This is already one of out favourite walks, even though we’ve only done it once before. That was on a New Year’s Eve slate grey day. Unlike today, as you’ll see.
Sunderland Point is on a part of the Northern English coast neither of us had ever been to before last New Year. On the estuary of the River Lune, out beyond Lancaster, close to Heysham and within distant sight of the Lake District Fells. It’s quiet, remote and gorgeous. And last time we went I wrote a bit about the history of the place, which you can read here, so I won’t repeat myself. Nor will I say much more. A quiet day deserves a quiet blog post, and the place can speak for itself.
We parked at Overton then Sarah and I walked across the salt marsh to Sunderland Point. The road across here floods with the tide twice a day. So with us arriving an hour after high water this was an ebb tide walk.
The tiny village contains two terraces of Georgian houses, called First Terrace and Second Terrace. And out through the lanes beyond them there is a recently completed Camera Obscura.
A beautifully built and curious building. Though it’s fair to say we were both underwhelmed by the camera itself. Preferring to sit outside and look out across the marshes the right way up.
Walking back, the creeks leading into the estuary had all emptied.
Sunderland Point, quietly wonderful.
Also see our previous blog post about Sunderland Point: New Years Eve at the End of the Earth
A proper camera obscura has its lens mounted in a cupola on the roof, and uses a mirror to direct light down onto a large, shallow bowl (like a satellite receiver) mounted horizontally within the camera itself. By use of a handle, it is possible to rotate the cupola and so see a full 360 degree panorama of the outside world.
There is one in Clifton, Bristol – near to Brunel’s suspension bridge – that does just this. It’s rather more interesting than the one you saw at Sunderland Point.
True Robert. As Sarah’s just remarked, this one was more like a pin-hole camera.
Your reference Ronnie, to parking at Overton, brought to mind my comparatively recent discovery of the concept of the ‘Overton Window’ which would be of interest to you as a ‘seeker after the truth’ in your researches. It is so evident on the BBC news when you know about it and their giveaway trigger word is ‘controversial’.
Regards
Nick
I did think about the Overton Window concept when we parked there Nick, but couldn’t work out an angle for including it in the blog. So thank you for including it here. And your mention of BBC News and seeking the truth has reminded me of getting into a taxi in San Francisco in the early 1990s to find the driver listening to the World Service News. When I asked him why he said ‘Because I am originally from a country where we cannot trust the news, so this is my only way of hearing the truth.’ I wonder if he’d still say that about the BBC today?
Alongside the BBC deciding for its viewers the parameters of their ‘Overton Window’ of acceptable thought, the other feature that irritates me is that virtually every main news bulletin involves showing somebody weeping or uses the adjective ‘desperate’ and not uncommonly both! They must think we are too stupid to draw our own conclusions from factual reports.
Nick