Magnetic north

August bank holiday weekend is approaching fast. The weather has been glorious, the skies clear and temperatures pleasant. As I get myself organised this morning it is, quite typically, raining.

Today I once again throw the bags in the car and head north… this time on an adventure into North Yorkshire. There is a church filled with medieval wall paintings, several hills and various ancient sites on the agenda. And with luck the moors will be in bloom.

Oh I hope I can capture them somehow… do them the smallest justice…it is times like these I wish I was a real photographer… It needs artistry to capture their spirit and the feel of the place.

It is quite strange really, having spent the past two decades in the south, quite by accident, with the rarest of forays northwards, to be spending so much time there these days. I have longed for northern skies… damp, iron grey and low as they so often are, for so many years. There is an inescapable pull…a tug at the heartstrings that is insistent and, it seems, not easily ignored or satiated.

So the time I have been able to spend in the north these past few months has been a real joy. In the truest sense of the word. I do not mind the hundreds of miles each trip, I do not tire of that thrill as the skies come down to meet me. I cannot take for granted that rare quality in the light or the soft tones of weatherworn stone. I revel in them.

I shall take the ‘long’ way round… driving up through the pretty hills of Derbyshire. So much more appealing than the motorways. I may stop off in Bakewell for a coffee… or I may possibly just lose myself in the landscape for a while… I am not expected till evening and even I should be able to arrive on time if I give myself a couple of hours grace to play….

I have no idea if I will have chance or internet access to post for the next few days… if recent forays are anything to go by, possibly not. But the cameras are charging, the laptop and maps packed and adventures await… and isn’t it better to be playing under a low-flying sky, living life and exploring this beautiful world that awaits us every time we step out of our door, than to sit indoors in front of a screen merely dreaming about living?