Psychogeography For Those Wet Winter Weekends

[Eponastill]

I get really sluggish and down in the middle of winter (they call it S.A.D.). I try to counteract it by hauling myself outside into the countryside at weekends, but it's not easy when it's freezing and wet. So when it's really rotten, I try to get out for a drive in the car at least. My sister and I have long gone out touring after specific interesting things (to draw). But we've got a new plan for our winter jaunts. We get the OS map, look for a few potentially interesting or weird spots, and head out. And if we don't know which way to head next, or we're lost completely, my sister has a coin to toss to tell us which way to go at the junctions.

With an eye primed for the weird you seem to see more weirdness. (Perhaps weirdness is slightly in the eye of the beholder but that's fine by me). We've been down a road renowned for a phantom hitchhiker, we've stopped at springs by churches, we've gone along tiny lanes up a weird hill topped by a Romano-Celtic temple, and driven unexpectedly through strange industrial spots in the middle of the countryside. Also we've seen some unusual people that might almost have stepped out of another era judging by their attire. My favourite thing the other week came as we were driving down a dead straight lane, overflowing with wet moss and ferns on either side. We were approaching the edge of the OS map and hadn't really decided what to do when we got there. Hilariously, just as we got to the edge of the map, we found we couldn't get any further, as there was a big flood across the road and not knowing how deep it was, I wasn't prepared to take the car through it and get stuck. It seemed rather apt. I had to reverse back a long way. It seemed like a message that it was time to head back!

To continue introducing randomness into the day, we stopped at a little garage and vowed to eat something unusual. I had a packet of onion rings illustrated with a lovely picture of a mammoth, and a blast from the past - a can of Tizer (what flavour even is this? we squinted at the label: "mixed flavour drink" apparently).

Anyway I thoroughly recommend it. Workday routine can be pretty predictable. But this introduces some element of randomness and surprise into the week. And I like the sensation of being open to any weirdness that might turn up. We were hoping to see an ABC. But maybe another time. Simple pleasures eh.

 

[escargot]

I get really sluggish and down in the middle of winter (they call it S.A.D.). I try to counteract it by hauling myself outside into the countryside at weekends, but it's not easy when it's freezing and wet. So when it's really rotten, I try to get out for a drive in the car at least. My sister and I have long gone out touring after specific interesting things (to draw). But we've got a new plan for our winter jaunts. We get the OS map, look for a few potentially interesting or weird spots, and head out. And if we don't know which way to head next, or we're lost completely, my sister has a coin to toss to tell us which way to go at the junctions.
With an eye primed for the weird you seem to see more weirdness. (Perhaps weirdness is slightly in the eye of the beholder but that's fine by me). We've been down a road renowned for a phantom hitchhiker, we've stopped at springs by churches, we've gone along tiny lanes up a weird hill topped by a Romano-Celtic temple, and driven unexpectedly through strange industrial spots in the middle of the countryside. Also we've seen some unusual people that might almost have stepped out of another era judging by their attire. My favourite thing the other week came as we were driving down a dead straight lane, overflowing with wet moss and ferns on either side. We were approaching the edge of the OS map and hadn't really decided what to do when we got there. Hilariously, just as we got to the edge of the map, we found we couldn't get any further, as there was a big flood across the road and not knowing how deep it was, I wasn't prepared to take the car through it and get stuck. It seemed rather apt. I had to reverse back a long way. It seemed like a message that it was time to head back!
To continue introducing randomness into the day, we stopped at a little garage and vowed to eat something unusual. I had a packet of onion rings illustrated with a lovely picture of a mammoth, and a blast from the past - a can of Tizer (what flavour even is this? we squinted at the label: "mixed flavour drink" apparently).
Anyway I thoroughly recommend it. Workday routine can be pretty predictable. But this introduces some element of randomness and surprise into the week. And I like the sensation of being open to any weirdness that might turn up. We were hoping to see an ABC. But maybe another time. Simple pleasures eh.

Going out and getting lost, heh, we do that! Great fun. Usually on t'pushbikes after a train journey.

There's always a conflict as Techy likes to know EXACTLY where he's going whereas I aim to get as hopelessly lost as possible. I've been lost all over the world, in fact, often alone. Techy has no idea!

