Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Early summer evening, Finsbury Park

Returning from the shop to my bike, locked by the park gates, the rear tyre utterly deflated (and neither patches nor pump in my rucksack) I had no choice but to wheel it back home. At least I could go through the park. And for once I had no need of an excuse to take my time.

As I skirted the temporary fence, taking the slender path that hugs the trackside bushes, I looked up to see delicate white threads adorning the early evening sky:

A quick Google revealed these were cirrus clouds, formed of high threads of crystallising water vapour. As I stared, I noticed a dash of primary colours, like a mini-rainbow - an "ice halo", created by the refraction of the sun's rays through the vapour:

Pushing my bike slowly up the hill, I found striking new vistas at each turn:

At the top of the hill, by the algae-coated lake, sun-nourished lythrum reached for the white-flecked sky..

While even the humble horse chestnut, soaking up the last of the rays, glowed with the promise of the spiky harvest to come:

Then, descending bare foot the lush slopes on the Harringay side of the park, I stopped in the verdant shade of a sun-shielding sycamore.

and then at last emerged by the river, the evening shadows now growing and the tall trees framing the setting sun.

And so onto Green Lanes, and then home. Thanks to a small stone, or a nail - tomorrow I shall look and see, and perhaps find out - I saw things that would have otherwise passed me by.

So, perhaps, the old saying is true: every cloud has a silver lining...

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Permalink Reply by Sharon on June 26, 2014 at 10:16

Absolutely beautiful. Thanks for sharing :-)

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Permalink Reply by james walsh on June 26, 2014 at 12:48

I also watched this spectacular sky show on a train from finsbury park to Letchworth. I was so engrossed i missed my connection and had to wait for 40 mins on the deserted Arlesey train platform to wait for a taxi to Letchworth. But i didn't mind because i had some beer in my knapsack (on my way to watch football at my nephews) so i sat and watched the 'ice particle rainbows' in the big bedfordshire sky nursing a beer and smoking a roll up. i was a bit disapointed when the taxi showed up to take me away... .. .