dinsdag 18 december 2012

Climbing the Waterfall of Bindbole

In the north of the Shire there are two great waterfalls, right after each other. This lovely landscape is worth to investigate and a trip to the highest waterfall is a real adventure!

Today i was accompanied by a you traveller, called Ulis, and we gathered near the ruin of Bindbole.


The ruin of Bindbole
The ruin of Bindbole is easy accessible and if you go from that point to the east, you will encounter after some minutes a lovely stream with two waterfalls.

At the foot of the waterfall of Bindbole

 Somewhere at the waterfall of Bindbole you can climb the rocks and you will end up above the waterfall. First we decided to go west, just to view our starting point at the ruin of Bindbole Wood. Its a beautiful place and from a distance it looks like an old temple from the past. Its sad to see such a splendid building of the past in total ruin. But alas, time flies, they say... And that time kills everything in the end, is clearly visible at the Bindbole ruin.

Bindbole ruin from a distance


If you are fond of ruins you can even travel some miles to west and - west of Bindbole Ruins - you will encounter a much smaller ruin, sitting on the edge of a rock-wall. Only daredevil's can reach that tiny ruin, and it is a hazardous climb to reach that high and desolate spot. Its a round stone circle, with three broken pillars, and you can find it near a spider invested grove called Lobs' Grove. I never found any spiders there, but the sight above Lobs Grove looks awfully sticky!


The ruin near Lobs Grove, west of the Bindbole forest ruin

 
Ah well, time to go east again. Let's not be distracted by some old stone circle near the spider's grove, let's go to Bindbole's waterfall!



First you have to cross the river and climb the wall, as seen in this picture here. After that you can climb the whole perimeter encircling Bindbole forest, Goblins Grove and even  a peek at Brockenborings in the Greenfields!




At the top of the stony rim you have a beautiful view towards Bindbole Woord. The river was wriggling like a silver snake through the pine-forest, and if you follow that direction you can even get a glimpse of Rushock Bog. Its a really impressive sight from high above.

The two waterfalls flow to the west, right trough Bindbole Wood

If you go to the west again you can travel the whole northern mountain-ridge, which is keeping the Shire away from the haunting ruins of Evendim. Alas, you cannot cross this rim, due to an invisible wall. But, with some determination you can travel to the Pinglade Dourhand Camp, jump over the wooden palisade and go right to Needlehole. The only disadvantage is, that you can only travel a small strip of the rocky hill. The whole norther mountain range is shielded massively by lots of invisible walls.If someone can sneak past these walls, keep me informed!


Looking towards Bindbole Wood with a silverwhite river
The eastern edge of Rushock Bog, seen from above
Rushock Bog seen from the hills of Evendim



A curious evil dwarf settlement called Pinglade


Needlehole bridge, end of our voyage to the west!




maandag 17 december 2012

Iceberg hopping in Forochel

Forochel is a wonderful place. Some people don't like it there, but as a seasonal visitor of the high north I really appreciate Forochel a lot. The fantastic white landscape, crisp skies and a frozen nose. The occasional trumpet of a mammoth and the Aurora Borealis are the most exotic things to experience there.

Northern lights or Aurora Borealis in Forochel

In Suri-Kyla there is a curious black and triangular shaped iceberg. If you ever wanna explore that thing, I can say that nothing is impossible. If you are level 70 or 75 swimming to that iceberg is easy. If you are of a lower level you need some food for continous morale regeneration.

The black triangular iceberg at Suri-Kyla

The first thing you have to do is to swim to the nearest flat ice-shelve. After that you have to wait to regenerate your morale and then take the swim to the black triangular. Don't be too eager, since at a certain line there is a deadly invisible wall. If you pass that line, you will be killed instantly, alas. So, I have to do that swimming trip all over again and again. Unfortunately the whole ice-sea at Forochel is guarded by a deadly invisible wall. But some iceberg and ice-shelves can be reached. Have fun to find out.

Reaching the first ice-shelve, black iceberg ahead!

Entering the ice-shelve of the black iceberg

Another funny trip, is a ride to Kuru-Leiri. If you follow the seashore to the east, or rather the icy perimeter, you will find a nice white ice-bridge. That bridge is more beautiful than the ice-bridge at Suri-Kyla, and its worth a trip to visit it

The white ice-bridge at Kuru-Leiri



Just before the ice-bridge there are two white pointed icebergs. Its very easy to swim to these icebergs and you can even climb to the summits of them. Have a friend with you to take some pictures, since it is a awesome sight to see a tiny adventurer on a huge iceberg. And if you swim through the deadly cold water, don't forget to look down at the base of an iceberg. Its really true that you can see only 1/10th of them above the surface!

Climbing an iceberg with Raynah. If you look carefully, you can see me on the right one!



Both icebergs near the ice-bridge can be climbed. Do you see me?


View from an iceberg: a ghostly ship ahead