 

[Eponastill]

I like getting lost too! Especially when it's near to places that you are extremely familiar with. Like you travel a certain route all the time and know it like the back of your hand, but 50 yards off to the side is a total mystery. I like going off-piste in town as well. But if we haven't been down a road with grass growing in the middle, I don't really consider it a proper day out.

 

[escargot]

When you're not concentrating on sticking to a route you see much more. One of my favourite features is a fork in the road, where, as @Eponastill mentions, it's fun to flip a coin. I tend to just say 'Let's go THAT way!' and we're off on another foolhardy pursuit.

 

[escargot]

I like getting lost too! Especially when it's near to places that you are extremely familiar with. Like you travel a certain route all the time and know it like the back of your hand, but 50 yards off to the side is a total mystery. I like going off-piste in town as well. But if we haven't been down a road with grass growing in the middle, I don't really consider it a proper day out.

As I mentioned, we explore by bike. Nothing is funnier than being totally lost, soaked to the skin, in a place I've never seen before and have no idea how to get home from. This drives Techy MAD and I laugh all the harder.

Last year one day we were stuck up a rainy Welsh mountain, so cold and wet I really thought Techy had hypothermia. He wasn't amused. Dunno why, I thought it was hilarious.

We live such sheltered lives these days. Getting out there and being lost and physically uncomfortable is a reminder of how well we'd cope if we had to.

 

[Frideswide]

tiny lanes up a weird hill topped by a Romano-Celtic temple

OOH! can you give a location without giving anything away?

 

[Frideswide]

My mate and I do something a bit like this.

I have a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong list of places where I need to check out a reported green man. She likes to get out of the house. We both have bus passes.

So I pick a place to go, especially somewhere neither of us have ever been, and do the business bit first. Then we started walking - she has ERS and I have fibro which does limit us. Left and right and left and right from the thing we checked, looking out for bus stops and places to get lunch! If we pass a busstop and there's a queue that looks as if a bus is coming we ask where it's too and probably catch it.

The online bus timetables and local taxi numbers dig us out if we get too lost.

We've snaffled a ride in a boat by happening to be there, enjoyed lots of local produce, she's taken lots of excellent photos, I'm working down my lists..... perfect!

 

[pandacracker]

Can you elaborate on the "reported green man" bit?

I once knew someone whose parents, on visiting a city, would always buy the public transport card for that city. When tired of walking and sightseeing they would get on a bus, travel to it's terminus, then travel back to where they first got on. That way they got a sit down and saw more than the average tourist.

 

[Victory]

This time of year is the time I find hardest.
I make a point of reading books, so that I can start and finish a book instead of just browsing.
And watching films.
I value Sundays as a day to go out to a museum or place of interest.

 

[Frideswide]

Can you elaborate on the "reported green man" bit?

Green man enthusiasts are trying to build up a gazetteer of er.... green men!

I've got stack of sites in Scotland that have one or more GMs reported - literature search of various media and so on, plus instances reported in by individuals.

It's how we know about, for example, two separate areas of them being used on C17+ grave markers, tombs, wall memorials and so on.

Edit to add: new sightings welcomed

https://thecompanyofthegreenman.com/the-gazetteer/

 

[Scribbles]

Me and the dog once did a year of this. Not to get lost exactly, but to see more in our area. Using Google maps I found all the parks and every bit of interesting green space I could within a half-hour radius and we went exploring together. We found some interesting little places, strips of what was once countryside still existing amongst housing estates. We also visited a holy well and the ruins of a priory. Never would've done that on my own. I love my dog!

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

I like night-time dog walks. Especially this time of year with all the Christmas lights.

We've had a few lovely experiences like walking the dog through York at night and hearing the choir rehearse a carol service; standing with our ears pressed against one of the old oak doors, listening (and slowly attracting random tourists and locals to join us). Scaring ourselves walking across a supposedly haunted, utterly unlit garth (grassy area) at night - the site of Cardinal Wolsey's last home. And even walking through the woods - but we don't do that one much as we start to freak eachother out...

Nothing creepy has ever happened apart from bumping into the ghost walks in York doing their thing! And they're not creepy.

