2021 summary

Geograph Blog ::

2021 summary

As the season draws to an end here is my annual summary of my photographic activity. Lockdown held back my usual routine till the end of March, so again sent me in a small circle around home covering less-visited areas until I was set free again , plus our bagpipers who put on a performance for charity . Over the winter three pre-Worboys signs had turned up, so as soon as March ended I was off to get them all including one in Thetford which turned up here. As I already have a patch around there I took the opportunity to increase it, and used the map here to find two squares with only one image either side of a road, which needed GPS to locate as one was limited by hedges and the other was in a field .

Twyford and Trumpington were the other two, and once completed was free to roam wherever I wanted to. The only aim now is new territory, as it would need a tremendous effort to reach any further locations without a reluctant overnight stay. I may next year, as covid prevented it since 2019 so anything more ambitious was so hard as to be practically impossible, including the Eurotunnel to France. The routine this year turned out to be major A roads to their conclusions, the A10 to King's Lynn , the A41 to Solihull and the A34 to Birmingham , albeit with very few sections using the designations nowadays. I ended the serious journeys with Uttoxeter , to fill in the yawning gaps in SK myriad, having attempted Nottingham earlier in the year and got so stuck in traffic I turned off and headed west instead .

Locally I use my phone to keep track of wherever I am, and followed the progress of the wild flowers in my local parks where I go to run . There is also a series around Golders Green and Hampstead Garden Suburb where I do my mother's shopping. Otherwise the trips have been to green patches in between the red on my map, becoming further and further away after 15 years, and generally around Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Essex . More pre-Worboys signs turned up on the east coast, meaning a first visit to Great Wakering and a visit to Mersea Island for the first time in about 40 years. One memory is always revived now as my current road map was bought last year on a trip to Leicester as the last one was coming apart and is now indoors for reference. However it came back to life when I went to Birmingham as it has a huge town plan which guaranteed I reached the exact spot I had to get a sign in.

It was a slightly different year due to lockdown, but less than 2020 as the restrictions didn't last as long, but having three signs to get as quickly as possible (many are gone if you wait, as I've experienced too many times) used up any ambitions to bag a distant myriad this year, and plan a trip to Wales again next year for that purpose. My other trip planned is into the far side of Staffordshire, and everything else is flexible.