Raw Rob: Raw food, wild food & consciousness » Nature

France Photos part 1

Rob — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 21:02:19 +0000

If you’ve been following this blog, you will know that we set off on June 1st in a camper van. Below is an approximate map of wheer we went for the first five weeks of our trip, and below that some photos. From Briançon we went through the mountains over into Italy for a couple of weeks, I’ll put photos and a map of the next sections of the trip up soon.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.


Wimereux, between Calais and Bologne has some interesting buildings.	Wild rocket near Paris!	Gecko in Bourg-en-Bress

We stayed at Chavannes, near Bourg-en-Bress. beautiful campsite by a river and lots of walks in the area.	Driving through the mountains towards Geneva we saw this beautiful lake.	Bright and colourful architecture in Geneva (yes, we popped over the border into Switzerland for a couple of days)

St. Johns Wort flower at a herb garden in Geneva	Stayed in Taninges in the Alps for a few days, it rained a lot but on the nice days we had some beautiful walks

A beautiful lake not far from the campsite.	No rain on our last day in Taninges so we went for a long walk into the forest. Saw all kinds of wildlife and mushrooms (not sure what they were though) plus some fun sculptures.

Wild mushrooms, Taninges.		Chamonix-Mont-Blanc is in the Alps, about 15km from the border with Italy. It was amazingly beautiful…

More photos of Chamonix. We also found the best wild strawberries here.

A final waterfall photo at Chamonix.	Le Petit-Bornand-les-Glières was a random stop on the way to Annecy. Tiny campsite in a sleepy village, very pretty.	In the mountains near Briançon, beautiful area and interesting town with great market and several good organic fruit and veg shops.

Walk by the Rio Ebro

Rob — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:54:12 +0000

Today I walked from Tortosa to Xerta mostly along the Rio Ebro and then back along the Via Verde (green way) which is a dissused railway line which has been converted to a footpath, the roundtrip was about 30km.

Food for the day:

For breakfast I had a mix of sprouted seeds (hemp, sunflower and pumpkin) with soaked goji berries, figs and apricots

Throughout the day I had about 5 kakis, 8 satsumas, a few dates and cacao beans plus an orange and some carob pods I found along the way.

When I got back I had a custard apple and then a large salad with wild greens I picked during the walk, courgette, olives, a tomato, some fresh dulse, sprouted rye and some onion basil and olive cracker.

More photos on Flickr.

Photos from Tarragona

Rob — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:00:09 +0000

I’m currently travelling in Spain and thought I’d post some photos from my trip.

I’m in Tortosa in Tarragona Province and I was very supprised to see Booja Booja raw ice-cream for sale on an organic stall in the market. There were two organic stalls, one with fresh fruit and veg where I got some delicious cherimoyas (custard apples). The fruit here is just divine, eating lots of kakis (persimmon) at the moment. Tomatoes with lots of flavour, so different to the UK!

Edible beech nuts from Epping Forest

Rob — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:13:00 +0000

I was walking in the forest when I heard a pitter-patter sound, like the sound of water dripping from the leaves after it has rained. But it hadn’t rained recently so I stood still and watched to see what was falling. Beech nuts! I’ve seen the empty outer shells before but never the actual nuts – I think the squirrels get them if you’re not quick.

The individual nuts were falling out of the outer shells onto the ground. I picked up a nut and found that unlike most nuts it was very easy to open with my finger nails. The nut looks a bit like a pine nut, and surprisingly it also tasted a bit like a pine nut.

I’ve done a little research and found that beech nuts (also called beechmast) are high in tannins and shouldn’t be eaten in large quantities. Soaking them for 8 hours or more and then rinsing them removes some of the tannins and probably makes them easier to digest.

We opened and then soaked the ones we collected and made pesto with them, not quite as creamy as when made with pine nuts but still delicious.

Edible Wild Flowers – Colour and nutrition for your salad

Rob — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:25:24 +0000

Spring is here, brining with it lots of wild flowers, many of which are edible. Here is a selection I found yesterday. Click on an image to enlarge.

Hawthorn flowers are a good flower to start with, they don’t have a strong flavour. White dead nettles are another easy flower, not too strong and can be quite sweet. They are not related to stinging nettles so they won’t sting you!

Dandelion flowers can be a bit bitter and can take a bit of getting used to, but I like them now. Wild garlic (ramsons) flowers have a delicious sweet garlicky flavour while Jack by the hedge flowers have a stronger flavour – garlic and mustard with a little bitterness.

As always, take care when picking wild food and make sure you are certain about what you are eating.

Spring Flowers

Rob — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:35:03 +0000

The wild garlic (ramsons) is just coming into flower. The leaves are great in salads or made into pesto.

The flowers are delicious, they have a strong garlic flavour with a nice touch of sweetness and creaminess.

Tulips are beautiful, this is taken in Nunhead Cemetery. According to Twinkel’s article in the latest Funky Raw magazine they are edible but somehow they look too good to eat!

I don’t know what this is but it is very pretty. It’s in Peckham Rye Park.

(Click on any photo to enlarge.)

Nature Photos at Brockley & Ladywell Cemetery

Rob — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 13:08:15 +0000

Here are some photos I took about a week ago when the sun was shining. Click on any image to see the larger version.

Spring is here!

Rob — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 23:47:02 +0000

The weather over the weekend was beautiful! I went walking and took these photos:

Spring Flowers

Spain and France

Rob — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 18:35:06 +0000

I’ve been on holiday to Spain and France for a couple of weeks.Â I was half planning to do a bit of a photo blog as I travelled, but I forgot the lead for my camera so couldn’t do that, but it migth have been for the best so I didn’t spend the whole of my holiday on the computer!Â So here are a few of the best shots from my trip.

I started out in Orgiva where I used to live but didn’t really take many photos, so the first couple are in Zaragoza, northern Spain:

This is near Jaca, Spain, which is on the edge of the Pyrenees, I went on a couple of good walks around here:

And this is near where my parents live in south west France:

Brockley Nature Reserve

Rob — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 21:25:12 +0000

There is a nature reserve just round the corner from where I live but it is permenantly closed. Well, until today, when it was open for a couple of hours in the afternoon, so I jumped at the chance to go and have a look. Here are a few photos, click to enlarge: