Sun Powered

My campsite at dawn this morning. The light sky woke me at 6.30 and lit up the slightly surreal scene. I camped next to this ruined sheep farming cottage - you can maybe see my tent, bike and trailer in the sheep pen on flat and slightly sheltered ground. It's pretty high up here as you can see from yesterday's On The Up blip.

A couple more photos on Flickr.

I hadn't planned to stop here, but as the day ended yesterday and I was tiring I took advantage of the landmark (it is actually on the map! OS ref NT 637 695 and by satellite on Google maps). I was hoping for a bit of shelter from the forecast wind, but there was so little left of the cottage that didn't really work. Never mind, I fully guy-roped the tent and although the wind did pick up I was quite comfortable.

I'm not against windmills - what's the alternative? In all honesty, when I used to come up here before the windmills went up it was a vast blasted heath. When they were being built, there was a lot of industrial-scale building and that was uncomfortable to see. Now that they've been here for a few years though, the grass and heather has regrown and the sheep and birds clearly don't care. So, no harm done and a little less oil burned.

Home via the shop for top-quality bacon for breakfast. As usual quite weird being in a big shop with neatly dressed people after camping out! Home for lots of washing and sorting through photos.

Now off to some of the Open Art Studios in the area to see what's on offer. I had thought about touring the county, but I'm pretty pooped after this little trip!