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chrisull.bsky.social
@chrisull.bsky.social
270 followers 480 following 200 posts
Programmer, author, musician (lo-fi),
amateur historian, amateur environmentalist (butterfly transect walker at Golitha Falls), chair of St Cleer Environmental group, runner, running coach and Birmingham City
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chrisull.bsky.social
Managed to make it up Largin hill fort, for the first time, difficult given current immobility, but worth it. 2 days left before the brace comes off. Incredible place will look to return in summer when more mobile #Cornwall #FoweyValley #Trees #Rainforest #Hiking
A tangled wood, the sun peeps through the crook of a branch warming the whole picture, moss festoons standing, falling and fallen trees. There are ferns growing on some of the trees, this is temperate Atlantic rainforest. Looking through up to a bare leafless over story. Branches suggest grasping fingers reaching to the sky from sleeves of ivy and moss
January 25, 2026 at 3:05 PM
chrisull.bsky.social
Roman bathhouse tiles/paving from Le Hogolo Thermes at Plestin-les-Grèves Love how each villa/baths has its own style. #TilesOnTuesday
A small rectangular pit lined with slate slabs (modern) on two sides and exposed ancient stonework on two. At the base is a black and white (now black and green) set of tiles arranged in a pattern where there are three large black squares in a row broken up by white/green squares and around the middle on each corner of the square are four smaller black squares. Four designs of monochromatic tiles are found from the region on an information board, the Pont croix, Finistere is a simple checker board pattern , another from Pont Croix is an octagon filled with a checker board pattern and in the centre another octagon with the sun inside.The third Le Gavre, Loire atlantique has a complex circular kaleidoscope like pattern and the fourth le Hogolo is as described in the previous photo.
January 20, 2026 at 8:39 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
The truly epic Ile Carn tumulus, one that can only be reached, on foot, at low tide. #TombTuesday #Brittany #Bretagne #Breizh
A large stony mound which outcrops of grass, moss and thrift threaten to consume. At the base are two black portals and in between them a side that reads in French ‘ thank you for not climbing on the tumulus - protected site’ An inner chamber vault with exquisite stone work lit by a small doorway through which daylight floods. This was built in the Neolithic, if someone told you it was a medieval abbey crypt you probably wouldn’t argue.
January 20, 2026 at 6:43 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
Sometimes the menhir dots on French maps turn out to be hard to find and very ruined. This, the Allée couverte de Kerivalan near Gouarec in #Brittany #Bretagne #Breizh radiating a ‘dark woodland’ energy (actually in brash by a ploughed field). But let that illusion be for #StandingStoneSunday
A lichen covered square slab of granite protrudes from broken branches as though it’s being released from the netherworld. Bramble and greenery half bury it and behind several trees provide it with shelter.
January 18, 2026 at 7:30 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
A Stinky Sticta (I think it’s a Sylvatica? ) I discovered while coppicing in October last year and it changed the whole plan as we had to start haloing around the willow with these specimens on. #FungiFriday #Moss #Lichen #Cornwall #GolithaFalls
January 16, 2026 at 7:11 PM
chrisull.bsky.social
While being mainly housebound while healing post -op, I have been making good inroads into my TBR pile (this is about a fifth of it!) Tokarczuk’s, Flights is excellent but tough reading about a surgeon who dissects his own amputated leg, when my own leg still gets quite sore if I overdo it #BookSky
Pile of 6 books - Flights - Olga Tokarczuk, Pan The Great God’s return - Paul Robichaud, Kindred Neanderthal Life,Live, Death and Art - Rebecca Wragg-Sykes, The Western Rising of 1549 - Mark Stoyle, clothes, Music, Boys - Viv Albertine, Shouting Out Loud, Lives of the Raincoats, Aubrey Golden, Ninth Street Women Five painters and the movement that changed modern art - Mary Gabriel
January 11, 2026 at 4:38 PM
chrisull.bsky.social
One of the Geants de Kerzeho on the Erdeven megalithic trail, a six metre plus monster. #StandingStoneSunday
A tall slab of granite, dotted with lichens protrudes from a grassy and dried mud outcrop. Surrounded by deciduous trees you can see a fallen menhir on the right and stretching into the distance behind benches and either another fallen menhir or a glacial erratic.
January 11, 2026 at 11:37 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
A mile away from me (so was an awkward jaunt on my crutches and brace) is the Witheystone. Recorded on old St Cleer Parish tithe maps, 200 years old+ and marked as a possible menhir on the HER, at a former crossroads (now T junction). Wonder if lichens can help date? #Cornwall #StandingStoneSunday
Standing on a small scrubby triangle of grass is a rhomboid shaped menhir, about one metre 30 in height. The Witheystone (white stone) is named for the lichens on its face, completely white in the left and lightly freckled on the face to the right. Dirt tracks run behind and to the right of it and ivy clad oaks and beeches line the Cornish hedgerows behind it. Taken on 1st Jan 2026.
