Sunset at Bridestones

Dean said it's good to get up on the tops, "to remind you that you live on a planet." So, one clear skied evening last week we took our long shadows up on the moors to Bridestones to find a new perspective.

There was this amazing line of clouds in the distance beginning the reflect the late pink light

and giant thistles punctuating the foreground making their dramatic silhouettes.

The stones were beginning to glow

and so were our faces.

The grass stems were becoming lit up in pinks and golds

and as I got down to look at them, I noticed that the rocks were starting to sparkle.

The quartz in the millstone grit was twinkling.

The Bridestones are only a twenty minute drive up the hill from Hebden Bridge, really close to the lovely Daisy Bank Camp which have cabins papered with my wallpaper but even though it doesn't take long to get there it feels a million miles away.

The recent dry weather made the usually boggy ground much easier to walk on and we made our way over to a sea of cottongrass.

It was beautiful to see it bathed in the sunset glow, it's feathery fronds swaying in the light breeze. The midges were delighted by our presence and they made a lovely evening meal out of us!

We retreated from the bog and the nibbling and watched the sun dip behind the hill with a sense of reverence.

It reminded me that it's the same sun that shines on all of us the world over and it gives us all LIFE. I'm sure there would be far less trouble in the world if everyone stopped to realise this precious gift.

Back home I saw a flash of some drone footage of Southport. There were plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky and in the background an absolutely stunning huge sun setting above a calm blue sea. It's hard to reconcile these two things going on at the very same time. 

Can we still feel joy at the beauty of nature when there is so much trouble and unrest?

It made me search for a quote I had read by Robin Wall-Kimmerer in her book Braiding Sweetgrass and I am thanking her for.

“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”