Going on adventures is the best.

 

[monkeyfudger]

Have you tried finding a Gravity Hill?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gravity_hills

One of them, Hangman's Hill in Epping Forest, is near me. I thought I had found it a few years ago as I appeared to roll uphill slightly when I stopped and let the car brakes off, but looking it up again now and seeing some uchoob videos I don't think I was on the actual road, but still found the effect. I'm going to have to go back and find it again.

 

[escargot]

As a child I wandered around my home town alone on foot and believed I could find my way from any point to any other without walking along a street, by using alleys and crossing waste grounds and parks. Back then one could certainly travel around the town centre that way.

I'd also try different routes to school, which I later read is a game called 'North West Passage'. (Trying to find a reference for that just now led me back to some well-loved authors.)

The urge to cover ground and explore goes deep. It's part of our language, so natural that we don't even notice it.

 

[escargot]

Have you tried finding a Gravity Hill?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gravity_hills

One of them, Hangman's Hill in Epping Forest, is near me. I thought I had found it a few years ago as I appeared to roll uphill slightly when I stopped and let the car brakes off, but looking it up again now and seeing some uchoob videos I don't think I was on the actual road, but still found the effect. I'm going to have to go back and find it again.

This MUST be an illusion. When we cycle along canal paths Techy sometimes remarks on the gradient, which cannot exist. It might LOOK like we're rolling up or down a hill but we're not.

 

[monkeyfudger]

Yes, of course it's an optical illusion. The surrounding land makes it look like the road is going slightly uphill when it's the opposite.

 

[escargot]

Yes, of course it's an optical illusion. The surrounding land makes it look like the road is going slightly uphill when it's the opposite.

There are places in the world which really are supposed to defy gravity, and people (mainly Americans I believe) get indignant about the suggestion that they're being misled. We have a thread on it somewhere.

We used to walk our dogs on some land that was about to be developed. I'd take a compass there and we'd laugh when it pointed in the wrong direction. It was a good 'true' compass and only went wrong there.

 

[Eponastill]

OOH! can you give a location without giving anything away?

Yes, I mean there's nothing to "see" now, as it was totally excavated in the 1970s because miserable b- treasure hunters kept nicking stuff. But the area had an interesting vibe - long views, strange shape hills. https://www.jstor.org/stable/526548

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

This MUST be an illusion. When we cycle along canal paths Techy sometimes remarks on the gradient, which cannot exist. It might LOOK like we're rolling up or down a hill but we're not.

I've noticed this on a Sustrans track which used to be a small local railway. Although I know there can be gradual gradient but sometimes it's hard to tell.

 

[escargot]

I've noticed this on a Sustrans track which used to be a small local railway. Although I know there can be gradual gradient but sometimes it's hard to tell.

There's one in Derbyshire, think it's the Tissington Trail, where there's a very slight upward gradient 'there' and so you can more or less freewheel 'back'!

 

[Frideswide]

Yes, I mean there's nothing to "see" now, as it was totally excavated in the 1970s because miserable b- treasure hunters kept nicking stuff. But the area had an interesting vibe - long views, strange shape hills. https://www.jstor.org/stable/526548

thank you! I love that so much stuff is now accessible on line.

 

[PeteS]

