A break in the clouds

A weekend day with no rain? Unheard of!

Quick let's go to the seaside and enjoy the sun...

Beautiful blue sea and sky at Weymouth

Even a miniature ruined castle. Built in 1541 most has been lost to coastal erosion.   It was designed specifically as part of the king's network of coastal defences to protect against both French and Spanish attacks.

After 1664 it  was  considered to be of no military importance and was struck from the military register. The castle dungeons were even used as a mint for striking coinage at one time.

 The weather had been so bad that most of the boats seem to be tucked up for the winter still. Many of the harbourside houses have sandbags heaped up against their doors to keep the high tides they've had recently where they belong.

Chesil Bank . One of three main shingle features in the UK, this is a barrier beach. Although the ridge is 48ft above mean high tide, the recent weather saw waves breaking over it and the JCBs are busy putting the shingle back where it belongs.

This seems appropriate given the Winter Olympics going on at the moment. Weymouth hosted the sailing events for the London 2012 event.

One final shot  - sunset over Portland Bill. No time to really wander around here so a return trip will have to be planned.

Given Up but Going for Gold anyway

No not blogging! But trying to go walking in this weather. Spent a very nice afternoon in Bath though listening to Prof. Hutton give a talk on the Ancient Mysteries. Much better than trying to tramp through the mud at the moment.


These are a few pictures from the new Dvizes Museum's Stonehenge exhibition showing the treasures excavated around the monument.

It's a new £750K state of the art gallery which means lots of space around the artifacts and lots of pretty graphics. Personally I prefer the older style displays with more content than style but then I'm a bit of a luddite I guess.

Still on with the pictures:

Firstly a reconstruction of the Bush Barrow burial

Many of the artifacts on display were found here including the two gold lozenges. A very high status burial indeed.

This large lozenge was found on his breast

And the small one to his side. It is somewhat overpowered by the display!

Another small gold disc. This is a gold fitting for a dagger sheath.

Some gold jewellery as well  - a gold cylindrical bead bracelet or necklace

Finally more body adornments- these were labelled as belonging to the Shamen.













It was lovely to be able to see some of the finds from Stonehenge and the surrounding area and fitting that they are now displayed at Devizes rather than in a remote museum in London.

Imbolc? Candlemas? even Groundhog Day...

Getting tired of all this rain.

Thankfully I don't live on the Somerset Moors ( the Levels) but even up high the rain is endless, the ground sodden and the grey depressing. It hasn't even been terribly cold so it doesn't feel like winter has even begun let alone started to give way to spring.

Unusually there was a bit of blue sky today but no one felt like going far. More storms are forecast and it is only a temporary respite.

So we headed out to Stoney Littleton barrow again with the plan of walking a bit in the general area.

 Some definite signs that things are starting to grow. But then again they haven't really stopped. There is still flowers and ripening fruit on the alpine strawberry in my front garden. It really shouldn't be doing that until early summer...



An absolute torrent rushing through the stream which is far higher than usual.

The barrow  - I've photographed this many times before and really my heart wasn't in it today. Still it looks pretty.

There was someone just inside communing with the ancestors so we didn't want to disturb him by lingering long.

Walking on  it was muddy. Really really muddy. Even with proper boots and gaiters it wasn't pleasant and wellingtons would have been better.

We did persevere for a while but faced with this and a long stretch that was actually flooded we gave up and retraced our footsteps back to the car.

I opted out of the boot cleaning that was subsequently required. Well it wasn't my choice of venue so it wasn't my fault the boots got so filthy was it!!

A nice afternoon spent watching the rugby instead especially as Wales won yesterday so no need to fret about the score. That may change through as the competition progresses...

Toniná - a site for those with a good head for heights!

Toniná had a reputation of being an aggressive city - much of the carvings show the ruthless way it dealt with its enemies and it still had the power to terrify me....

There is no way my pictures can do justice to the sheer enormity of this construction nor convey just how impressive a city structure this is so here are just a few samples

From a distance the plateau on which the site is built is impressive enough.

Then the building starts to rise from the plateau . The acropolis covers 7 terraces and it soon became apparent that we were going to be climbing them.

All of them.

It was very humid but it was possible to escape briefly from the sun - at least near the bottom.

Everywhere on the terraces are the remains of buildings. As an engineering feat this is incredible.

As is the usual Mayan practice, each new ruler built  over his predecessors structure, unlike the Egyptians who built new from scratch each time.





