The Hard Frosted Grasses Above Burcombe

"The windows are NOT dirty, they are frozen over", the bus driver firmly corrected me when I complained that because I could not see out of the bus in the pre dawn dark (6 a.m.) I had missed the bus stop I wanted and the next one would be almost back to where I started!

Fortunately, he dropped me at the road junction and so the punchbowl above Burcombe was now only an hour and half walk, just enough light to see by, now, almost all of it steeply uphill, some of it through woods, with views back toward Wilton rather gorgeous.

My Blip was almost going to be a nice sunrise - no tripod but a handy fence post, map and medicine blister pack under one corner of the camera to partly correct the skewed angle - using grad grey filters these were nice and showed some of the ghostly frost that was everywhere, like some mild post apocalyptic ash layering over everything.

Most of my photos were either of the sunrise, looking back towards a distant Salisbury, with the cathedral spire 7 miles away, or of the pale orange sunlight gently washing over the pale sage green landscape. Indeed, the views facing the other direction to this tree clump growing on a tumuli (freespiral, take note) were this neat farmed patchwork, all in a gentle sage green. Usually, they are a plush vibrant green. It all seemed quite odd.

Odd too, that despite being really quite high up, there was no wind. Despite the ground being as hard as a road, with grasses crunching heavily under my heavy hiking boots (the big clompers, not the lightweight Merrells) - this aspect almost the only thing reminding just how cold it actually was - I was actually quite warm, with only my feet eventually getting cold.

For once, I've included one Extra - at the south side of the tree clump is a tribute to a soldier. Don't know who but I guess that whoever he was, he would have or used to enjoy this view and scene. Just wild enough to have to battle one's way up to but within England's wondrous beauty. Worth viewing from and worth fighting for. I felt a mutual solidarity and respect.

My cold feet eventually forced me back downhill, in the opposite direction, towards Barford St Martin. Unusually for me, I actually started to feel really lonely up there - there were distant signs of human activity - tiny ant like tractors off to feed the organic pigs out further along the ridge, distant cars along the roads. But there were no other walkers, with either cameras or dogs and so I was actually quietly relieved to get the two hourly bus back home, some four hours of being on my complete own. 

I had to stand on that bus, hanging on tight as it went round country roads, almost all the other passengers were elderly shoppers simply going to Salisbury Market to get their weekly provisions. I looked back up to the hills (clean bus windows this time!) that I had clomped all over and then at ordinary folk just doing what ordinary folk have to do. It brings it all back down to reality, how lucky I was able to do what I had just done - and me wondering what exactly was left in my own fridge!! 

Another from today http://www.juzaphoto.com/galleria.php?t=1710802&l=en

Thanks to everybody for their lovely and kind comments on my less than perfect Barn Owl in flight, before sunrise, yesterday! Much appreciated - I had taken much better photos, technically, but it was such a special moment, that I had (just about) managed to capture - and many of you felt the same as I did about this most beautiful of birds.