Big Yellow - a photo on Flickriver

Big Yellow

            I love these big yellow and green fields.  And when they contrast so drastically against a doom laden sky with strong sunlight splashing in from the side, the big open space feels like a wonderful place to stroll through, without a care in the world and a spring in your stride.

However, if you're 17 miles into a 19 mile day, carrying a heavy pack full of hiking gear, and you've already taken a couple of liberal waterings from the leaden canopy above, then the cares are beyond being worn and the spring in the stride is something more of a reluctant stagger as you trudge eternally towards the end of the day in ever increasing despair.  

If you decide to hike the Wessex Ridgeway, I have two immediate recommendations.  1: Don't overdo it on the Scotch the night beforehand, no matter how pleased you are to catch up with friends you haven't seen for almost a year, and 2: Taking on 19 miles on the first day of a long distance trail without fully acclimatising yourself is ambitious, especially if you're carrying camping equipment in your pack.  Our previous trail experience had broken us in much more comfortably with a comparatively modest 12 miles of easy terrain on the first day.

Having said all of that, Wiltshire is a county that I've always felt is overlooked.  So many people race down to my home county of Cornwall and its near neighbours, apparently barely noticing the big open rolling landscape of this beautiful area, with white horses etched onto chalk hillsides, ancient arrangements of standing stones and burial mounds from another eon.  The first day took us from Marlborough to Devizes, with a lunch break at Avebury, and in between we spent pretty much the entire day in open country on high ground, gazing at splendour as we went.  From the tops of ridges we could watch the skies darken in the distance, with rainstorms racing across the land.  Mostly they would pass by, a mile or two distant, but on occasion we would be right in their path, ducking for cover wherever we could.

By the time we got to this spot we were close to Devizes, tired and hungry and wishing we hadn't had that last triple dram of Talisker the night before.  The image captures the memory of that day so well for me though, in its beauty, but with the ever present threat of rain all around.  My son and I only had the bank holiday weekend to spare, and were homeward bound a couple of days later after 40 very tough miles, reluctantly parting with our friends Mark and Wendy, who carried on and eventually made their way into better weather and the Dorset coast.  

When I look at this image, there's a big part of me that wants to go back and walk all the way to Lyme Regis too.

Taken in: UK / England / Bishops Cannings (show map)

Taken on: April 30, 2016

Tags:

Wiltshire

Wessex

Devizes

hiking

rapeseed

yellow

landscape photography

landscape

England

West Country

west country clickers

adventure

field

crops

leading line

sky

outdoor

scenery « less

Sets appears in: • Sky Drama • Wiltshire

Groups appears in: • Amateur Landscape • Landscape Beauty ! more » • Landscapes with Atmosphere • Flickr Social Club • The Best of Westcountry Photography • Flickr Social « less

Camera: Panasonic DMC-G3, f/11.0, 1/80 sec, 34mm (=68mm), ISO 500 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Panasonic DMC-G3
Lens:	LUMIX G VARIO 14-42/F3.5-5.6
Aperture:	f/11.0
Exposure Time:	0.013 sec (1/80)
Focal Length:	34mm (35mm equivalent: 68mm)
ISO:	500
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Light Source:	Fine Weather
Gain Control:	High gain up
Saturation:	Low
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)
Show full info

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