needles, cliffs, the sea, tennyson & half a dead fox - england day 4

what did i wake up to? a blue sky! so i decided not to go to london after all, because i didn't want to risk missing out on a hike on what might possibly be the only sunny day during this holiday. instead, i took the bus to revisit a couple of places i'd been to in the 90s, starting at alum bay.

alum bay is famous for its multi-coloured sands and the fact that, due to geological folding, you can find vertical layers of rock instead of horizontal layers - younger rocks to the west and older rocks to the east. quite stunningly beautiful. until recently i did not know that guglielmo marconi moved here at the end of the 19th century and experimented with radio, communicating with ships offshore.

i did not go down to the beach, however, but instead walked to the needles battery and the needles viewpoint. the needles are three stacks of chalk rising out of the sea just off the shore at the isle's westernmost point. they don't actually look like needles at all, but that is easily explained: there was actually one shaped like a needle, called lot's wife, but it collapsed ages ago. the name, however, stuck. the needles lighthouse is iconic - just walk into any souvenir shop on the island, and it will greet you a hundred times.

queen victoria may have been the most famous resident on the island, but another VIP, so to speak, spent many, many years here: alfred lord tennyson, poet laureate. he owned a house on the island and was a permanent resident for one and a half decades, before he "fled" from the starstruck tourists who kept pestering him, returning to the island during the quiet winters. it was up the hill named after him (tennyson down) that i walked to the memorial erected in his memory, up on a clifftop 147m above the sea, silently reciting lines from his "lady of shalott". i inwardly groaned when some folks up by the memorial were wondering what the "poet, wasn't he" had written and came up with "i wandered lonely as a cloud" ... call me a snob, but - ouch. poor wordsworth, poor tennyson.

it was so beautiful up there, and though it was quite windy at the top, the more than welcome sun made such a difference! i walked on towards freshwater bay, where i stopped for a hot drink, then walked on along the coastal path towards brook. ah, the sea! if there is one thing i would change about my home country it is the fact that it's landlocked. i have always loved the sea. it has never scared me, always drawn me to it. there's something about it that is healing, comforting. i also love the fact that its mood can change like a person's ... from calm and inviting to turmoil, fury and bleakness. it's as if it reflected a person's emotions, inner life.

i walked past tucked away little bays, among gorse bushes, encountered the first two bumblebeesof the season, saw a lot of smiling faces, took plenty of pictures, enjoyed the views all around, and - almost stumbled over half a dead fox. the first thought was "oh, brilliant!" what does that say about me? ha. it looked quite bizarre - only the front half of the animal was left fairly intact ... the rest ... well ... don't ask. i'll post a picture later.

not far from the fox, a bloody wing. above me, seagulls and crows circling and screeching, riding the currents. life and death.

i got to brook chine much sooner than i'd expected, so i went down and sat on the beach for a bit, soaking up some good sea, sun & sand vibes. at the bus stop i stretched out on the bench, face tilted towards the sun, listening to the crows making a racket in the adjacent field, and i could have fallen asleep there, it was so peaceful!

back in sandown, i once again found that nothing beats a long, hot shower after a 14 or 15 km hike. bliss! i felt like dining out, so i put on some decent clothes for a change, no muddy boots or hiking gear. in celebration of me i even put on lipstick! ;) i went to the indian restaurant for some kadai paneer and tandoori roti, and i actually allowed myself the first half pint of cider in ages.

i barely drink alcohol anymore - i went teetotal in 2007, because i did not want to mix my psychotropic drugs with alcohol. i didn't actually mind all that much. when i went off the pills, i found that wine didn't do me good anymore - unfortunately, because i had always enjoyed a glass of shiraz. wines tend to make me anxious and slightly paranoid now. funnily enough, i am alright with some bailey's or even a small caipirinha now and again. anyway, so i thought i'd see how cider agrees with me these days. i spent an hour eating and reading "being alive", being particularly struck by simon armitage's "Not the Furniture Game".

back in my room, i had another video chat with heinz. i had felt hot and my eyes had hurt after my hike, but i'd put it down to the sun, wind and exercise. however, by about 10:30 i was convinced something was wrong. well, 38°C body temperature, that's what was wrong with me. aaaaarghhhh! so, off to bed. i went from burning up to teeth chattering cold until i eventually fell asleep.

here are some photos!


view of the needles



gorse - south england's light



alum bay



freshwater bay



tennyson memorial



half a dead fox



reflective bird


song of the day: the lady of shalott by loreena mckennitt, based on the poem by alfred lord tennyson.