January 4, 2026 at 6:49 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
Traditional 1st Jan #WildflowerHunt looking for early blooms. Injury not withstanding, knee flexion of max allowed 60 degrees, in crutches and brace for 3 miles. Still managed 7 species wild strawberry, lesser celandine, red campion, hogweed, daisy, dandelion and snowdrops #WildflowerHour #Cornwall
Close up of two small white wild strawberry flowers, one has seen better days with hollowed out black centre. Other looks fresh A close up of a lesser celandine in leaf litter amidst its characteristic splodgy, spade shaped leaves. Three red campion blooms that have seen better days on a grassy Cornish hedgerow. Close up of two hogsweed flower heads which are composed of miniature petals splayed out like tiny umbrellas or frozen starbursts.
January 1, 2026 at 5:12 PM
chrisull.bsky.social
Yesterday, the physio unlocked my brace so I can quote ‘start learning to walk again’. This year before disaster struck I ran in some pretty amazing places, and here are photos taken mid run in Roscoff, Prague, Karlovy Vary and up the 800m+ Burgstein. Hope to be back soon #Running #Injury #RunSky
On the beach at Roscoff, running around the Ricky headlands , you can see a near impassable wall of rocks jutting out to a headland cover in trees with some sort of castle folly if you zoom in. A misty view from the Vysehrad castle in Prague overlooking the river. A brick wall at right angles abuts the view, the tree lined river is nearly mirror still , there is a row of boats in a tributary to the left, and the city to the right is wreathed in fog. A fabulous sunny day overlooking the heavily Gothic and Teutonic architecture of Karlovy Vary. The view is taken from an uncompromising path that switched back through the trees many times and looks out over the town. On top of the Burgstein, I followed the forest tracks to the nearest peak not realising it was over 800m high and freezing on top. The view shows a single crooked tree towering above a sloping row of conifers , with a view of distant hills rising like whale backs from the fog. The sky is a frosty blue and single vapour trail weaves between the clouds like a crack on a melting puddle.
December 31, 2025 at 10:24 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
The Dolmens de Mané Braz on the Chemin des Megalithes, Erdeven (near Carnac of course) #Brittany #Bretagne #Breizh . A lot more of these cycling/walking/running trails are springing up in France, linking up loads of prehistoric sites, which can only be a very good thing. #TombTuesday
A right angled rather higgledy-piggledy dolmen, where large granite capstones are spread like puffed up pillows on a set of teeth like uprights. Pine needles and tree roots braid the ground and a large oak? Has sprung up behind. In the background in front of the tree line another dolmen with double capstones can be glimpsed in profile.
December 30, 2025 at 7:44 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
Out for only my 3rd walk post op, more confident now,but being careful not to overdo it. #GolithaFalls #Cornwall #Running #Injury
A small, dark and tame river bisects the landscape diagonally, leafless beech trees line both sides of the river bank and on the left bank trees roots have been exposed by erosion. A view from up high of Golitha Falls (a set of rapids, not a true waterfall) through deciduous woodland. A single bough of holly dominates and partially obscures the foreground. One tree leans awkwardly across the top of the picture, its trunk wreathed in moss, a typical indicator of temperate Atlantic rainforest. The woodland floor is a rust brown carpet of leaves
December 29, 2025 at 4:33 PM
chrisull.bsky.social
The huge Saint Uzec menhir, near Lannion, #Brittanny #Bretagne #Breizh, christianised in 1674 and put in a little enclosure but there is no taming the visceral power of this one. It’s over 6 metres high and must have a circumference of several metres. #StandingStoneSunday
A tall wife menhir that sports an ornate cross like a hat, has a series of carvings across the top. The lower set of the stone is partly stained brown but has an aura of a a caved painting. It stands in a recently mien walled enclosure, backed by some wild conifers under a vibrant blue sky.
December 28, 2025 at 9:43 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
This has seen better days ! #FingerpostFriday signpost near Golitha falls, #Cornwall. Only take this one in dry weather, as it leads straight 200 metres of marsh. Hope to do it again one day, once the knee has recovered from its recent surgery. (Snapped patella tendon) #Running #Injury
A tower of rust barely holds up a public footpath sign. It’s supported by some most blocks of granite of a Cornish hedge, that is festooned with ferns, grasses, pennywort and ivy. It features to some deciduous woodland behind.
December 26, 2025 at 10:39 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
Brane barrow in Penwith #Cornwall on Valentines Day 2023. What better way to spend the day than ancient monument sightseeing? This one will definitely impress your partner, small Scillonian type entrance grave, in an excellent state of preservation. #TombTuesday
A small lintel capped doorway beckons into a muddy interior. Each side is built up from large kerbing stones to give it a semi circular profile with a bulge on top. Grass hadn’t really conquered the mound and cattle have kept the surrounding grass low. The sky is a cloudless cyan and you can just about make out the moors on the horizon.
December 23, 2025 at 9:10 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
Happy solstice! This is Long Tom on #BodminMoor #Cornwall from one winter where there was an absolutely incredible sunset (although taken on February 2023, not on the solstice itself). #StandingStoneSunday
A tall, silhouetted phallic looking Celtic cross , emerging from a small bed of bricks. The moorland behind is bathed orange and sky is a dizzying whisk of peach Melba streaks, mango horses tails and candy floss cumulus .
