In the company of trees

It's late, the sun is filtering through the forest, pouring deep honey gold onto the path ahead. The quality and colour of light transforms everything. In the clearing a group of wise old trees stand in our path, disturbing the earth as their roots burrow to the surface.

Camping forces you out into nature, back to basics; the smells and sounds. There are three alternatives, wild camping, camp-sites and France Passion a network of farms and producers where you can stay free of charge for a night. We've been experimenting with each. Tonight we are in the yard of a mussel farmer and walking the land. 

Later I'm reading poetry to himself. "I went down to the hazel wood because the fire was in my head, and I cut and peeled a hazel wand and hooked a berry to a thread" (The song of Wandering Aengus by WB Yeats) This is one of our favourites from years of early poetry study in the Irish education system. We endured a lot about poetry, Irish and religion, but the poetry was more of a gift.......

It was the old trees that reminded me of the poem and tonight somewhere in southern Brittany we are once again savouring "the silver apples of the moon, the golden apples of the sun"

The old stones of Southern Brittany

The main driving route to Europe from Ireland is a 20 hour ferry crossing from Rosslare to Roscoff in Brittany. 

Brittany is very like parts of Ireland with a strong celtic tradition and so we Irish often feel at home here. Our family spent many summer holidays in Carnac when our lads were young. From pottering around shallow pools when they were toddlers to the beginnings of the party years as teenagers, I reckon they experienced a rite of passage here. They would be so sad leaving to return home and then one year they didn't want to come any more.

It's full of old stones, ancient stones. Les Alignments in Carnac are rows and rows of standing Menhirs, not fully understood, which seem to exist just to be marvelled at. We re-visited them for old times sake.

A Robin family is hanging out around our camp. They get close enough to eat the soft bread directly from the morning baguette. While charmed by this familiar southern coast we are ready to move on. 

"Inklings" was my word for 2015. So here I am in France with no plan and no destination. It seems a perfect antidote to the "strategic future action planning" of my day job. This road trip will be one day at a time. Our first big decision is whether to go South or to go inland? A hunch says to meander inland along the Loire Valley. 

We will see how we feel in the morning......

A black cat, another road trip and a resounding YES!

Farmyard black cat in the ditch is a sign of luck

Around here these border collies are all known as Shep

The Cat Shepherd's apprentice says hello

Time to fly away for the Chaffinch too

One of these days we will be leaving this sleepy patch for a bit of a road trip so I'm taking this black cat as a sign of good luck.....

Myself and himself will be heading for France with no agenda and only half an inkling of where we are going. We have always camped out since we hitch hiked from Dublin as far as Greece and Turkey. We pitched our tent on a Mediterranean beach, were fed by local people and didn't even have Google to warn us about scorpions......

We once drove a vintage VW around Germany and Scandinavia busking and creating street art along the way. Later we piled the three kids, a dog, a cat, a budgie and a box of gerbils into a Fiat Ducato and headed off around Ireland. After a few years wet Irish summers, we ended up returning year after year to Carnac in Brittany.  Last time we slept under the stars in a balmy St. Malo. We had intended to drive to the south but ended up spending 3 weeks in the same spot so beautiful was that town on the sea.

Leaving Ireland by ferry  you realise what a tiny island far off the edge of Europe we live on. This time we will be in another VW van taking the ferry from Rosslare to Cherbourg and watching the South East corner of Ireland disappear over the horizon once more....

The resident artist who lives upstairs will feed the birds while we are gone. Until then we are both campaigning for a YES vote in the upcoming Marriage Equality Referendum. Seasoned campers, campaigners and now in our 40th year of it, at this stage we have fingers and toes crossed that we are going to hear a big resounding YES echoing across the Irish Sea in our wake........




PS I've just made my photography portfolio "mobile friendly" check out the Rural Life Gallery here should be easy peasy even on your phone! 

An icy road trip

Our Celitc Tiger motorway from Waterford to Dublin, the M9, bypasses Thomastown, Kilkenny, Carlow and all the narrow villages we used to know so intimately. Unfortunately it's also now against the rules of the road to stop and photograph the landscape. 

This part of Ireland has it's own story; gentle rolling hills, the flat plains of the midlands, and lots of old trees. A journey through an inland maze of fields, all sky and agriculture.

So on this eerie early morning road trip, I shot these frosty trees and fog as the sun came up, just because I was a passenger and for once and I could..... 



PS 

Thank you so much to everyone who shopped here in the Foxglove Lane Studio over Christmas. While it was a very busy time it was also good to connect with so many of you who are becoming like old friends at this stage! Thank you from the bottom of my heart, it has been very encouraging.

I'm having a short SALE at the moment and while the hardback book is still available you can now get the download version of the book here  here reduced to 1.99 euros.  

In other news I have just begun to sell a new range of Limited Edition Fine Art Prints  Each one is a result of layering paintings, textures and photographs and is something I hope to explore much more in 2015. 

Here's to a fresh New Year!