of marshes, detours & clotted cream tea - england day 3

not so windy in the morning, a hint of sun. i set out towards brading by bus, then attempted to walk towards the coast ... due to a lack of signposts in some crucial spots that was a bit more hit and miss than i'd expected. i walked across marshes, encountered several chattering but shy geese, and emerged on the other side looking like a piggy, at least my feet to well above my ankles did! instead of being some place near bembridge down, i ended up in yaverland, not all that far from sandown, where i'm staying. ah well.

up the first ascent towards culver cliff. bunnies galore, snow flurries again, and the wind had picked up, too. and then, of course, the path was closed. i was greeted by a red DO NOT ENTER sign. sigh. back again. diversion number 1. along the road, too, and no idea how long it would take. but i marched on. eventually ended up back on the coastal path. i enjoyed the views as i hiked on uphill towards culver cliff and the earl of yarborough monument. up there the wind was definitely an issue, so i had a hot drink before descending towards whitecliff bay. fields, some wooded areas - those were nice, as they meant shelter from the wind. happy hiker girl, until ... diversion number 2. path closed again. there had been no notice of that part being closed back at yaverland, or i would have found some other walking tour. double sigh.

again, country roads, then across the village, on to foreland, by the sea. there the wind jumped at me like some icy beast that wouldn't let go of me again. as there was no way i would have made it all the way to ryde as planned, and i dreaded more detours, i ventured to the nearest bus stop - and i was really lucky in that the bus showed up about three minutes later. back to sandown then. with all the detours, i have no ideas how many kilometres i walked, but certainly no less than 13.

which meant, i really deserved some clotted cream tea, right? right. after a stop at the co-op, i sat happily munching my scone with cream and strawberry jam - and actually drinking tea the english way! it had been my hot drink of choice for many, many years, until i heard that caffeine was not good for me when i started having panic attacks in 2007. so i went cold turkey back then and didn't drink any tea with milk for nearly five and a half years. and i'm only having a few cuppas while here in england. because, well, it's all part of the experience, eh?

here's a pic of dotty trying to pinch my scone:.


dotty-d cream tea ;)

speaking of the UK - there are some things i really love about it:

so many houses have names here. that's so neat. if i had a house in austria, i'd name it, too.

even in the new millennium, people still queue up. i often wish austrians had more of a queuing culture - especially at tichy's ice cream shop on a hot summer day. ;)

passengers thank the bus driver when getting off the bus. and the bus drivers thank the passengers.

friendly and helpful bus drivers who shout out your stop.

salt & vinegar crisps. to. die. for.

strongbow cider.

original source tea tree & mint shower gel

galaxy bars.

clotted cream teas.

the light.

but this time around i am also shocked at the number of people who are not only badly / inappropriately, but also shabbily dressed: faded colours; jumpers that have gone baggy with age, overstretched wristbands; tracksuits that have seen much better days; worn-out trainers, or even only slippers that look like they were intended for indoors. along with that goes unwashed hair and a general impression of negligence. i'm not saying this does not exist in austria, but it really strikes me here this year. sign of the times, i suppose.

some photos:


two geese



low tide



view of sandown bay



knock knock! - who's there?



twisted



blackbird scanning the sky for sun?


song of the day: on my own from "les misérables" by original london cast.

holidays 2012 - day 07: a venerable tree, two lakes, two silly travellers, and a chaotic city

when we wake up, it's dry! and the sun comes out pretty soon! almost suspicious ... breakfast is from 9 o'clock, how sleep- & holiday-friendly is that! homemade bread with pršut (local ham) and local cheese, yummy! 35 euros for the room and breakfast for two is very reasonable. so: a recommendation, if you ever find yourself in the vicinity of bar: apartmani i konoba KULA. friendly staff, good english, fabulous food.

so we hit the road again, first we stay in the neighbourhood: mirovica, a small place, famous for one of its, um, inhabitants, so to speak: an olive tree estimated to be over 2000 years old, stara maslina (old olive). very impressive, i must say. mind-boggling to imagine what has happened since this tree was just a little seedling! empires have fallen, generations have come and gone, its village has been under the rule of various empires. i wonder who planted it, if anyone. i wonder about the twists and turns of fate that helped it survive. there are many olive trees in this area that are 500, 700, over a 1000 years old, but this is clearly the oldest, and actually one of the oldest trees in europe. quite awesome. i love olive trees, their trunks tell whole stories, sometimes it's as if the knots and gnarls and holes make up faces or entire strange creatures.

