It was needed – the fields had been looking very dry. It rained all day yesterday, and after a grey start, it rained again today – until mid-afternoon, when the clouds suddenly cleared and the sun came out.
Author: geoffspages
Fort George and the Black Isle
On 28 April 2017, we found ourselves near Inverness, with a couple of spare hours. We drove out to Fort George, where there are fine views across the Moray Firth to the lighthouse at Chanonry Point, and the Black Isle beyond. Heading back towards the city, we spent a few minutes on the road to Alturlie Point, with further panoramic views. A flock of geese passed overhead – then wheeled and headed back the way they’d come. I’m sure they knew where they were going.
Amaryllis
Flowering again in its fourth year.
Before and after dark
27 April 2006: We were due at the Railwayman’s Arms later, but we would try to make the most of the fine evening with a visit to the hill fort at Nordy Bank, on the south-western flanks of Brown Clee. The sunset was interesting, with high clouds like great birds (the beer at the station was, as always, excellent)
Grey day
What a difference, after days of blue skies and warm sunshine! At least it’s dry – we can get our leg-stretch. Tomorrow it’s going to rain…
Day out with a Baldwin
26 April 2014: the Industrial Railway Society’s AGM was to be held at the Leighton Buzzard Railway – and before the meeting, we were to enjoy a ride up the line to check out the railway’s extensive workshops at Stonehenge. The train was hauled by a locomotive built to operate in the war which began 100 years earlier – Baldwin 4-6-0 no. 778 (44656 of 1917). The trip was reported at the time in “Geoff’s Rail Diaries” (see http://geoffspages.co.uk/raildiary/buzzard.htm); here are a few reminders of the rail trip up the line.
Avoncroft
26 April 2009: a visit to the museum of buildings near Bromsgrove, which is much more interesting than it sounds! One of those places we’d intended to go to for several years.
Afterwards, we appear to have driven on to Evesham, where five years and a day after the visit posted yesterday, we had another brief look at the railway. The locomotive in use on this occasion was “John”, built in 1921 for the Rhyl Miniature Railway
Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings
Dudmaston in late April
25 April 2010: It’s a popular National Trust property just the other side of Bridgnorth, and it was looking good on this showery spring day ten years ago. There are all the usual trimmings – quirky clock tower at the entrance, stable block, modern art statuary, rhododendrons and azaleas, lake, dingle… What more could one ask? Ice creams?
Evesham Vale
25 April 2004: It’s a super little 15″ gauge railway, running through fields and orchards beside a retail centre just outside Evesham. I’d read about its development a year or two earlier, and we paid a first visit in June the previous year. The locomotive in use is a 1946-built 4-6-2 “Prince William” – quite a substantial machine.
Red Lane and yellow fields
We’re walking through the grassy mounds around the former Caughley colliery, enjoying (yet again!) the sunshine and the colours in the fields and hedgerows. The soil in the fields beside Red lane provides a clue to its name. In the short damp lane, the bluebells are variable in colour, and the garlic is abundant and pungent!
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