Wilderness whilst Working

A few weeks ago, I wrote about finding alternatives to motorway services whilst travelling the country. Now I've started a new job, which takes me out on the road most days, I'm trying to expand on this. My role often leaves me with a drive at the end of a day which could have take me to anywhere in the Midlands or East of the country, sometimes to home, sometimes to an overnight stop. I could just push on and get home, but whilst the daylight remains, I prefer to explore the natural world I am passing in the sealed compartment that is my car. Its not wilderness, by a long way, but it offers me a hint of the wild on an otherwise potentially mundane day touring the town centres of England.

So, when I stop each lunchtime, I spend a few minutes with an Ordnance Survey map (online normally, or on my phone app) I look for places on the map near to my route home. Often these will be nature reserves, large parklands or the like, but even when I'm in a city, there's always a little surprising patch of nature somewhere, and it only takes a little effort with the map to find it.

Not only have I found some lovely little places, but it helps me relax at the end of a working day, with a little modest exercise as the bonus. Though I always take the camera, the weather doesn't always play ball, but having recently got a decent pair of binoculars for my birthday, spotting and watching wildlife makes up for this.

Here are some of the photos I've grabbed during these little excursions, from my first few weeks in the role, all just a few minutes detour from my route. I also intend to add more to my Facebook album for Wilderness is a State of Mind, as I travel the country.

Windfarm from Gibraltar Point, Lincolnshire

Windfarm from Gibraltar Point, Lincolnshire

River Trent, Newton Solney

Above Dovedale

Looking down on Dovedale from the slopes of Thorpe Cloud

The remarkable and unexpected summit of Thorpe Cloud, Dovedale

Grasses by the River Witham, Norwich

Meadows within Norwich's urban surroundings

Common blue, Aston Rownant nature reserve by the M40

Above the world on the Chiltern Escarpment, Aston Rownant Nature Reserve

Chiltern escarpment, Aston Rownant

Tracks across the fields, near Ivinghoe Beacon

Field patterns, light and shade, Buckinghamshire

From the top: Gibraltar Point, same again, River Trent at Newton Solney, 3 pictures of Dove Dale and Thorpe Cloud, grasses in Norwich by the Wensum, flowers in meadow by the Wensum, Common Blue (?) butterfly, 2 pictures of Aston Rowant on the Chilterns Escarpment, track near Ivinghoe Beacon, fields near Ivinghoe Beacon, horses (minus Native Americans!) on the skyline in Derbyshire, Dove Dale, natural arch in Dove Dale