December 21, 2025 at 9:19 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
The Dolmen Ouest de la Croix de Saint-Pierre, part of the St Just/alignments de Cojoux. This was restored in the 1990s, and the heather and shrubs are now making themselves at home in 2025. #StandingStoneSunday #Brittany #Bretagne #Breizh
A huge windswept sky dominants the photo, cumuli are stretched and smudged on the blue sky. Below is a cairn, of two circular level platforms containing a mixture of granite and shrubs. A short passage bisects the two platforms and leads to a small circle of stones in the centre. Heathers and moorland grass dot the scene like freckles. The photo has been taken using a wide angle setting that slightly distorts the panorama as though the whole moorland behind was also just another concentric circle encompassing the cairn.
December 14, 2025 at 8:24 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
On #StandingStoneSunday I posted the Prajou-Menhir menhir on a small presqu’ile north of Lennon and today it’s the turn of the accompanying Prajou-Menhir allée couverte, which boasts a fabulous set of carvings and rock art in its final chamber. #TombTuesday #Brittany #Bretagne #Breizh
A set of small, squat, ash grey dolmens stretch diagonally from left to right in a long row, there’s at least five in this unkempt grassy field bounded by a variety of deciduous trees. A close up of some rock art, commonly regarded as breasts but this could easily be four round barrows seen from above surrounded by a ditch or an eye with four pupils. Moss bisects the first carving from the other three, and while clear discernible, the whole carving is somewhat weathered and denuded.
December 9, 2025 at 7:24 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
The Prajou-Menhir menhir is embedded in a bank or field boundary next to the Allée couverte de Prajou-menhir (one for Tomb Tuesday), the last monument visited on my October trip to France. #StandingStoneSunday #Brittany #Bretagne #Breizh
A 1.7 high lichen encrusted menhir with a vertical groove running down the centre is stuck in a low grassy bank in a field of knee high grass, bounded by a border of bracken and bramble. One rather bedraggled oak or beech overlooks this site and the sun is scurrying behind the clouds just before rain arrives.
December 7, 2025 at 8:06 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
This week saw an excellent talk on Moonlit monuments by Carolyn Kennett for #Cornwall Archaeological Society (CAS) about the role moonlight might have played in their materials and use. Immediately I thought Duloe circle. Not in moonlight but sunset certainly elevates the quartz #StandingStoneSunday
Four stones and one stump, arrayed like a pawprint stand against a pinkish late evening sky in summer. The stone at the ‘base of the paw’ is almost pure white apart from a grey cap and freckles of lichen and dirt. The three claws are flecked silver by the last rays of the sun, all long and thin and about two metres high.
November 30, 2025 at 7:32 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
The menhir de Kergoarat near the plage de Cam-Louis, a seven metres high monolith looking out to see on a grey October day. #StandingStoneSunday #Brittany #Bretagne #Breizh
A tall menhir with a smooth left hand side and a contoured right, vaguely suggestive of a bulbous nosed man wearing a hat or a pregnant hood figure, stands in grassy patch of scrubland where a few dried stalks of hogweed or fennel tower up like dancers.
November 23, 2025 at 8:22 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
The roadside and beachside Keryvon Allée couverte. Resembling a dolmen, but according to @megalithic.bsky.social it’s a truncated Allée, with further stones in the scrub. Impossible to do the Tregastel coastal scenery justice as the road is too dangerous. #TombTuesday #Brittany #Bretagne #Breizh
A long slim capstone rests on three uprights. The mower has been in around the base leaving a brown stubble, but around the back ferns and gorse are creeping in threatening to blot out the white sands and seaweed of Tregastel plage.
November 18, 2025 at 7:46 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
An unidentified Viking ship- shaped stone circle, Sweden, from over a decade (more like 13-14 years) ago. I remember we drove past a fair few and jumping out the car to see. We did visit Ales Stenar and Kiviksgraven do it could have been on the way to either. #StandingStoneSunday
A roughly boat shaped set of 14 slabs of granite, all about one metre to one metre 50 high, taken from the bow end of the ‘ship’. The grass is sheep cropped and well trodden although clumps of heather dot the moorland behind and on the horizon is a small clump of conifers and three distant figures appraising the monument from the other end of the ‘ship’.
November 16, 2025 at 7:52 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
The Porz ar Streat menhir near Plouescat in #Brittany #Bretagne #Breizh. This menhir is on the edge of a farmyard where refrigerator lorries are slowly rotting and electric fenced off, which slightly detracts from its ambience. #StandingStoneSunday
A single stone of 4 metres stands to the left of the photo towering over a flat empty field. Scrub fills the grey horizon and to the right is a typical small Breton home.
November 9, 2025 at 7:45 AM
chrisull.bsky.social
The beached allée couverte of Guinivrit at low tide in #Brittany #Bretagne #Breizh It might have lost all its capstones but it remains a unique and captivating site #StandingStoneSunday
A row of blackened and seaweed covered stones emerge from the sand, like the beached carcass of a whale, running down the golden white sands. A rocky promontory cloaked in grass and the odd wind scoured tree forms the backdrop.
November 2, 2025 at 7:30 AM