(There are photos in this entry, scroll down to see them! Or if you want to see them all, without reading any of my ranting, view the Surrey gallery)
If anyone ever tells you that England is hilly, or mountainous, or in any way a fine example of Mother Nature’s extremities don’t believe them. We have hills, yes. We even have 2 mountains! We had a hurricane once, and the occasional ‘Did you feel that?’ tremor.
That’s fine though, as we don’t deal very well with the rest of the world’s idea of extremes. As we saw a few weeks ago, more than a few inches of snow and we become house-bound, fearing for our survival, and wondering when the roads will be clear enough to get food, or fresh water.
Our positively dull geography isn’t necessarily ugly however! You just have to scale down your expectations a little. We don’t have any 2-mile deep holes, like Yosemite or the Grand Canyon. We don’t have beautiful, snowy peaks like France. We do have grass. And trees. And sunsets… and cows…You know, those things every temperate nation has by default!
So today, we went for a ramble around the hills — Leith Hill and Box Hill — of Surrey. Well, we rambled a little, and drove most of the way. We also picked our way over Headley Heath, where for some reason or another there was a small herd of Highland Cows roaming the prickled pastures. 15 matted long-haired, orange cows just happened to also be there — from what I gathered, they were touring the country, going from heath to pasture to grove. Words can’t really describe how big these guys are (at least if you’re British, because they’re by far the biggest native creatures we have — no elephants here!), so the term BRUTE will have to do. They’re about 10 feet long (3 meters), and 6 foot tall. They are BIG. Like two Pavarottis. Vast.
Anyway… we didn’t get too close, but I did manage to get two rather nice pictures of our very own wooly mammoths:
And then a few steps closer…
He looked pleased to see me…
I won’t spam your screen with photos, so if you want to see more, they’re over here in the Surrey collection.
BUT, here is my favourite landscape photo of the day, taken from the ‘highest point in South England’, a gothic tower atop Leith Hill. It really is a lot better when you see it full-size… buy a print, and I’ll prove it to you!
andhari
Feb 23, 2009
Isnt it like..the setting of Harry Potter?
HAHA
sebastian
Feb 23, 2009
A lot of England looks like the setting for Harry Potter…
I’ll give you one guess why… !
Maddie
Feb 23, 2009
The wooly mammoth and I seem to have the same hair color. Haha.
sebastian
Feb 23, 2009
But you have marginally better condition, right?
Sarcastically Bitter
Feb 23, 2009
You need to visit the Rockies!
sebastian
Feb 23, 2009
I do, I do… but is there anything else to see in that area OTHER than the Rockies?
I’ve done America a few times now, so I need some mighty fine lure to pull me back again.
Maybe if I can get into Canada, or go down into South America… Maybe then!
floreta
Feb 23, 2009
these are some great pics! good closeup in the 2nd picture.. we surely don’t have cows like these
and beautiful sky in the first picture.
you’re right, it did get better (fr. prev post!)
sebastian
Feb 23, 2009
I am always very cautious about my promises… so I always deliver! The sunset in the first one was even better, to the left of the frame… but due to our lack of elevation, and some trees… there’s no sunset picture to accompany the cow, alas
I have no idea why the cows have such long hair… most of our cows are the standard ‘black and white spotty’ ones; the standard dairy cows. I guess it’s just so damn cold and exposed up in northern Scotland that they developed such amazing hair.
By the way, I can’t see their eyes… can you?
Maddie
Feb 23, 2009
I have way better condition=) Haha. I don’t have those highlights those. Also, my horns look slightly different…
sebastian
Feb 23, 2009
I think your horns are more figurative, deary…
Sarcastically Bitter
Feb 23, 2009
You come to Canada, I’ll show you the sights. Oh crap, that sounds bad doesn’t it?
sebastian
Feb 23, 2009
I think it depends on the context… whether we are horizontal at the time, or not… things like that.
The offer is appreciated!
Sarcastically Bitter
Feb 25, 2009
Haha horizontal. I won’t even comment further on that one!