puddleshark: (Default)
puddleshark ([personal profile] puddleshark) wrote in [community profile] common_nature2025-05-18 01:21 pm

Holloway

Hell Lane 3


'Holloway' comes from the Anglo-Saxon 'hol weg', and refers to a sunken path that has been grooved into the earth over the centuries by the passage of feet, wheels and weather...

'The Old Ways' Robert Macfarlane




Dorset is full of sunken ways, paths worn deep into the chalk and the sandstone by centuries of use, but the most spectacular of the sunken ways are the West Dorset holloways.

West Dorset Holloway 3

West Dorset Holloway 5

West Dorset Holloway 4
Blackbirds flutter up in the corner of your vision, like animated fragments of shadow.

West Dorset Holloway 2

I followed the holloway known as Hell Lane. The upper reaches of the track pass through a deep dark gorge in the sandstone, where wrens trill from hidden crannies behind the ivy.

Hell Lane 2

West Dorset Holloway 7

West Dorset Holloway 8
In the underworld, the tree roots are above your head.

The lower reaches of Hell Lane are always an adventure. It is more of a stream than a track, even during the driest spring on record. It's not as overgrown as it used to be - in the past I've had to fight my way through curtains of brambles - but it's still a scramble in places, round quagmires and deep ruts.

Hell Lane 5

Hell Lane 4
It may be rough going, but on a hot summer's day it is blessedly green and cool and damp.

At the bottom of the hill, Hell Lane gives up all pretense of being a path and becomes a proper stream.

Hell Lane 1
But it's a very shallow stream. You can walk it dryshod if you have faith in the waterproofing of your boots.
loligo: Scully with blue glasses (Default)

[personal profile] loligo 2025-05-18 01:30 pm (UTC)(link)
So very cool!
full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)

[personal profile] full_metal_ox 2025-05-18 02:23 pm (UTC)(link)
In more than one sense: a green thought in a green shade.
aflatmirror: (Default)

[personal profile] aflatmirror 2025-05-18 02:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Unbelievably beautiful
vriddy: Cat looking out of the window beside a cup of tea and books (window cat)

[personal profile] vriddy 2025-05-18 02:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Such an incredible lane/track to follow, lovely :D šŸ˜
kazzy_cee: (Default)

[personal profile] kazzy_cee 2025-05-18 02:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Lovely tracks! Thanks for sharing :D
ranunculus: (Default)

[personal profile] ranunculus 2025-05-18 03:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Looks like a perfect place for a holdup.
I'm sure wagon trains crossing the plains of the USA would have made such tracks eventually.
groundwiremantaray: electrical symbol for ground (Default)

[personal profile] groundwiremantaray 2025-05-18 04:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Gorgeous photos, thank you for sharing!
chestnut_pod: A close-up photograph of my auburn hair in a French braid (Default)

[personal profile] chestnut_pod 2025-05-18 04:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, I would love to see these one day.
immournia: (creepy heart)

[personal profile] immournia 2025-05-18 05:49 pm (UTC)(link)
These photos are stunning! Thank you for sharing :)
shirebound: (Default)

[personal profile] shirebound 2025-05-18 05:59 pm (UTC)(link)
What a fascinating and wonderfully wild-looking place. It reminds me of my visit to the Natchez Trace, an ancient Native American sunken trail.

https://www.nps.gov/natt/index.htm
linky: Dectective Pikachu looking through a magnifying glass (detective pika look)

[personal profile] linky 2025-05-18 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Absolutely gorgeous!
birdylion: picture of an exploding firework (Default)

[personal profile] birdylion 2025-05-18 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
This looks so magical. I knew how they happened, but I've never seen one quite as deep as these.
sparowe: (Enchanted)

[personal profile] sparowe 2025-05-18 09:28 pm (UTC)(link)
God, it's just beautiful! <3
zenigotchas: (Default)

[personal profile] zenigotchas 2025-05-18 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Can someone please teleport me to the UK? I need to go on an adventure
yourlibrarian: Merlin and Arthur among the trees (MERL-MerlinCopse-ninneve)

