Morning And Evening

The weather forecast was for high cloud and a few sunny periods; ideal, I thought, for a bike ride to a couple of nearby villages, take some photos and head back home for lunch.

By the time I'd pedalled half-a-mile down the road I realised that it was going to be a lot brighter and sunnier than expected which, though no bad thing, makes taking photos among buildings very tricky, with inky black shadows and glaring white cottage walls. The photo above, in Fowlmere village, was the only "village-scape" I took.

In Thriplow I encountered this glamorous scarecrow and her friend, clearly indicating that they were the required two metres apart, or maybe they're just desperate for a cuddle!

More glamour was provided nearby by a small herd of pigs. These, as some readers of this blog have been told before, are Berkshires - mostly black but with white "points" - feet, face and tails. I'm very fond of Berkshires - and not just in sausages!

Now, how can I explain this, in all this lovely English scenery that I cycled through, most of my pictures ended up being of rather weathered agricultural buildings? 

You see, I spent many years working in farming, it was healthy outdoor work, but "pretty" it was not. And every so often I have to return to the realities of this hard-working landscape.

Here though back in 1985, according to the signature bottom-right, someone decided to brighten up these premises with a mural of the agricultural machines of the time. It's a bit battered now, but I saw it many years ago when it was very fine and colourful. 

Around the corner are further murals, perhaps depicting some of the men who worked here back then.

The old grain-store also boasted some interesting abstract patterns courtesy of the weathering it's been subjected to.

I could show you more of this sort of thing, but I realise it's a rather niche interest, so we'll move on to the evening when I went out for a stroll hoping to see a rich sunset.

 

We're not quite done with farming though, as the sheep and lambs came to watch my progress along the path towards Shepreth.

Although the clouds were doing unexpected contortions they never quite arranged themselves into a pleasing composition and they soon contrived to block the very bit of sky where the sun was due to set.

And all that mattered not a jot as I nevertheless enjoyed my excursion. A few bats were flitting about in the dusk as I made my way home.

Take care.