I get really sluggish and down in the middle of winter (they call it S.A.D.). I try to counteract it by hauling myself outside into the countryside at weekends, but it's not easy when it's freezing and wet. So when it's really rotten, I try to get out for a drive in the car at least. My sister and I have long gone out touring after specific interesting things (to draw). But we've got a new plan for our winter jaunts. We get the OS map, look for a few potentially interesting or weird spots, and head out. And if we don't know which way to head next, or we're lost completely, my sister has a coin to toss to tell us which way to go at the junctions.
With an eye primed for the weird you seem to see more weirdness. (Perhaps weirdness is slightly in the eye of the beholder but that's fine by me). We've been down a road renowned for a phantom hitchhiker, we've stopped at springs by churches, we've gone along tiny lanes up a weird hill topped by a Romano-Celtic temple, and driven unexpectedly through strange industrial spots in the middle of the countryside. Also we've seen some unusual people that might almost have stepped out of another era judging by their attire. My favourite thing the other week came as we were driving down a dead straight lane, overflowing with wet moss and ferns on either side. We were approaching the edge of the OS map and hadn't really decided what to do when we got there. Hilariously, just as we got to the edge of the map, we found we couldn't get any further, as there was a big flood across the road and not knowing how deep it was, I wasn't prepared to take the car through it and get stuck. It seemed rather apt. I had to reverse back a long way. It seemed like a message that it was time to head back!
To continue introducing randomness into the day, we stopped at a little garage and vowed to eat something unusual. I had a packet of onion rings illustrated with a lovely picture of a mammoth, and a blast from the past - a can of Tizer (what flavour even is this? we squinted at the label: "mixed flavour drink" apparently).
Anyway I thoroughly recommend it. Workday routine can be pretty predictable. But this introduces some element of randomness and surprise into the week. And I like the sensation of being open to any weirdness that might turn up. We were hoping to see an ABC. But maybe another time. Simple pleasures eh.

What I find really sad is when you ask a yoof (and sometimes someone even older) where they've been and their response is "oh I don't know we just followed the sat nav to where we were going" and they can't even tell you exactly where they had gone! Sat navs should have never been invented. (says the aging luddite)

 

[brownmane]

What I find really sad is when you ask a yoof (and sometimes someone even older) where they've been and their response is "oh I don't know we just followed the sat nav to where we were going" and they can't even tell you exactly where they had gone! Sat navs should have never been invented. (says the aging luddite)

Sat navs have led people in the wrong direction and always seem to take the long way to anywhere. And you don't discover anything for yourself. I enjoy driving somewhere in the country (using a map) and arbitrarily taking different directions to get there. I keep the general direction of the place in mind and just head there. If I get lost, I find my way out. The only places that confuse me are city subdivisions - they make no sense in direction nor purpose.
Years ago, my husband and I enjoyed a nice weekend in a place that I'd randomly picked and then while we were there, I saw a postcard that was of the last covered bridge in Ontario. It was near where we were staying, but without asking anyone nor looking at the map, we drove in the countryside and eventually found it. Fun time

 

[Mythopoeika]

What I find really sad is when you ask a yoof (and sometimes someone even older) where they've been and their response is "oh I don't know we just followed the sat nav to where we were going" and they can't even tell you exactly where they had gone! Sat navs should have never been invented. (says the aging luddite)

I'm not a 'yoof', but sometimes this is just how I use a satnav. Sorry!

 

[Iris]

The last time I drove with my cousin and his wife to visit Yarram where his sister lives his wife was driving and using a Garmin.
It's quite a way from where we live and I alerted her to a sign that said it was the way to Yarram.
She said she would just keep using the Garmin as it would be sure to be right.
So we kept driving for some time only to find that the road was closed and had to drive back to where I saw the sign.

 

[Bad Bungle]

Have you tried finding a Gravity Hill?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gravity_hills

One of them, Hangman's Hill in Epping Forest, is near me.

The one nearest to me is down Dancers End Lane near Aston Clinton in Bucks - didn't realise it was a gravity hill until I later looked it up on Youtube - it didn't work for me. The lane itself is fantastic, a Celtic road that's single-track in places and intersects prehistoric Grim's Ditch - lots of dappled sunlight when passing through tight bends in woodland (getting a helmet cam for the scooter in the Spring). Went back with my brother, got lost (?) and discovered the Dancers End Lane Pumping Station (1866).

 

[hunck]

Nice. I'm a big fan of Victorian water board buildings which are often fine looking & impressive structures. There's a few round my way - this is one, now a climbing centre.

 

[brownmane]

Years ago, my husband and I enjoyed a nice weekend in a place that I'd randomly picked and then while we were there, I saw a postcard that was of the last covered bridge in Ontario. It was near where we were staying, but without asking anyone nor looking at the map, we drove in the countryside and eventually found it. Fun time

Just to add. The place we visited was the Elora Gorge in Elora Ontario and it was a very warm February, so we did a lot of walking. The water falling over the gorge was partly frozen. Had a beautiful view of it from a restaurant that was at the head of the gorge.