[personal profile] yourlibrarian 2025-05-18 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Wonderful shots, such a mood!
earthspirits: (sorcery of flowers)

[personal profile] earthspirits 2025-05-19 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
i absolutely LOVE these beautiful photos - What a magical area!
pauraque: bird flying (Default)

[personal profile] pauraque 2025-05-19 02:34 am (UTC)(link)
This is really neat!
cyare: A fox (Girly Fox) surrounded by sparkles and looking amazed (Animal: Fox: Sparkles)

[personal profile] cyare 2025-05-19 08:06 am (UTC)(link)
Really amazing pictures, wow ♥___♥
full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)

[personal profile] full_metal_ox 2025-05-19 06:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Did Adam Ant just spring out of the underbrush?
turlough: apple blossom surrounded by tiny hearts ((other) love)

[personal profile] turlough 2025-05-19 06:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, what a wonderfully atmospheric place for a walk! Love your photos!
immournia: DO NOT USE. (Default)

[personal profile] immournia 2025-05-19 06:56 pm (UTC)(link)
You're most welcome :)
scintilla10: evergreen forest with mist drifting between the trees (Stock - trees in mist)

[personal profile] scintilla10 2025-05-20 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
Wow, what a stunning place -- thank you for this glimpse, what beautiful photos!
full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)

[personal profile] full_metal_ox 2025-05-20 07:47 pm (UTC)(link)
A Demotivational Thought of the Day from [tumblr.com profile] this-old-stomping-ground:



(Image description: a drawing of a stereotypical storybook woodland path between tall climax trees, with a yellowed-parchment placard reading, ā€œYou deserve a break. Stop healing. Choose violence. Go batshit insane. Do it for the plot.ā€)

Source: https://this-old-stomping-ground.tumblr.com/post/780844630203858944
full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)

[personal profile] full_metal_ox 2025-05-21 07:28 pm (UTC)(link)
I’m also reminded of the one effective horror sequence in the 1967 movie The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism(1): a carriage ride through a dark forest track where the tree branches are festooned with human limbs.

(1) A very loose German adaptation of ā€œThe Pit and the Pendulumā€, with top billing given Sir Christopher Lee as an Uberwaldian Count drawn and quartered for (and guilty of) Mad Black Magic and sadistic serial murder; his devoted servant has survived as the equivalent of a sapient fierce corpse and schemes to reassemble his boss to revive in similar condition; toward that end, he kidnaps virgin girls and torments them into a peak state of fear to heighten their sacrificial energy.

This cool premise is almost entirely fumbled in the execution, with an unlikable ostensible hero and heroine and an Idiot Plot full of internal inconsistencies (ROT-13 for spoilers):

Jurarire jr’er fhccbfrq gb or—naq gur zbivr vf inthr ba gung cbvag—vg’f orsber gur vairagvba bs nhqvberpbeqvat; ubj qbrf gur ureb erpbtavmr gur urebvar—jubz ur’f bayl rire pbeerfcbaqrq jvgu—ol ure cvnab cynlvat?

Qrns-zhgr crbcyr ner vcfb snpgb va pnubbgf jvgu gur onq thlf?

Jung gur uryy xvaq bs Qbpgbe *Fnqvfz*, univat frg uvf pyvznpgvp gbegher qrivpr va zbgvba (frr? Gur jevgref unq gur Cbr pbagrag ylvat nebhaq fbzrjurer), cebprrqf gb jnaqre bss va qvfgenpgvba?

Gur pyvznpgvp frdhrapr unf gur urebvar orvat ureqrq guebhtu n tnhagyrg bs FCVQREF!!! naq FANXRF!!!! naq IHYGHERF!!!!, BU ZL! (naq jung ner gubfr cbbe oveqf qbvat va na haqretebhaq qhatrba, naljnl?) jvgu gur trareny nve bs fbzr oenggl xvq fubivat ehoore abirygvrf va gur ivrjre'f snpr.

Zl Ivrjvat Pbzcnavba naq V cebzcgyl qhoorq vg ā€œPbhag Erthyn'f Oybbql Fghcvq Unhagrq Nggenpgvbaā€.