I see Middle-earth

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Hookbill the Goomba

Appropriately, there are some nice hills around the Parbold area (where I live) that were, a while back, covered in mist and fog. My first thought? "Hmm its misty." But my second was far more interesting, "WOW! Fog on the Barrow Downs!"
I would have taken pictures but I didn't have one to hand at the time. But ever I will wait for the time of the misting upon the hills!

Also, there is a restaurant in the near by town of Wigan, called, "The Morgul Tandori" I wonder what kind of food you get there? Orc burgers?

In Wigan? Meat & Tater Pie Vindaloo, no doubt.

Just be careful not to go on Croston Moss at night when it's foggy because that's when the White Lady goes a-walking and she's an omen of doom!

[alatar]

Finally the weather is beginning to stabilize. Sure, the temperature has changed 50 degrees Fahrenheit in one day, but you take what you get, and the trend is lending to warmth and even somewhat dry (or less wet). Anyway, so this weekend I took the kids for a hike, our first one of the season, and for some reason Tolkien was on the mind.

With four small kids, it was if I were Aragorn with the four hobbits, size-wise (though I always tend to think more of myself as Gandalf). A ways into the woods a little stream fed an even smaller waterfall, yet the sound was pleasant, and I was reminded of the FotR and Nimrodel. We walked up a hill after hopping two muddy streams (no, I was not reminded of PJ's bridge scene), and after a small rest at the top (hills are mountains to little legs), we found a BMX track that some teenagers (teenagers can at times be like orcs) constructed within the wood.

They must have spent many hours making the sharp "^-shaped" mounds, and they made a circuit that my kids thought of as one big dirt obstacle course. Again, being taller, I could hop from ^-top to ^-top, and then it came to me that this is how Tom must feel, sans yellow boots. Within the circuit was a burnt trunk of a hollowed tree, and it may have been able to house one to two of my kids.

Waiting for the kids to assemble that we might begin our journey home, I looked down below where I stood into a scooped out hollow and there were four white barked trees, not together, but near each other. I couldn't decide whether they were ents or scions of Celeborn.

[Nerwen]

There's a lot of places in South-west Victoria that I think look rather Middle-earth-ish. Here's a couple.

One of these is the view from a hill near my family's house. I forget exactly where the other was taken.

[Mithalwen]

*sighs* part of my heart will belong in Victoria forever ......

The great ocean road could be part of ME's coastline surely .. and I remember being taking to Gippsland and finding it looked very "familiar".

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

The great ocean road could be part of ME's coastline surely.

I've always thought so– and now I've actually managed to find some seascapes that don't have me in front of them (my mother's the family photographer, and, well, she thinks a lot of me...)

These places have definitely influenced the way I picture Middle-earth.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

That last photo of the coastline reminds me of a coast in Odsherrede (herred(e) being the Danish version of (The)Shire), unfortunately I did not have my camera with me when i was there last time. . . and the sky was ever so enchanting !

[Selmo]

I live close to the quiet fields and little rivers of The Shire on one side and to Mordor on the other.

My home area once had very dirty industies: coal and iron mining, iron smelting and steel making, pottery and brick manufacture. The mining and iron works have now gone and the ceramics industry uses cleaner energy for its kilns.
The desolation caused by pollution and coal waste and slag heaps is begining to green over, sometimes naturally and sometimes with the help of mankind. It will be many, many years before the clean-up is finished but I like to think of my home town as Mordor recovering after the fall of Barad Dur.
.

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Nerwen

I've always thought so– and now I've actually managed to find some seascapes that don't have me in front of them (my mother's the family photographer, and, well, she thinks a lot of me...)

These places have definitely influenced the way I picture Middle-earth.

Langstrand on the Gondor coast I'd say - I think Lindon needs the Celtic bluish greh stone of Brittany or Cornwall ... hmm must see if I can scan some pictures in - I am still using film and besides when I was in Aus the first time there was no alternative...

[Aganzir]

When Brinniel was in Finland a couple of weeks ago, we showed her around Helsinki, and to our surprise discovered also new things about places we have known for long. The following pictures were taken by Volo in Suomenlinna, a sea fortress just off Helsinki.

The Barrow-downs
The Barrow-Downs II
The Dead Marshes
Orc-tunnels in the Misty Mountains (originally we thought them to be Moria, but then I was luckily helped to realise that they're most definitely not made by dwarves)
Orc-tunnels in the Misty Mountains II