Day 2 of our trip saw us on another long walk whilst visiting some historic places with rich social histories. Clive drove us to Westward Ho! the only place with an exclamation mark in its name. The name came from a Charles Kingsley book, titled Westward Ho! It was a best seller and brought a new wave of tourism to the Bideford area leading to the creation of the village, which has grown considerably in recent years.
Our walk took us along the coast on the trackbed of an old railway that I’d never heard of before. This was pretty unique too as it’s possibly the only standard gauge passenger railway that was never connected to the national network. The Bideford, Westward Ho! and Appledore railway had a very short life. It opened in 1901 and closed in 1917. Having walked along part of its route along the cliffs I’d have thought it would have made a great preserved railway and tourist attraction, but it never survived World War 1.
The course of the old railway makes a great coastal path. Here it is at Abbotsham Cliffs West of Westward Ho! At this point the old railway swung inland to head towards Bideford. You can see the course of the line and a couple of breaches in the trackbed near the top of the picture. This is a lovely place to stop and admire the coastline. The wind was whipping up quite a few white capped waves during our walk. Here’s the view looking East towards Baggy Point.
Back in Westward Ho! We explored the village and I discovered its link with one of Britain’s most famous authors whom I’ve long admired. Rudyard Kipling. Kipling went to school in Westward Ho! and he’s remembered by plaques and a line of his most famous poem ‘if) being incorporated into the seafront pavement.
Memories of Kipling in Westward Ho!A colourful row of houses in Westward Ho! with several being repainted for the summer season.
Having driven back to Northam we popped into the local church where Ann volunteers at their regular coffee and cake days. I’ve always enjoyed visiting country churches as they often provide fascinating glimpses into British social history and St Margaret’s was no exception. Oh, and the cakes were excellent!
Many a well-to-do family’s line ended like this during the First World War, with the death of the only son.Segregated church services!Coffe with Passionfruit and lemon cake. Yum!
Having returned home to take our ease I couldn’t resist on last wander into Bideford to make the most of the weather in order to get a few pictures.
The most substantial surviving structure of the old railway is the engine and carriage shed in Bideford. Nowadays it’s used as a car-wash. The old bridge in Bideford with the modern bridge in the background.
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Gordon Bennett – has the weather forecast got it wrong again! Having thrown open the bedroom blinds expecting the promised cloudy but clement day I was greeted by the sight of trees being battered by blustery winds and rain sweeping in from across the valley. This mornings walk to the station may prove to be a bit of an endurance test.
07:50
As I mentioned yesterday, today I’m off to Bradford to meet up with some of the Northern rail company’s management team for a visit to some of the city’s religious centres as part of their annual Interfaith and Cultural awareness event. It promises to be an interesting day, but first I’ve got to get there. Let’s see how things pan out. Railhead conditions are going to be difficult today, so I expect some late running…
09:05.
Mt predictions about late-running were correct, but with weather conditions like this that’s hardly surprising. Here’s the view across the Calder Valley from my walk to the station.
It’s grim up North…
I was aiming for the 08:57 but arrived in time for the 17 mins late 08:43, one of a slew of Leeds bound trains that were arriving within minutes of each other.
Better late than never!
09:40.
The day’s starting at the Great Victoria hotel with a briefing for all those attending. So far there are representatives from the Canal and Rivers Trust (CRT). Yorkshire Cricket and me, wearing a Community Rail Network hat. Northern have a range of staff here, including some of their Conductors and train preparation teams. Here’s the group just before the off…
Our first port of call was the Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara, one of several Sikh temples in the city. We were given a really interesting historical background on the origins and practices of the Sikh faith by Amandeep Kaur Maan. One of the things I’d never realised was how important baptism is as that cements someone into the purer, or stricter, version of Sikhism (vegetarianism, no alcohol or tobacco) compared to Sikhs who haven’t been baptised into the faith.
