Blue water at the Tunstall reservoir

An Autumn walk around the Tungstall reservoir near Wolsingham on a sunny day is what is needed to keep vitamin D levels high when the clocks goes back to winter's time. According to the Wikipedia: "Tunstall Reservoir was a water supply storage reservoir completed in 1879, and now used solely to maintain minimum regulatory flows on the River Wear in northeast England. It is situated in the north Pennines of the United Kingdom, and lies 3.5 km north of the village of Wolsingham, in Weardale, County Durham." The services provided by this water reservoir, as well as from many others in England and Wales, were privatised in England in the late 80s during Margaret Tatcher's conservative government due to the underfunding of the water sector by the State. According to Wikipedia: "The water privatisation in England and Wales involved the transfer of the provision of water and wastewater services in England and Wales from the state to the private sector in 1989, through the sale of the ten regional water authorities (RWA) (...) " the RWAs were hampered by chronic underfunding and lack of investment from central government. Underinvestment in infrastructure combined with sustained water pollution by industry contributed to a continued decline of both river and tap water quality. (...) England and Wales became the only countries in the world to have a fully privatised water and sewage disposal system." With the privatisation of the water sector, water became a commodity rather than a right that people should have. Joseph Chamberlain, who was one of the main early supporters for the nationalisation of the water supply and sewerage (WSS) system clearly exposed the perversity of privatising a public good such as water: "It is difficult, if not impossible to combine the citizens' rights and interests and the private enterprise's interests, because the private enterprise aims at its natural and justified objective, the biggest possible profit".

Colourful Pennan

 

Pennan is a small fishing village in the coast of Moray, in Scotland. To arrive there we have to drive along winding roads down the hill towards sea level. The colourful houses are exiting and fresh and not grey and boring like the granite and colourless houses in Aberdeen. The village is inspiring as it is by the sea and we can seat in one of the outdoor benches and look for dolfins, seals or seabirds. In the winter, when we mostly visit Pennan, we always try to have food at the Pennan Inn (made famous by the movie Local Hero) but we are usually disappointed by its low season closure. We like to walk to the next village Gardenstown, trying to capture the exquisite decoration of the small houses through their little windows, appreciating their little gardens, and envying the kayaks laying on the sides of some houses, waiting to have some fun at the sea. I usually look up to the imponent Auchmedden Church, placed at a higher point, overlooking the villagers' steps and reminding them not to sin. The village is quiet but gets its portion of weekend visitors and holiday makers. In the late 19th century,  the North East was living the herring boom and Pennan was a relatively prosperous and bursting village.

Golden Cairngorms

Last Summer I went back to the Cairngorms. The weather was very good and the long walks to the climbing spots were long but not too arduous. We climbed the Pygmy Ridge in the Northern Corries and Afterthought Arete and Final Selection above Loch Avon (Stag Rocks). The routes were classical and easy enough for the "two of us" in me, and the views were stunning. Only the midges were bad and almost ate us alive in the last route of the day (Final Selection) above Loch Avon. The stay was at an overorganised campsite in Grantown-on-Spey, with strict check-in and check-out times and numbered pitches for the tents where we had to be led by someone working at the campsite. The only advantage we recognised in this campsite was 1) it was not fully booked; and 2) it was close to Aviemore and the Coire Cas Base Station, where our walks to the climbing spots started. Aviemore, even though a town made for tourists and skiers, has a good selection of places to eat and fortunately their kitchens do not follow the typical Scottish closing hours. Tasty and good size fish and chips, and delicious pizza, were still available until 10pm, which was perfect for us who usually arrived from the mountains at around 9pm. These were my last climbings in 2019 and I was happy it was at the heart of Scotland, near were I first went with my aunt Dina and uncle Nari, in 2007, in my very first weekend in the country.

Blue T-shirt in Duddon Valley, Lake district

According to Wikipedia: "The Duddon Valley is a valley in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. The River Duddon flows through the valley, rising in the mountains between Eskdale and Langdale, before flowing into the Irish Sea near Broughton in Furness." Also according to Wikipedia, the valley is frequently called Dunnerdale, but the walker and illustrator Alfred Wainwright preferred the name Duddon Valley. 

