Just photos – no particular theme
Wednesday 19 April: at about 5.20pm, on what had been an unremittingly grey day, the sky cleared – we’re going out to enjoy the sunshine (and very fresh air… It’s not warm) for an hour or so, across the fields to Colemore Green, and back past the fishing pools and Astley Abbotts.
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A minor variation on a regular route – up Scots Lane and down the track past Linley church, visiting the green man on the north wall. The oilseed rape is coming into bloom – we can smell it (and no, ‘scent’ wouldn’t be the right word) as we cross the field to Bould Lane. Further along, the blackthorn blossom is brilliant white against a clear blue sky. It’s a colourful walk today!
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=368020&Y=298345&A=Y&Z=120
Skye: Thursday 6 April (continued): Our last day – and it’s a beautiful Skye day – bright, breezy, blue sea and sky. I’m going for gold – walking from Kilmuir village hall to the Gold Cave, via the Bornesketaig cliff tops. The gold’s all gone, of course. There’s a full moon – the tide is as low as it gets, and at such times the cave can be entered – but I’m on my own (and there’s no-one else about), so the risk of a fall on those slippery rocks is worth avoiding (I’ve been in it before, some years ago). I’ll return along the shore to the Camus More campsite, then back up the reed-lined road. There will be times on the long drive home that I’ll think of this afternoon.
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=137951&Y=871125&A=Y&Z=120
There wasn’t any steam at Chasewater yesterday, but there was plenty today at Blists Hill, with numerous (I didn’t try to count them – they kept moving around) scale model traction engines and similar things chuffing around the ‘Victorian Town’. Great fun!
Just published to Geoff’s Rail Diaries, as account of yesterday’s visit to the Chasewater Railway – with lots of photos. Visit “Chasewater diesels” – now! – if only to find out (a little) more about this unusual machine…
Perhaps best known as a sad but moving Welsh song (Google it!), Myfanwy is also the name of a rather fine (and very stripy) Bagnall diesel locomotive on the Chasewater Railway in Staffordshire. Here she is on the special (!) train provided for members of the Industrial Railway Society, on the occasion of their AGM earlier today. There will be more photos tomorrow…
Skye: Thursday 6 April: a morning outing, down to Uig to collect the newspaper – and an hour or so around the woodlands, visiting the Rha waterfall and revisiting the mossy trees beside the shore. It’s very green and very damp here.
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=139620&Y=863984&A=Y&Z=115
Skye: Wednesday 5 April: I’m wearing my chauffeur’s cap today. “Can you run us into Portree this afternoon, then amuse yourself for an hour or two?”
Not for the first time, I’m wandering with the camera. On a similar outing, last October, I was blessed with a beautiful still morning of blue sky and sunshine. This afternoon, it’s showery – can I dodge the rain? Yes, for a while. Down Bayfield Road, up onto the path around ‘the Lump’, down to the quay, then up to Bosville Terrace. I could perhaps get as far as the Black Rock? No chance – a view from the terrace reveals another shower bowling down from the Cuillins… Back to the car!
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=148113&Y=843469&A=Y&Z=115
Skye: Tuesday 4 April: Brothers’ Point: it’s not a long walk – not much more than two miles to the tip – neither is it a quick walk. The shore is full of interest – a good place to lose an hour or two on a fine day (even if the minibus tours have discovered it). The sign at the top of the path says “We do not recommend that you walk to the point”. Quite – to pass the gendarme and get over the rock tower beyond requires the use of hands as well as feet, but beyond it’s an easy walk to the end, where comfortable rocks provide a good seat from which to enjoy the seascapes. (I should add that it’s also a good place, being low down on Skye’s east coast, to escape from a strong south-westerly wind. The showers are less easy to dodge, but we’ve been lucky this afternoon)
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=152333&Y=862561&A=Y&Z=115
The Ordnance Survey calls it Rubha nam Brathairean. We’ll stick with the name on the display board – it’s shorter…
A teatime walk – same route as yesterday, but anticlockwise. The views are different, and so is the weather: after a showery day, the sky is mostly blue, the air is clear and the sunshine bright. I pause beside the pool to tie a bootlace, foot on the fence, startling a previously-unseen duck. A passing walker asks if I’ve seen what’s below me – no fewer than eight eggs (he’s been watching the spot for a day or two). A very quick snap and we’re on our way – we will look forward to ducklings…
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=367515&Y=298310&A=Y&Z=120
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