happy place - pt4, mud butt.

 after a bit of a lazy but ridiculously fun day in the snow the day before i felt it was time to get off my butt and climb a hill. this hill is right behind the house i was staying in and its one i've climbed countless times before, even if those times were when i was around 13 (and the last time we went up we got pretty lost... :S) the reasons why i wanted to climb this hill will hopefully become clear...

 these myspace angles were shot to celebrate the fact that i didn't give up after i lost the path and slid half way down the VERY MUDDY HILL on my arse. a little soggy and very grimy i eventually found the path and the bridge to a very special beautiful hideaway. 

so up this hill it levels off and hidden up behind the trees and the mud and the gravel is a wee green and blue and orange secret garden. there's a waterfall and a bunch of lovely wispy trees and a natural viewing platform made of piles and piles of slates on the face of the hill. you can see right across the water and watch the world go by framed with nature. it is virtually untouched and so calm.

there are the remains of a wee slate building. maybe just big enough to fit two people lying down, if that. 

when we were children we were told by my mum and my uncle that this was where a wee old miner lived and his every day would be spent carrying slates he had mined down to the shore. if i was him i would never leave, and the whole space has an eery protected feeling to it.

once when we were younger we took some family friends up to see it and one of them carved his initials in a tree. when we went back the next time to see if they were still there we found a half rotted sheep's corpse at the bottom of the water fall. on this trip up i didnt see a single trace of either. i was very relieved.

some shoots pushing through the mulch.

 

i hung around and did some sketches and then before i knew it it was nearly time for the sun to go down and i didnt want to be stuck up there in the dark with my muddy crusty bum!!!

thanks Moster for washing my jeans :)