Over the years

On 15 Apr 2020 By geoffspagesIn PhotographyLeave a comment

A bit of a miscellany – photos taken on 15 April:
2003 – arrival at dawn in St Malo, for a week in Brittany
2004 – a trip to Rudyard Lake in Staffordshire, for a ride on the little railway, a visit to Brindley’s water mill in Leek – and, of course, oatcakes
2009 – leaving Inveraray, crossing the Firth of Clyde from Dunoon and heading for home
2010 – remember Eyjafjallajökull? That’s the Icelandic volcano whose plume of ash distrupted air traffic for a time – and provided some unusual sunsets closer to home

Ironbridge: a spring evening

On 14 Apr 2020 By geoffspagesIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Ten years ago… 14 April 2010: just the kind of thing we’d be doing today, if we could. The bridge was a different colour, and there were still cooling towers at the power station.

Skye arrival and departure – ten years apart

On 14 Apr 2020 By geoffspagesIn Photography, SkyeLeave a comment

On this evening, a year ago, we arrived on Skye. Ten years earlier, on 14 April 2009, we left, for a leisurely drive home – taking the ferry from Armadale to Mallaig, then driving down as far as Inveraray for an overnight stay. Look what’s tied up at the pier – it’s the Vital Spark! Para Handy’s in town!

14 April 2019 - a quiet evening at Kilmuir

14 April 2009 - the Coruisk arrives at Armadale

Stretching them

On 14 Apr 2020 By geoffspagesIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Got to keep the legs moving! We’re following one of our usual somewhat-limited routes, this time past the remains of ancient coal pits, which have been reduced over time to grassy humps in the fields. Spring continues to progress – new leaves, flowers and blossom everywhere. An early bluebell is coming into bloom, and the wild garlic flowers will soon be filling the air with their aroma. I haven’t brought a real camera with me – the phone will have to do…

Àird and Hebridean Princess

On 13 Apr 2020 By geoffspagesIn Photography, SkyeLeave a comment

13 April 2009: still on Skye, taking a trip down to the Braes area south of Portree, for a walk onto the Àird peninsula. As we approach Portree on our return journey, there’s an interesting-looking vessel in the harbour, worth a closer look. It’s “Hebridean Princess”, a small cruise ship which started life as MacBrayne’s “Columba”, operating out of Oban.

13 April 2020: Stretching our legs, we pass fields where seed was being drilled just a couple of weeks ago. Today, those same fields are greening rapidly.

12 April – 2007 and 2009

On 12 Apr 2020 By geoffspagesIn NT and EH, Photography, SkyeLeave a comment

2007: A day trip to north Wales. We thought we ought to visit Llandudno, for a trip on the cable-hauled Great Orme tramway (taking the tram up, then walking back down again). While we were up, so to speak, we thought we could go down the mine – the remarkable bronze-age copper mine, all the more noteworthy for being open to the public. We finished our day with a brief visit to Penrhyn Castle, where we just had time to look at the wonderful collection of ancient industrial steam locomotives.

2009: Another great Skye day, with an outing to the coral beach beyond Dunvegan. Later in the day, a clear sunny evening was perfect for a walk along the road to enjoy the warm light and the sunset behind the Western Isles.

Now and then

On 11 Apr 2020 By geoffspagesIn Photography, SkyeLeave a comment

More “on this day”… Today, on a warm and sunny afternoon, we’ve had a pleasant short leg-stretch, walking from home. On 11 April 2017, I enjoyed a walk with a friend, beside the canal at Audlem. Eight years earlier (11/4/09), we’d arrived on Skye, and visited Rubha nam Brathairean, an attractive little rocky spur on the east coast of Trotternish. It was quiet then, but in recent years the minibus tours have found it, and we were greatly outnumbered last time we visited. I suspect it’s as quiet today as it was in 2009 – if not quieter.

On the same theme

On 10 Apr 2020 By geoffspagesIn Photography, Railways...Leave a comment

After posting “Nine years later”, I browsed further back through the archives and found that 10 April 2009 was a pretty good day too. We’d stayed overnight in Edinburgh, and were driving up to Skye. We visited the Falkirk Wheel on our way, then, as we drove up the A9 near Gleneagles, discovered that a steam-hauled special was due imminently – the “Great Britain II” railtour, on its way to Inverness. The latter appeared on the blog at the time, but the Wheel didn’t.

Falkirk Wheel

Nine years later

On 10 Apr 2020 By geoffspagesIn NT and EH, PhotographyLeave a comment

On 10 April 2011, we visited the “Victorian Town” at Blists Hill – another little outing that never made it to the blog. As well as the usual attractions, there was a visiting troupe of red-coated soldiers, who seemed far to ancient to be much military use.

Blists Hill Victorian Town

On this day…

On 09 Apr 2020 By geoffspagesIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Not everything appears on the blog, for all kinds of reasons. On 9 April 2017, we enjoyed a trip to Shrewsbury, primarily to visit the pumping engines at Coleham, in steam and open to the public. Out the back, there are railways – small and very small! – and a fine view of the English Bridge. Before we left home, I appear to have taken some photographs of tulips – someone gave us the bulbs the previous autumn. After the pumping engines, we visited the Quarry garden – more tulips! – and returned to the car through the centre of Shrewsbury. We passed over the railway station on the Dana, which offers a good view of the Buttermarket – a former canal-age warehouse. Now serving as an “entertainment venue”, it was gleaming under recently-applied white paint.

Coleham Pumping Station