February 2019
Thursday, 11 July 2019 21:31![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iguana
In February, Emily, Tim, and I stayed on Lundy, in the most remote Landmark Trust property there, Tibbetts. Converted from a watch station, the building is still powered only by gas (including gas lighting, a novelty) and was quite an experience to stay in!
Helicopter in, helicopter out
In February the only visitors to the island are those staying in the Landmark Trust properties, so rather than a boat into the Bristol Channel, the only option is to go in by air; the 20 or so holidaymakers carted in on a few trips of a seven-seat helicopter. The take off and landing sites are both simple fields.
While it's not the first time I've been in a Helicopter, the trips in and out were the first ones I've not been ill in, so that's a plus!
In February the only visitors to the island are those staying in the Landmark Trust properties, so rather than a boat into the Bristol Channel, the only option is to go in by air; the 20 or so holidaymakers carted in on a few trips of a seven-seat helicopter. The take off and landing sites are both simple fields.
While it's not the first time I've been in a Helicopter, the trips in and out were the first ones I've not been ill in, so that's a plus!
1100 acres
Lundy is a long and thin island, and most of it border on the sea by cliff edge or extremely severe gradient, making for some beautiful walks. It really felt like Exmoor on an Island, which given we could see Exmoor off in the distance, isn't far from the truth.
The hills of Exmoor were still dusted with snow from the storm we'd driven hell-for-leather out of in Dartmoor, staying in a hastily-arranged hotel in Bideford overnight instead of driving up on the day. Given the number of abandoned cars we passed on the drive from Bideford to the heliport the next morning, it had been a wise decision.
Aside from a small settlement at the south end of the island, and Tibbetts itself, Lundy is otherwise open space, and we had beautiful weather while we were there.
Lundy is a long and thin island, and most of it border on the sea by cliff edge or extremely severe gradient, making for some beautiful walks. It really felt like Exmoor on an Island, which given we could see Exmoor off in the distance, isn't far from the truth.
The hills of Exmoor were still dusted with snow from the storm we'd driven hell-for-leather out of in Dartmoor, staying in a hastily-arranged hotel in Bideford overnight instead of driving up on the day. Given the number of abandoned cars we passed on the drive from Bideford to the heliport the next morning, it had been a wise decision.
Aside from a small settlement at the south end of the island, and Tibbetts itself, Lundy is otherwise open space, and we had beautiful weather while we were there.
Letterboxing
Before Geocaching there was letterboxing; much the same idea except with directions rather than GPS coordinates. The Lundy Post Office sells the clue sheet for 26 letterboxes found on the island (plus 1 on the boat, if the boat is running). It turned out to be a really good way of exploring parts of the island we might otherwise have overlooked, including the remains of crashed WWII aircraft, wartime outposts, and schisms in the very island itself.
Though the letterboxes are unrelated to post boxes, Lundy also has some postal trivia; despite being in the UK, it has its own stamps. It's traditional to leave one affixed to a self-addressed postcard in one of the letterboxes, and let the next person to find it post it back.
Before Geocaching there was letterboxing; much the same idea except with directions rather than GPS coordinates. The Lundy Post Office sells the clue sheet for 26 letterboxes found on the island (plus 1 on the boat, if the boat is running). It turned out to be a really good way of exploring parts of the island we might otherwise have overlooked, including the remains of crashed WWII aircraft, wartime outposts, and schisms in the very island itself.
Though the letterboxes are unrelated to post boxes, Lundy also has some postal trivia; despite being in the UK, it has its own stamps. It's traditional to leave one affixed to a self-addressed postcard in one of the letterboxes, and let the next person to find it post it back.
The postcard I stamped-addressed to myself in one of the letterboxes on Lundy arrived in the post today! At some point it moved from the cache I hid it in to another one further north. Any philatelists may have noticed that there's no UK stamp despite it being sent from the UK pic.twitter.com/LFjpDHBp0c
— Nick Murdoch (@nickmurdoch) February 15, 2019
Tibbetts
You could see Tibbetts from most locations on the island (a useful feature for a signal and watch station). Since being built it has had a circular wall added around it to keep cattle from disturbing the residents, which gave it a distinctive silhouette.
I'd taken my new tripod with me and we were lucky enough to get some clear sky at night, so I managed to get some lovely photos of the sky.
Tibbetts also has a tradition for guests to run naked around the building (or, at least, all the other visitors were in on the same prank). While this isn't a group activity for me, I did sneak out early on the last morning to do so, lest I feel I missed out later.
You could see Tibbetts from most locations on the island (a useful feature for a signal and watch station). Since being built it has had a circular wall added around it to keep cattle from disturbing the residents, which gave it a distinctive silhouette.
I'd taken my new tripod with me and we were lucky enough to get some clear sky at night, so I managed to get some lovely photos of the sky.
Tibbetts also has a tradition for guests to run naked around the building (or, at least, all the other visitors were in on the same prank). While this isn't a group activity for me, I did sneak out early on the last morning to do so, lest I feel I missed out later.
The full (curated) set of photos from my trip are here: http://photos.nevira.net/2019-02-lundy/