Learning about the Sikh faith from Amandeep Kaur Maan.Our group joined other visitors in the cafeteria where free food is offered throughout the day, prepared and served by volunteers. We were warned not to take more than we could eat otherwise we’d get a hard stare from the ‘Aunties’ who were doing the washing up as they hated waste! Here’s my meal. Clockwise from top left, Gulab Jamun (sweet) Veg curry, dahl, chapatti and rice pudding (Kheer).
Our second visit of the day was to the Shree Lakshmi Narayan Hindu Temple which was only a short walk away. A crash course in what’s considered one of the oldest (if not the the oldest) religions in the world that has over 300 million gods is no easy matter. The devotees did their best, it’s not easy – especially when you’re touching on concepts like Karma and reincarnation that are alien to Christians.
Balakhrisnan, a Sri-Lankan Hindu who moved to the UK in 1968 explains who the various Hindu deities are. The temple is named after Lakshmi, one of the most important Hindu deities. Our group inside the temple, with statues of several Gods in the Hindu pantheon behind us.
After tea, biscuits and the chance to chat to some of the devotees our third stop was another short walk away – the Abu Bakr Masjid.
Imran (left) and Mahatb (right) were our guides to their religion and how aspects of the faith work, including rituals around prayers and the five pillars of Islam. They were both entertaining and informative.
16:15.
What an interesting day – and a bonus is that despite the hairy weather and walking between temples we didn’t get soaked once!
Right now I’m back in Halifax, wetting my whistle with a pint at the new Grayston Unity before walking home.
My final chariot home…
The Grayston’s interesting. This afternoon they’re having a Northern Soul event downstairs. It’s early days but they hope to do it every month. Judging by the numbers coming up to the bar to buy drinks it’s well attended but its obvious from the demographic it’s still the same people from the 1970s – they’re just 40 odd years older – so the dancing may be a little more sedate! Of course, in those days Northern Soul was fuelled by amphetamines, now it’s probably Sanatogen!
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This is my penultimate blog from the UK for a while as I head off to Heathrow tomorrow morning before catching an evening flight to Singapore. Today’s been spent preparing, getting (nearly) all those last minute chores ticked off the list before completing my packing and picking up a few last minute odds and sods. Anything I’m missing now will be acquired in Asia – but not Singapore as that’s ‘chingy’ (not Changi, that’s the airport). Much as I enjoy Singapore it’s economy means prices are steep for that part of the world. Even so, I’m looking forward to getting back there, although from what I’m seeing of the weather I’d better keep hold of my brolly! I’m going to be swapping a cold, windy and wet climate for a humid and wet one – so a brolly is ideal – and it can double as a sun-shade.
I’m flying with Qatar Airways whom I’ve used before but not for some time. This morning was spent reserving my seats as well as securing my Singaporean e-pass. It’s great that so many of these formalities can be done online nowadays as it removes the need for a stamp in your passport – which is just as well in post-Brexit Britain as mine’s now filling up with EU stamps (*mutter, mutter – brexitshambles*)…
Qatar Airlines gave me a 25kg baggage allowance but I’m not expecting to use it. Compared to most people I travel light. Well, if you ignore the camera bag! I’ve filled out my case with plenty of clothes, many of which I’ll probably never wear much – if at all, but they’ll provide padding, especially on the return trip for the exotic prezzies I’ve promised to bring back for Dawn!
Packing’s certainly changed from my old backpacking days when your rucksack would be weighed down and bulked out with books, batteries, film canisters and tape cassettes. Now there’s far more room for other stuff but what a plethora of cables and chargers I carry instead! A Kindle’s replaced all the acreage of books and I wouldn’t really need that if it wasn’t for the fact I can’t edit pictures on a tablet, so I carry different devices for reading and working. Plus, I wouldn’t really want to risk taking an expensive laptop to a beach just so that I can read the latest potboiler.
Now it’s time to finish off the final bits and settle down for final night with Dee before the adventure begins tomorrow. I’ll be blogging en-route and have a several hour stopover in Doha which should allow me time to write. In the meantime, here’s today’s picture which is from a previous visit to Singapore. I’ll be staying in ‘little India’ which – as the name implies is the centre of the city’s Indian community. Here’s a typical Hindu celebration outside the Sri Mariamman temple on the 5th October 2009.
