly met some of the family who live there but it was a charming welcome to the area.

Neolithic remains
All of Wales was heavily populated during the Neolithic. As a mining center it was also populated during the Bronze and Iron ages. Remains are in small bits here and there where later land use has not covered them over or reused them. I am fascinated with this period and seek out burial chambers, field systems, forts wherever I can ferret them out.  This burial chamber is at the entrance to the village more or less though you have to walk up to it.

Neolithic burial chamber on hill in village

Standing stone in Llanwnda, south of the burial chamber. I do not know the probable age of this stone; others in the area are iron age when there was a big increase in population in the area.

Strumble Head and Pembrokeshire Coast path
Strumble Head is the westernmost point along the coast hereabouts.  It is a Seawatch site for bird migration, now for those going south.  If you are lucky you may also see dolphins and porpoises as well as birds.  Everyone was quite far out to sea while I was watching but I got good sightings of the cliff birds--pipits, choughs, raptors.

The Coast Path goes along here a short hop from where I live.  It goes from Newport, a bit north and on south to an area on the Severn estuary.  I have been taking on tiny bits of it where it is not steep and rocky-no more broken ankles for me.  Really stunning seaviews.  It helps that I have had great weather.  Right now the trail is quite busy with people going out to look at the baby seals who are recently born and still on the beach.  Right here out of Llanwnda are several safe rocky beaches with many babies with their mothers.

This section is also called the Butterfly Coast.  Right now the main butterfly is the Speckled Wood butterfly. It would be fun to be here a bit earlier in the year when more kinds are present.

Strumble Head lighthouse

Coast Path south of lighthouse

Cairn at Carreg Wastad, marking the site of the French Invasion. Visible from my house.

Trail section with seal cove

Way mark

Path into Llanwnda

Speckled wood butterfly--they are everywhere.

Sunset and good-bye

The sun sets over the Irish Sea and Strumble Head--the view from the kitchen window.  I have been drinking Spanish wine and watching the sunset pretty much daily.  I am getting ready for Spain which is in the near future for my travels.  The photo is the sunset on my last day.