Olympic torch, cows, flowers and strange pigs

[ladyofastolat]

The Olympic torch came to the island today, and rather than see it the way most other people get to see it - i.e. on an urban street - we decided to head out to West Wight and combine a torch sighting with a country walk.



The heavens opened as we were driving west, and Pellinor had foolishly decided to ignore the forecast and not bring anything remotely waterproof, but we headed off undaunted, anyway. Well, until we met some savage cows who glared at us like the fierce beasts that they are, and refused to let us through the gate.



Fortunately, it stopped raining after about half an hour, and turned almost pleasant, although the clouds were glowery over in a Purbeckly direction:



We met a gate that promised something unspecified in a mile a half, but we never found it.



We headed down to the beach, where a lot of people in high-vis jackets were lurking in a vaguely important way, desperate for something to do. As we arrived, the Search and Rescue guys received news that "a press guy" was "very high up." "A job!" one of them cried with glee, and they rushed off excitedly. As far as we could tell, the Search part of their job consisted of pointing, while the Rescue part consisted of standing and having a chat.



There were various boats floating off shore, waiting for the torch to arrive. Some entered very nicely into the spirit of things. Others had a harder day of it; just before the torch arrived, we saw two kayakers running madly along the beach, in the direction of an unmanned kayak that was happily heading out to sea.



Finally the torch arrived. I'd hoped to get a good picture of it with the Needles in the background, but the torch bearers were too swamped by press and crew for me to get anything good. Oh well. I took the pictures, anyway.











We met the torch again as we emerged from the path back up the chine, and caught it in time to witness it being tranferred back into a little enclosed lantern and put back on the bus.



Then we headed back, stopping at a farmhouse tea shop en route. I was intrigued by the logo on my drink. Is that a truly ginormous apple, or teeny tiny pigs? Why does the apple have wings? Are the pigs worshipping it?



Pellinor pointed this sign out, which amused me:



The downs were carpeted with wild flowers, in a way that this picture really doesn't do justice to.



And here are the cows again, including one that apparently has 8 legs.



Finally, here is a white umbellifer, even though I do not recognise the existence of such things.

Comments

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Do you not recognise the existence of white umbellifers, or all umbellifers?

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I don't do any umbellifers, but the vast majority of the things are white. I don't do umbrellas, either, of any colour.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[adaese.livejournal.com]

Your description of the kayakers reminds me of the time I crossed the Rockies by train. The line runs along the Colorado river, from way up where the air is thin and the river little more than a stream. At one point we passed the sad, broken remains of a shattered kayak. A few miles downstream we passed a group of kayakers - one of them, not in a kayak but in an inflatable dinghy.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Pellinor reported the happy news that our running kayakers were happily reunited with their kayak in the end. I didn't dare follow their quest, since I was poised with camera, waiting for an imminent torch.

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

Take back your glowery clouds, I say! We've had quite enough rain on this side of the water.

I'm glad the torch didn't burn through the cable on the chair lift - I'd have been a little worried if I had been carrying it.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

The glowery clouds in question were definitely your rejects, banished eastwards to glower at us.

The torch bearers did seem to have some trouble coping with the safety bar thingy being lowered over their heads while they were holding a torch aloft, but there seemed to be no other problems.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Sleipnir Cow!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

My thought exactly! :-)