LAND 30 Dazed and confused I welcomed the new dawn at Bjergbakke. Six hours earlier my family and I had finally arrived on Bornholm after a quick three-day visit to England for a big party. I was exhausted and unprepared – and annoyed that I had pushed the LAND Day again. I could feel the project unravelling, the parameters keeping it all together were beginning to dissolve. In my rush I had forgotten to pack several key items and, once again, I was forced to focus on the walk, the experience, and the ‘red line’ – and not the painting.
From Bjergbakke I walked down the hill, pausing to record the stunning sky and some sunflowers.
I walked on, skirting around Vestermarie, following some old bridle paths that I knew well, through rain-soaked beech woods and onwards through the fields. I ended up at Søgaard, a derelict old pig farm, currently utilised by ‘Hardball Bornholm’ as a venue for their military simulation battles. Lookout towers, piles of pallets, barriers, and sandbags were spread amongst the crumbling remains of the farm’s outbuildings. I walked around examining the old barns and equipment, recalling the sounds and smells of the old farm, home to generations of farmers.
From here it was a long drizzly walk through the flatlands between Vestermarie and Rønne, where I paused a while and looked back towards the central forest.
I continued all the way to Blemmelyng – another area of common heathland that had been enclosed and planted with trees in the 1800s. This forest was one of the first areas I got to know after moving to Bornholm, and I wandered around my old running routes, admiring several newly dug ponds and diving for cover every time the rain got too much.
I walked onwards, zigzagging through the woods and working my way back to Nylars church, the evening’s destination. I misjudged the time and the distance and had to rush the last section of the walk, tramping eastwards as an absolutely stunning sunset played out behind me. As I neared the church the heavens exploded into an impossibly complex kaleidoscopic cloudscape of bright orange, salmon pink, yellow gold, electric blue, gunmetal grey, and deep crimson. No pencil, no good brushes, colours missing from my palette, and no time to sit and paint – I swore to myself I would be better prepared next time.
LAND 30
WEATHER REPORT – overcast with rain in the afternoon. Temperature 15 – 19 degrees. Wind 1 – 6 m/s, from the SW. Hours of precipitation: 4 hours. Hours of sunshine: 1 hours.
STOPS with the BIVVY – 1
KILOMETRES WALKED – 19.70 km
DAY LASTED – 16h and 10 m
PEOPLE TALKED TO – 0
BIRDS SEEN and HEARD – 42 species: 0 new = 123 species
LESSONS LEARNED – folded waterproof trousers and a water bottle make a good pillow.
IN MY HEAD – The party, all the intense fun and games of the last three days. Nicotine. Being with the kids as adults – mixed with early memories of exploring this part of Bornholm with the kids when they were still small, and everything was new and exciting.
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