As a result the Mayan remains are like a time capsule with the archaeologists able to peel back the layers to the earlier rulers. Much of there work is very well preserved.

The view form the top. Yes it is very high indeed.










The following pictures are not for those of a nervous disposition!

Mayan steps are very steep, very uneven and there are no hand rails or nets to stop a fall. In the UK you wouldn't be allowed anywhere near the top of these structures. The Mexicans though are not so bothered about such things.

Going up to the top was bad enough....

But coming down was far far far worse - this gives you an idea of what the last bit was like. I was frankly terrified.

Fall here and there was little to stop you until you reached the bottom.

Misol Há

Definitely housebound today. Anyone knowing anything about the weather in the UK at the moment will know why!

With the coast being battered by storm surges and high winds more or less everywhere there really wasn't much of a decision to make. I don't fancy being swept away from a coastal path, blown off a hillside or hit on the head by a falling branch in a woodland.

A day to stay home in front of the fire and remember warmer sunnier days so back to Mexico and the falls at Misol Há

 Truly spectacular. It was the end of the rainy season so there was plenty of water streaming over the falls. In fact Misol Há means Streaming Water in one of the Mayan dialects.

The official website claims it as a 40 mt drop - I'm not sure it was quite that high but never mind.

One of the attractions is that you can swim in the pool but given the amount of water it didn't seem wise - not that we had time though. However these two were not deterred and were grateful I'm sure for the rope slung across the centre of the pool to stop themselves being swept down river.

The path down to the waterfall leads behind it and it was quite an experience to stand under it. I was glad of my rian poncho as I'd have been soaked to the skin with the spray otherwise.





 The camera was also wearing its waterproof jacket so I was able to take some shots out through the curtain of water.

I was the only one brave enough the try this!

The path goes on past the falls but becomes steep slippery and rocky and we didn't have time to go any further. 

The misty effect here is the  water spray. I was getting a bit worried now about my camera. It isn't waterproof and I was trusting the swathes of plastic to keep it dry so time to beat a retreat.


The camera  was a lot drier than I was!

San Cristóbal de las Casas

Well it's been a very wet few days and more to come apparently.  In fact I don't think I've seen such rain since, well since San Cristóbal de las Casas.

It all started off so well.

Lovely hotel. This is the sight that greets you after check in. An old colonial house around a courtyard now converted into a hotel.








Alas it was not to last. It was the tail end of the rainy season and we'd been very luck so far with the weather. The first strange thing we noticed about St Cristobal was the very deep curbs. The pavements were a good 10 inches or more above the roads.



The reason for this soon became clear- the heavens opened and the roads flooded in a downpour of tropical proportions. Within minutes every bit of that depth was needed as the streets became a river....

....fortunately the rain soon eased off and the floods disappeared as quickly as they arrived.

 San Cristóbal is the cultural capital of Chiapas and is very Spanish in it's layout and ambiance. It also has a very nice street market. They are obviously used to the rain. For me it was a chance to try out the waterproof "raincoat" I'd bought for the camera.

Despite the Spanish influence, there is still a lot of the original culture left - this is a common way for the local women to carry things.










There were some surprises though. This church, well out of town and up a long flight of steps had a neon altar piece. Never seen anything like it!

Right on the doorstep

The days are short now and the weather was poor so we thought we'd stay fairly local.

Only lived in this area now for 10 years but still never quite got around to visiting our local piece of woodland. To be honest I only found out about it  a few months ago and then by a chance conversation. To be fair it wasn't given a great write up so I wasn't expecting much and it wasn't a great priority.

However today seemed a good chance to go and see it...

Well it was bigger than I'd expected and I'd no idea it was actually a hillfort. And right on the doorstep too... rather embarrassing really but never mind.






It's a small one  just a single circuit of ramparts for enclosure and defence but is still a  Scheduled Ancient Monument despite being damaged by quarrying and mining.

A small stream runs between it and Stephan's Vale. I don't think this bridge is the original structure though somehow...

The waterfall in Stephan's Vale was a lovely surprise too. The path down to it was wet and muddy and looked steep and slippery so that is saved for another day.

It is apparently carpeted in bluebells and other woodland flowers in the spring.










And to round off a day or surprises, a rather out of season thorn. I guess it is a little confused by the mild weather we've been having.







Well it may have taken me 10 years to find the place but I think a return visit in the spring will be essential to enjoy the bluebells and other woodland flower. I certainly won't be waiting a decade to go back!