I have stayed twice (at least) at the Turner Hall Farm/Campsite. It is a friendly and quiet campsite at walking distance from the Newfield Inn and nearby interesting rocky outcrops. The climbing site in the photo is Birk's Bridge Crag and can be found in the middle of a verdant Forestry Commission woodland, which looked ancient. To reach it, we crossed the famous 18th century stone bridge, Birks Bridge. The climb was easy but still challenging for someone with quite a few "additional" kilos. This area is very picturesque and far from the Lakes summer crowds, so it is very tranquil. The only annoying thing is that the closest pub, as most pubs in England and Scotland, stop serving food very early. In the summer, when it does not get dark until late (~11pm), it does not make sense for pubs to close the kitchen at 8pm (at least for a Portuguese, and I would think for a Spanish too) - they would not survive in Portugal or Spain. The only advantage is that we save lots of money by having to cook the meals in the tent. Maybe if they knew what was about to come (COVID-19) they would have made an effort!

Blue European Flag

I never wrote about Brexit before because it hurts. I know exactly where I was when the Brexit vote won in June 2016. I was in Manaus, Brazil, which is currently one of the most affected places by COVID-19. A group of us came into my hotel room to watch the results late at night. We were mostly non-British working in the UK. It came like a cold-water bucket and the day after it felt as a boyfriend had left me. I am convinced that big problems such as climate change or tax evasion are solved together not alone. But many people thought that single countries can solve their own problems and that there are no shared or entwined problems. I have had the opportunity to get to know England much better and to realise that there are many people left down by Westminster Government, especially in the North East of England. If the European Union started to be more about people's well being than about the common market, maybe those deprived areas did not exist and a Brexit vote would not have happened. But it did. Last year, in March, a big demonstration anti-Brexit happened in London after months of failed attempts to draw an exit deal. However, many of the people attending were foreigners, are used to travel abroad all the time, are professional, are bourgeois...People from those deprived areas in the North East of England were not there. The European Union should be a Union to safeguard and promote good environmental condition, education for all, well-being, decent work conditions, free health services. If these were the true goals the UK would not be heading for the abyss and the unknown.

Green, cool Brixton

Last year I had the opportunity to live a bit of the London life. I worked in the posh Chelsea area located in South West London, I stayed in Bounds Green, I jog in Battersea Park and I went to Brixton on the weekends. The Brixton area hosted the first wave of African-Caribbean, who now form part of the British-African-Caribbean community. Because of this, there are many African-Caribbean shops and many colours too. There is also the quirky Brixton market with an array of restaurants and cafes, and very tasty food, from all over the world. Even Portuguese food is prepared and sold in the Brixton market! I also attended a service in a church in Brixton. The minister was a woman of Nigerian origin and the co-minister was a woman of British origin. The women’s preach sound very ethical, eloquent and engaging to me. They also acknowledged my presence by asking my name, by singing a song and with clapping of hands at the end of the service. I felt very welcomed and I thought I would be happy to attend these services more often if I lived in Brixton. This also made the mass in the church close by my house in Portugal look obsolete. I was raised as a Catholic and played the organ and directed the choir for 17 years in this church. Then, I grew more and more disappointed with the machoism still implanted in the Catholic Church, where women cannot become priests, priests cannot marry, preaches do not make any parallelism between the Bible texts and the real life etc. Of course, there are also very intellectual and progressive clerics, who are a pleasure to listen and to read, but unfortunately this is not the rule and they hardly make to these little country churches in Portugal. I still go every now and then to the church for any special event but I long for something closer to the service I once attended at a Brixton church, in London.  

Grey sea and sky by J.M.W. Turner

The Shipwreck by J.M.W. Turner (Photo by Diana Feliciano)

I have been several times to the Tate Modern Museum in London but never visited the other Tate, the Tate Britain, until last year. I passed by and decided to enter. As soon as I was inside the museum I learnt there were guided visits to the collections and happily found out that one of those visits was to the collection of the great British painter William Turner. I felt so lucky!!! The Tate Britain hosts the largest collection of works by Turner, whose style is unmistakable. Themes painted by Turner include seascapes, countryside scenes, gothic cathedrals, landscape and history, fire and water. My favourites are the seascape paintings such as the Shipwreck, first exhibited in 1805. The other very popular painting I like a lot is Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps. Turner was a very rich man which allowed him to paint as he wanted and to be innovative. He was also a very eccentric person. On my first visit to Barnard Castle, where I now spend much of my time, I was told that he has been there and painted from the bridge across the River Tees. A good movie on the life of Turner is: "Mr. Turner" with Timothy Spall.

