autofantasia's photos with the keyword: icy

Taken for this week's Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of ice . Lyke Wake Walk? No, not some weird riddle, but the name given to a forty-mile crossing of the North York Moors. The walk, which stretches between the villages of Osmotherley in the west and Ravenscar near the east coast, basically follows the line of the watershed across the moors at its widest point and at the beginning of the route, only a few yards from Cod Beck Reservoir, stands this impressive stone marker. The hint that there may be something unusual about this walk though comes from the name: lyke means corpse while wake is the act of watching over it . So in effect the Lyke Wake Walk commemorates the practice (long since abandoned) of literally carrying the bodies of the dead from various points of the moor to their final resting places. There is no official route and so those attempting the crossing are apparently at liberty to choose their own way between the start and finish points. The aim of most people undertaking the walk is to complete it within 24 hours so that they then qualify for admission to the Lyke Wake Club . Those that achieve this are then also allowed to declare themselves either a dirger (men) or a witch (women). Oh, and just in case you're wondering, yes some walkers immerse themselves in the traditions and not only dress as undertakers, but some even carry a coffin too albeit an empty one! It was actually the late Bill Cowley who originated the concept of the walk when he published an open challenge in the Dalesman magazine way back in August 1955 to cross the moors on foot from West to East within 24 hours. At noon on 1st October that year, 11 men and 3 women set out to perform a crossing reaching Ravenscar around 10.30 the next day and so the Lyke Wake Club was born. The moors ... they do funny things to you at times!

A 'nearly ran' for the recent Sunday Challenge in which we were asked to all work with the same photograph. The original image was entitled simply Snowman Christmas and was created by UNKWinc over on Deviant Art . A copy of their image can be found in the Notes on the top left-hand corner of my interpretation.

An unusual week for those involved with The Sunday Challenge : quite possibly the maddest, baddest, craziest, and friendliest group on ipernity. Instead of being given a theme and then having to take a photograph to accompany it we were given an image produced by someone else and told to "do your magic however you see fit" . That said, it wasn't a challenge intended to just see who could work the old sliders best. For those not involved with TSC and to give credit to the person who produced the initial image I've inserted a copy of it in the Notes: top right-hand corner. Entitled simply Snowman Christmas it was created by UNKWinc over on Deviant Art . Initially I thought of using it as the basis for some sort of Christmas card. Then I thought of an orb, but I felt that would perhaps lose too much of the original image, before settling on the idea of trying to create a snowglobe. EDIT: 15/12/2014: I've been asked by a couple of folks how I produced this image so I've cobbled together an article, which I think gives enough information for anyone who isn't practised in working with layers etc to have a go at making their own snowglobe: The Making Of A Snowglobe On Ice …