Abstraction from a train

Another early start, waking at 5.20 and then not being able to get any more sleep before I had to get up at 6.15. I travelled by train to Ely, where I was picked up and driven to Colchester. 

The morning was spent looking at the archaeological management requirements of Gryme’s Dyke, a Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM), which is the most westerly and longest of a number of large linear earthwork dykes at Colchester. Most of the dykes were built in the late Iron Age to define and protect the important settlement centre of Camulodunum (Colchester), though some can be dated to the early Roman period which is probably when Gryme’s Dyke was constructed. The dyke survives for much of its length as an upstanding earthwork and was originally fronted by a ditch on its west side, now mostly infilled. 


Although the earthwork was interesting, I was more fascinated by the large number of pollard and coppiced oaks (see extra), some of which appear to be ancient boundary markers along the edge of the dyke. Interpretation boards are planned, and now at least some of them will address the cultural and historic value of the trees.

I was dropped at Ely station just before sunset, and had to wait half an hour for the train - it was surprisingly chilly! On the way back I took a few quick shots of the Ouse Washes from the train. They're flooded and the series of dark blobs are bushes poking out of the floodwater. I'm not sure whether this counts as an abstract, but it's certainly quite minimalist and captures the open, emptiness of the fens at dusk, with just a couple of tiny lights glimmering in the distance.