jesmond dene

Went for a 2 hour hike through Jesmond Dene - a long narrow forested valley along the Ouseburn which is one of the many glacial streams that were formed after the Ice Age - of course at the time it was likely to have been a raging torrent and this is what formed the valley as it made it way towards the River Tyne. In the 1850s Lord Armstrong, an industrialist and one of north-east England's most influential men (he manufactured armaments and warships), acquired the land of this valley and planted exotic trees and shrubs, laid paths and built bridges. It was his own private parkland until the 1880s, when he donated the parkland to city.

walking along the Ouseburn

The city seemed far away once I descended into the valley and the smell of the forest - of trees, plants, moss, lichen, growth, decay and god only knows what else - filled the air. The forest smell was strangely intoxicating and I wondered a bit whether there was any way to capture that on camera. So some of these photos were taken with that in mind, though as I look at them now even I can't smell the forest anymore! For that will have to just go back to the dene for more walks.

bridge / moss

raindrops

nourishment

a clearing in the forest

and everywhere, leaves glistening with the moisture

leaf decay/illness

in the water of the Ouseburn