Exploring a quiet peninsula with great views to the Cuillins, the Trotternish ridge and the Isle of Raasay
Author: geoffspages
Rubha Hunish
A walk to the northernmost tip of Skye
Score Horan
A Waternish walk, through forest and across boggy moor to cliffs high above Loch Snizort
Later that day, looking west from Trotternish
Skye Shoreline
Duntulm
Damp and windy…
Staffin
Over the hill to the rocky shore
Portree
“We walked the black rock
And we stopped by the loch”
Camus Mor, Skye
Trotternish tranquillity
North of the border
A selection of snaps, southern Scotland in late July
Steel Sculpture
It’s difficult to know what to expect – bits of scrap metal welded together at random? The “Ironbridge Open Air Museum of Steel Sculpture” (one of the Telegraph’s four best sculpture gardens, as I discovered, with the help of Google, after our visit) definitely contains works that give one that impression (I’m sure they were assembled / constructed / welded / sculpted with care and forethought)…
…or something else entirely? Yes – some works did appear to have been forged in one piece from hot metal, some made clear reference to real things – and some were obviously created by an author with a sense of humour.
The museum is one of those places that we’ve passed many times, thinking “I wonder what that’s all about?” (and possibly coming to the wrong conclusions) and “must go there one day and find out”. It’s somewhat off the beaten track, though barely half-a-mile from Darby’s furnace in Coalbrookdale. There are 79 permanent exhibits, set in steep-sloped woodland and grassy open space. The map provided at admission is a must – the site is a fascinating maze with surprises around every corner, and it would be next-to-impossible to find everything without it. We must have spent nearly two hours there – great fun, worth every penny of the £3 admission charge.
Ironbridge Open Air Museum of Steel Sculpture
Brown Clee
The easy way up – just the thing for a gentle stroll on a warm afternoon. Much of the way uphill is through woodland, providing interest and shade. The return route follows the surfaced road part-way down the old railway incline, until a track through the woods provides a gentler descent
7¼” Standard Gauge
Just published to Geoff’s Rail Diaries, the full account of yesterday’s trip, fully illustrated. Visit “Echills Wood”.
Echills Wood
Standard gauge models…
The Echills Wood Railway is an extensive 7¼” gauge miniature line at the Kingsbury Water Park, about 4 mile south of Tamworth. This weekend, the line would be running exclusively with models of standard gauge prototypes – with all proceeds going to the G&WR’s appeal for funds following their disastrous embankment failures. More to come – soon – on “Geoff’s Rail Diaries” – in the meantime, here’s a taster – rather a nice model of a GNR O1 2-8-0.
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