2000 years of tree: stara maslina, mirovica


and then we're off into the wilderness, deciding to take the hinterland road to world-famous (not!) vladimir, gateway to - tadaaa! - šas (shasi in albanian). now, i must explain this to my friends who don't speak austrian german: this place is pronounced like an austrian word for "fart", which is often used to express something that is crap or just not what you want. we thought we simply had to pay a visit to this place. all the better that the guidebook recommends this area for some real off-the-beaten-track exploring.

we park the car and walk up the hill to ruins of the once-great zetan city svač, of which only a few ruins are left.

ruins, land & sky


all along the way there are burnt bushes, it's very quiet, and apart from thistles and a few tough little flowers, a few birds and a lizard are the only signs of life. from the top of the hill we have a nice view of lake šas (šasko jezero) that lies amid a belt of lush green at our feet.

lake, green, burnt bushes


the lakeside restaurant "shasi" is closed, an abandoned house next to it is not ... so we poke our noses into that place.

back in vladimir it's time to prepare our coup: we write / draw extensions for the word šas, in order to enhance the local signpost. again, this is really only funny for german speakers. here are the results (click to enlarge):

montenegrin-austrian signpost :)


actually, this is a weird area altogether - there is a mountain called "shit" not too far away, and everywhere you see signs reading "shitet" (which is albanian for "sell") ...

and now it's onward - new territory awaiting: albania! we cross the border nearby, at sukobin. and it IS different once we're across. at first, the houses are actually very pretty and mostly in good condition, but still - there are donkeys waiting patiently by the roadside, and there are some tiny shops that barely seem to deserve that name. the closer we get to shkodra (shkodër), the more foreign our surroundings seem. and the city itself ... well ... let's say: different. interesting. crazy. imagine a huge roundabout, two or three lanes. and then imagine foot passengers, cyclists, motorbikers and car drivers all doing pretty much as they please. it's insane. cyclists cross the roundabout, people weave between cars, motorbikes go in every possible direction ... and somehow, miraculously, it works! if you did that in austria, there'd be five accidents within a minute, because we are so used to playing by the rules. we drive down a broad street, four lanes in all, and scooters come towards us in the middle of the street! cyclists seem to drive without looking left of right. people on foot seem to fear nothing and no-one. and the street itself is lined with all sorts of buildings, some of them rather neat, others ramshackle, with peeling paint. there are shops selling just about everything, frequently goods are hanging from the ceiling, or arranged on mats in front of the actual shops. it looks more like some market, actually!

signposts, as we are to discover, seem to be a rarity in this part of the world, so we get lost. heinz gets out of the car to ask a policeman, who is just chatting to a driver he knows. the driver tells him to just follow him, as he's going in that direction. and that's what we do. when the guy finally stops and gets out of his car, he explains which road to take and - unnecessarily - apologises for his bad english about three times. so friendly! the road out of town ... well. another little adventure. the road itself is - at least in parts - in abysmal condition, and occasionally entire manhole covers are missing, as if that didn't matter at all. buildings in this part of the city are not only ugly, they don't seem quite safe either.

shkodra street scene


it's not hard to guess that albania is not exactly a rich country. but it all seems very lively and colourful. we'd originally considered spending our holiday in albania, and it looks like this could be an interesting trip some time soon. other travellers we met this summer told us about their impressions - friendly people, beautiful areas, but a very poor country, with a rather unhappy population.

so, we are on our way out of town, towards liqeni i shkodrës (lake skadar). there is one road, obviously brand-new, and not quite finished. occasionally the black of asphalt gives way to the dusty brown of a dirt road. the speed limit indicated is 30. everyone goes at 100 km/h minimum, except perhaps the odd horse and cart or the sheep crossing at their own preferred leisurely pace.

slightly more horse power


there are plenty of roundabouts, but there is not one signpost in sight. the map in my lap is useless. the plan is to access the lake from some small town, but we have no idea where we are. fortunately we can soon at least see the lake, which means that we are basically going in the right direction! the only signpost between shkodra and the border advertises a place that isn't featured on my map, ha! near the border at hani i hotit we stop to take some pictures of the beautiful lake and a few birds, but we can't get really close.

lake skadar as a mirror of clouds


crossing the border here is no big deal. we are asked if we are driving straight home to austria, and when we say no, we are staying in montenegro for another week, the montenegrin guy smiles and says "have a nice journey!" obviously that was the right answer. no searching of our car or any such thing, which we observed at the sukobin crossing (germans and swiss entering the country).

we stop in tuzi, to feed hungry heinz. delicious food in such a nondescript little place! and then we drive on along part of the montenegrin share of lake skadar. beautiful, just beautiful. we stop at the national park centre, for some info and some photos. such a gorgeous area!

lake skadar, late afternoon


a winding road takes us across the mountains between the lake and the sea - what views!

distant lake, lengthening shadows


and since we began the day with maslina (the old olive tree), we end it with maslina: that's the name of the camp in buljarica, where we stop for the night. it's too late for a swim, but we enjoy a simple dinner under old olive trees in front of our (dry!) tent.

photos of day 07