There and Back

Day one of our holiday dawned with some cloud about, but a promise of sunshine. So today, a visit just along the coast to Bude, another place I have not visited. Bude is Cornwall's most northern town and has been a popular seaside resort from Victorian times. In the l9th Century, the town was notorious for wreckers who plundered ship wrecked off the coast - over 80 vessels in the fifty year up to 1874. Not today, just tourists wrecking the place! Bude has some good surfing beaches and was the site of the first life Saving Club. Today there were a few hardy souls trying to catch the waves. Mind you, I should be impressed by anyone who can surf, as I cannot even swim! Next, some images of the beach huts. I just love the colours. Watching the surfers, and anything else that moved, were these two Ravens. To quote the RSPB site "The raven is a big black bird, a member of the crow family. It is massive - the biggest member of the crow family. It i...

On leaving Bude we drove to Crackington Haven, the nearest bay to our holiday home. Apparently, many surfers tend to prefer the less popular beach of Crackington Haven and yes, they were there as well. And, no, I didn't get a photo! Not a surfer, but Rosey checking her camera! In the background is Cornwall's highest cliff at 735 feet. There is Geocache at the top but my legs went weak at the thought! More rock pools and colourful rock patterns.  Some more history: 'Crackington' is a hybrid of Cornish and English 'Crack' means sandstone in Cornish and 'mutha tun' means river mouth farm in English. Located on part of the 600 mile South West Coast Path, Crackington is situated at the mouth of the picturesque valley which leads to Mineshop. It is of great geological importance with its carvoniferous rocks, which has even been given the name 'the Crackington Formation', for this reason the area has been designated a Site of...

Our first call was to Westward Ho!, neither of us having been here before. The day was dull and damp, so not many pictures but a record of our visit. This town is the only one in the UK with an exclamation mark in the title - due in fact to the author Charles Kingsley writing a book with that title and being honoured with the town being named after his book! Some honour I must say. Why is it that the weather can be downright appalling, and there is still someone on the beach?  I just loved the shape of these roofs on the seafront at Westward Ho! Having decided that Westward Ho! did not warrant too much time, we headed to our next stop of Clovelly - a beautiful village, which is privately owned, and a must on any Cornwall itinerary.  Clovelly has been associated with just three families since the middle of the 13th century, a period of nearly 800 years.Earlier, at the time of Clovelly’s inclusion in the Domesday Book, it was owned by the King; it enjoy...

Still life photography is a genre of photography used for the depiction of inanimate subject matter, typically a small group of objects. It is the application of photography to the still life artistic style. An example is food photography. This genre gives the photographer more leeway in the arrangement of design elements within a composition compared to other photographic genres, such as landscape or portrait photography. Lighting and framing are important aspects of still life photography composition. Still life in painting has a very long history, I believe the Egyptians painted still life scenes in their tombs.  This is not something that I had tried before so a weekend playing with objects to get a picture was at time frustrating and at other times amusing. Here are a few of the results.  (... and its a good book) Time to start swotting! I have Bean canoeing. Time for a cuppa. Times to read the news I am not sure if th...

Most mornings we try to keep up the exercise routine and on this particular morning my walk was along part of Hadleigh railway walk. But, before even stepping out of the door, this little creature came to view. It is an Orange Swift or Triodia sylvina in latin. Photo taken against an almost white background. Having started my walk at this stage, I was entering the wood leading to a footpath that I wanted to follow and took a peek into one of my favourite trees on the route. The sun was just catching the branches and combined with the texture of the trunks, it made an appealing shot. I was pleased with the result. Like two people embracing maybe? After an enjoyable walk I took this unusual signpost at the entrance to the walk. Rather different, I thought. So, a few details of the railway: The Hadleigh Railway was a 7 1⁄2-mile (12.1 km) long single track branch railway line in Suffolk, England that ran from Bentley Junction on the Great Easte...

While out for a walk today (a rather dull morning), I came across these horses chasing around a field and then stopping to engage in what looked like playful activities, before galloping away again. I suppose they are playing as they were watched, and followed by the two horses in the background. Anyway, it made for some good images I thought. Home      Forward      Back