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It’s not exactly been a lazy Sunday – even if it has been a fairly quiet one. My wife’s been busy much of the day on her ‘virtual retreat’ and the various yoga/exercise and meditation classes that involves whilst I’ve been pottering around at home scanning slides and catching up on some email correspondence. The weather’s hardly been conducive to doing much more as we’ve had intermittent rain thoughout the day. Even so, we did manage to get out in between Dawn’s sessions to food-shop and get a walk in through our local woods and up around Savile Park whilst dodging the showers.
Back at home, I took another trip down memory lane whilst scanning the latest batch of old slides from Sumatra. I reckon that with any luck this album will be done and dusted by the end of next week – which is rather pleasing. That means it’s only 22 years it’s taken me to get them to a wider audience! So, without further ado, here’s the picture of the day, which was taken in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province at the very Northerm tip of Sumatra on the 3rd August 1998. This is the city’s Baiturrahman Grand Mosque, which I couldn’t resist visiting at sunset. Here’s why…
Aceh has a fascinating if turbulent history going back centuries. It’s seen more than its fair share of conflicts, but its biggest challenge happened a few years after Lynn and I visited. On Boxing Day 2004 the city and surrounding area was devastated by a Tsunami. It’s estimated that the disaster killed 167,000 inhabitants and destroyed more than 60% of the city’s buildings. It was the hardest hit of all the places struck by the Tsunami. Lynn and I had a lucky escape from the Tsunami. On Boxing Day 2002 and 2003 we were on beaches in Southern Sri Lanka that were badly damaged by the disaster, but in 2004 we’d delayed travelling as we’d a lot of plans for that year. You can imagine how we felt when we learned of the devastation caused to places we’d visited and knew well. There, but for the grace of God…
If you’re interested in looking through more photos from Sumatra (or the rest of the epic trip), you can find them in this gallery on my Zenfolio picture website.
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
After the excitement of breaking free from the office on a sunny day yesterday, and the chance to get some interesting and historical pictures to boot – today’s been back to the usual pattern in more ways than one. The glorious sunshine was a flash in the pan and here for one day only. Today we reverted to heavy grey skies, rain and the light levels that would make a troglodyte feel at ease.
This has meant I’ve worked from home all day, juggling the mundanities of everyday life with editing and scanning pictures and arranging a couple of commissions, so my times been well spent – if a little frustrating at times as I watch the latest political shenanigans on the news. That the Home Secretary’s found to have been bullying her staff is (obviously) a resigning matter. Only it’s not the perma-smirking Priti Patel that resigns – it’s the Senior Civil Servant who conducted the investigation into the allegation and who was hung out to dry by Johnson! So, no change there then. The old film adage about “who do I have to f**k to get a part in this movie” has turned into “what do I have to f**k-up to get the sack around here”? Nothing, apparently – unless you count making up a derogatory nickname for the Prime Minister’s latest squeeze! Honestly, how this country ever managed to rule 1/3 of the planet is beyond me…
Still, I did manage to get out for a long walk in the drizzle and murk, which was good. After being in self-imposed isolation its lovely to be building up the exercise again. This weekend Dee’s on another ‘virtual retreat’ as part of an online group she really enjoys being part of – so it’s a good excuse to get out from underneath her feet and get a few more miles walking under my belt. Admittedly, I have other plans too as I’ve still loads of stuff to get onto eBay. Methinks this will be a productive weekend because of it. After all, it’s not like we’ve got much else to do during this lockdown – and I’d much rather feel the time was being spent doing something useful rather than sat on a sofa watching TV…
Today’s picture of the day is one of the latest batch of slide scans. I’m slowly working my way through an album of pictures from Malaysia and Indonesia. 95% of them have never made it onto my picture websites before, so it’s great to finally bring them to a wider audience. Today’s image was taken in the Batu Caves outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in the first week of July 1998. The caves are an important site for Malaysia’s Hindu community and well worth a visit, both to enjoy the caves themselves but also some of the shrines to Gods in the Hindu pantheon.