Grey smoke from muirland burning

In one of my walks last year, I saw this scene of moorland burning in the North York Moors National Park. I have witnessed this many times in Scotland, before, but because I was at the time contributing to the land use section of the UK net-zero report by the CCC, this image shuddered me. Moorland burning is the planned burning of small areas of older heather, mostly undertaken by private Estate owners with the objective of regenerating the heather and of promoting blueberries essential to feed red grouse and deer. It is very sad that we hardly see any other wildlife (e.g. birds of prey, which should be abundant in an ecosystem full of grouse and deer. This is because private Estates manage these huge amounts of land to promote only a couple of species for the pleasure of rich hunters that fly from the big cities and from other countries to shoot them. It is also unacceptable that when all sectors of the economy have to set targets to become greenhouse gas neutral by 2050, or even before, private Estate owners are not presenting alternative management options in moorland areas. To stop carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions resulting from heather burning and the associated damage of blanket bogs, which are very important reservoirs of carbon, is essential to achieve several sustainable development goals (SDGs). A common excuse from managers is that burnings are controlled and do not damage blanket bogs but two questions are posed: Is this really checked and monitored by Defra and/or Natural England? Why does heather/burning continue only for the pleasure of a few, who also add to the carbon emissions budget of this land use by flying to these places for shooting? A more climate smart management practice is required. This could be to let native trees and vegetation to thrive, as this would conserve the peat and sequester carbon, and contribute to the net zero targets. Landowners could claim subsidies if they could prove they are providing ecosystem services such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, water conservation, and biodiversity.

Green Rio Sizandro

The Eco-Caminho of Sizandro (Portugal) is a trail that can be done by bike or walking. One section starts in the city of Torres Vedras and it finishes in the firth of river Sizandro (Foz do Sizandro), totalising 18km distance. There is also a variation that leads to Santa Cruz (21km), a popular holiday spot in the Portuguese Atlantic coast. The trail breaks in between agricultural fields of fruits and vegetables and as it accompanies the margins of the river Sizandro, the difficulty level is low. It also passes by several forts of the Lines of Torres Vedras, built during the Peninsular war with the objective of defending Lisbon from the French troops. The lines of forts were named after the city of Torres Vedras and their construction was supervised by the commander of the British troops, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. The eco-caminho passes through several interesting and authentic villages such as Ribeira de Pedrulhos, Ponte de Rol, Bordinheira, Aranha...I do this trail very often on my all terrain "Specialized" bike and I enjoy the views, the birds singing, the Atlantic. However, it deeply saddens me the way that farmers, walkers, fishermen and others treat the land and the river, with many litter left behind, mainly plastic litter. There seems to be no respect for nature and no awareness on how harmful this is for animals, ecosystems and human life.

White Maroon Bells

Apparently, this is one of the best views in the US. These two sharp mountains, still covered in snow in June, are the Maroon Bells and the photo is taken from the Maroon Creek Valley. It would have been very nice to climb these mountains, but a plaque at the visitor centre read that even experienced climbers find this climb extremely difficult. The Maroon Bells are two peaks above 4,000 meters which are located in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness of the White River National Forest. So, on my own but together with the masses, I hiked from the Maroon Lake to the Crater Lake. In the Crater Lakes the masses stopped and enjoyed the views, but this did not satisfy me. So, I went a further into the wild. I only met an old couple of backpackers after passing the Crater Lake. This moment was inspiring for me as I saw that at their age they were still walking and camping outdoors. They explained me how to scare a mountain lion if I ever would see one: to stand tall and raise the arms overhead in order to look as big and intimidating as possible. However, some days before, someone else told me that if I ever saw a mountain lion that would have been already too late...I did not, though, not even a brown bear, which apparently is much less dangerous than a mountain lion. I passed by an elk without knowing it was one and this could have been dangerous as elks can charge, especially if they have calves with them.