This is a post about water. Water and roots. There used to be a railway line between Weymouth and Portland (this is in Dorset, England). The track was lifted long ago and the path it once followed is now used by pedestrians (lots of them). Some are walkers and tourists but, mostly, they are local people going to school, college, work, to the shops - on foot. One of the best bits is the tunnel. (Especially if you are in the company of young children because that gives you an excuse to hoot.)
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Water drips from the roof - and it runs down the walls. 
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The minerals dissolved in it re-form as patterns
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and stalactites.
There are trees on either side of the tunnel . . . trees and ivy.
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The stones of the buttresses at the entrance are pulling apart. 
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I put my phone into one of the cracks - roots. Roots like the water too.
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It's fun going through the tunnel. It's fun to hoot and hear the echo. I avoid the drips. I worry about r o o t s .
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11 comments:
Hehe! I'm picture thin geeks that you're avoiding!!
Interesting article about the inside of a tunnel and the trees outside.
Have you ever posted at Festival of the Trees? http://festivalofthetrees.wordpress.com/
I love it when old railways become walking or cycling paths. Your photos make me want to hoot too.
Hello Gordon - umm . . . I'm afraid I don't understand your first comment . . .
But thank you for pointing me to the Festival of Trees. I hadn't heard of it before. Looks interesting.
Lucy
Mr McGregor's Daughter - I shall do a special hoot on your behalf when next I walk through that tunnel.
Lucy
Hi Lucy, this is just wonderful. We always yell, or hoot when going under a tunnel, but are usually in a car. Having the three year old with us means we really belt it out! Thanks for explaining about the flailing machine in the previous post. We have those here also, I hate the way it looks and fear for the health of the stuff cut, but understand what a cost saver it is. Otherwise the trees and shrubs would grow into the road, or would they? My eyebrows stayed firly in place as you told of the cotton on the patches of ground you will be watching. We are more alike than you might think. Unfoe. I love it.
Frances
Its the phrase "I'm avoiding drips"!!
Frances - I can see I will be thinking of my blogging friends whenever I walk through this tunnel from now on.
Lucy
That is a cool tunnel; there's something similar at Parker Mill park in Ann Arbor--I'll be sure to get a photo for you when I next go. We also have previous railroad tracks made into paths: http://www.railstotrails.org.
That sounds interesting Monica.
If you do do a post on it, and if you would like, I could put a tunnel picture on PICTURES JUST PICTURES on the same day, with a link to your post.
If you like the idea, just let me know in advance so I can co-oridinate my posting date with yours.
Lucy
Hi Lucy, this is a wonderful post! I just love the intrigue here, and the natural beauty of this 'tunnel'. It is the stuff of deep caverns that I've been in...we have several near us in the Western part of Virginia...Luray Caverns is one I've been in with Stalactites and Stalagamites...sp?? Both upward and downward growing mineral deposits. So cool!
I enjoyed how you mentioned the hoots and drips! Jan
Hello Jan
I'm glad you like the 'natural' feel to this tunnel.
In a way, it's true. It's a place being claimed by nature. Even though it is brick, and human-built, the minerals brought by water are gradually covering the bricks - coating them with stone!
What I'd very much like to do is be able to photograph the niches where railway workers would go for safety when trains went through - but, so far, my camera won't rise to it.
I'll do a hoot for you too when next I go through.
(I'm getting used to other people thinking I'm mad - though since they still dare stop and ask why I'm photographing a bit of mud or a weed I suppose I can't look too barmy - so I expect I'll be able to hoot without too much embarassment. In fact, when he was reading this post, a ten-year-old person asked why I hooted less nowadays. When I said it was because I thought, now he is 'bigger', he had grown out of hooting he was scornful and said it wasn't that he has grown out of hooting but that I am less fun than I used to be. (Oh Dear!) So I'd better do some good hoots - and I think I'll be having company doing them, so there'll be some extra ones thrown in.)
Lucy
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