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
I’m on my penultimate day in Bali before moving on to Java and beginning my trek all the way back up to Bangkok. This is the first time I’ve been back to the island in 5 years. A sobering thought is that I first came here as a solo overland backpacker way back in 1992, 25 years ago! Part of me wished that I’d brought my old diaries with me, but as they’re not digitised, they’re too valuable to risk. This trip has made me resolve to remedy that – as well as concentrate getting the hundreds of slides from the trip scanned. I left the UK in October 1991 and didn’t return until a year later. I spent five months in Indonesia, island-hopping from Sumatra to East Timor via local buses and ferries. In these days of cheap flights (and more onerous visa restrictions) it’s a feat no-one attempts anymore. I came back & repeated the trip as far as Flores with my late partner, Lynn in 1998 but we also came to Bali a couple of times on holidays. Those experiences have given me the perspective to see how much Bali has changed in a quarter of a century.
Admittedly, this isn’t the same island-ranging trip as before as my primary reason for visiting was to come and see Alison, an old Australian friend whom Lynn and I first met in India in 1998 and who now lives here. Alison accompanied the pair of us on chunks of our 18 month trip around the world onwards from that point, sharing many of our adventures. So, most of my time here has been spent in the Ubud area where Alison has a home and business, Mingle Cafe. To say the place has changed since 1992 is an understatement. It’s grown hugely as money, tourists and expats have flooded in. Traffic is a bit of a nightmare too. Roads that used to be reasonably quiet have become sclerotic with parked cars & scooters. Suicidal tourists on scooters don’t help. Some of them insist on driving down one-way streets or weave in and out of traffic as if it really matters that they get somewhere a couple of minutes quicker (this is Bali, for God’s sake, they taught the Spanish the meaning of ‘Manyana’!)
Some of the places I had fond memories of have gone, others remain. Sadly one of my favourite restaurants serving authentic Balinese veggie dishes has disappeared since 2012, There’s a few new eyesores in Ubud (especially on Monkey Forest road, where there’s some monstrous but half abandoned buildings), but there’s also some attractive additions as traditional buildings have been expanded in a tasteful and respectful manner. That said, there does seem to have been a bit of a ‘building boom’ that’s outstripped demand. I passed quite a few shops & showrooms that have been built speculatively, without any thought to location or commercial need. Most (but not all) of the building is ribbon development. It’s filled up the spaces along the roads but the rice paddies behind largely remain intact as I saw for myself when I flew in from Thailand.
What hasn’t changed is the Balinese people. They’re still as friendly and welcoming as ever, and their unique culture survives, seemingly unscathed. I’ve always thought the Balinese were object lessons in how to hang on to your culture despite mass tourism – even with the latest human waves to hit the island (first the Russians, now the Chinese). Religious ceremonies and practices that have endured for centuries are still part of daily life here – even if some have been updated to reflect the modern age. I took part in one example shortly after arriving. Tumpak Landep is the day to pay homage to metal heirlooms (such as old daggers handed down through the generations). Nowadays its expanded to include blessing everyday items such as cars and scooters! Nonetheless, it’s taken seriously, families don their traditional clothing as always for such occasions and the blessings are performed. I can’t help but admire the Balinese for this. Their religion still has such a big part to play in their everyday lives that we in the West can’t really imagine it unless we experience it. Here’s a selection of pictures from Tumpak Landep;
Blessing and sprinkling holy water on offerings and family heirlooms.
A young girl places offerings that have been blessed and sprinkled with holy water onto one of the family’s scooters.
I’ll be sad to leave as I’ve always loved Bali. Plus, it’s been a joy to catch up with Alison and it’s been an interesting time being part of an expatriate community intertwined with the local Balinese music scene (something I rarely experience on my travels). I’m determined that won’t be another five years before I return.
Next, I move on to Java, somewhere I’ve not been back to since 1998. I’m starting the trip in a city I’ve never experienced before – Surabaya, so that should be fun…
Paul Bigland 