Firstly I would like to thank everyone who has emailed me letting me know how much you have been enjoying my posts and some who have even shared your own experiences of Europe and some suggestions of places to visit where you have found not to be missed. It has been wonderful to have you on our journey with me. Thank you. I’m endeavouring to keep sharing my journey with you…but have abandoned the diary of our daily adventures – which I seem to have been playing catch up with; despite my best efforts -ever since we landed in Heathrow. I’ve decided perhaps the best way to share this amazing experience is to write just what comes to me each evening. I’ve also worked out it’s easier for me due to internet limitations to send my broadcast of images if I just make one file with them all in a grid, and then you can click and enlarge the single image to see each of the images more clearly. Lets more clearly. Lets see how that goes. 🙂
So… tonight I am going to share about the magic of colour which not only is spectacular to witness as we meander across the landscape… but also to smell the intoxicating fragrance which wafts in through our open windows.
After 2 weeks driving around in the Vintage Invicta – which didn’t have a proper roof and a very poor excuse for windows, Max and I decided that it was far nicer to have the outside blow in … and drive with our windows down. We did have to however work out just the right balance of ‘down’ …which was about a quarter of the way ‘up’ to stop the throb which happens from turbulence around the car when goring faster than about 60km/h.
Although summer was as warm here in Europe…by that I mean COLD as our winters back on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland; the flowers and crops in bloom have been absolutely stunning!
The yellow canola fields brush the landscape with wide swathes of colour and fill the car with a warm honeyed scent. Orange shrubs stubble the granite and limestone mountains in the north of Scotland and little purple and white flowers hang precipitously on rocky outcrops in the South of France in the Alps. Red Poppies boldly line the paddocks right up from the French border in the north and into Spain and Portugal. Flamboyant Irises clumped in joyful bunches along the roadsides around Florac in France. Lavender, white and pink pom-poms on long flexible canes bounced in the wind in England and brightened up cold grey days in Wales. Cornflowers, poppies, and daisies brought joy and a sense of comfort to me as they lined the sides of the N-roads – which we wrongly thought would be devoid of the stampede of semi-trailers. Lavender speckled the winding roads south of Madrid.. and I realised that these plants which I had ordinarily purchased form a nursery – were actually growing in their natural habitat. Purple and white Stocks nested around entrances to fields and Snapdragons snugly clung between rocks on embankments at about 800mts in altitude as we left the snow capped Alps in France. Bright yellow Dandelion buttons speckle fields and roadsides especially in the middle of France where the grass in pastures is a vibrant green.. and in the darker forests of the high country of France I saw the remnants of their yellow petals replaced by seeds with fine white filaments creating a pattern of magical design; and I just stopped and admired, respected and was truly humbled by what I really can’t describe adequately…. but was truly moved by the beauty and magnificence of nature.
Above is a small collection of some of the beautiful flowers which have been part of my journey through Europe. Click on the image to enlarge it a little to see each of the photographs a little more clearly.
