Flat Holm

By shendyNo Comments
I went to Flat Holm today - an island in the Bristol Channel for those that don't know.  There are some fairly interesting Victorian gun emplacements, and it's particularly notable for a substantial colony of aggressive seagulls that will dive-bomb you with poo if you get too close to their nests and chicks. Couldn't have asked for a better day - the hottest day of the year so far, and completely calm for the crossing. The boat goes from Penarth, just by the Cardiff Bay barrage - this is the counterweight for one of the bridges. As seen previously, I'm always a sucker for lighthouses, and this one came with a nice rusty gun as well. This one was taken from down in one of the old gun emplacements A load of the flying crap factories. I didn't get pooed on fortunately, but it was close a couple of times. Next month I'm going to Steep Holm, which is nearby and apparently steeper than Flat Holm....
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Elan Valley

By shendyNo Comments
We finished off our trip to the sunny delights of North Wales by driving down through the Elan Valley - a series of dams and reservoirs built to provide water for Birmingham. SWMBO was trying to convince me that the feral sheep of the Elan Valley were meat eaters. Mind you, this one was staring at me for quite some time. This tower is apparently the point where water is extracted for Birmingham. There was a real temptation to add my own personal donation......
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Tyntesfield

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In lieu of a "proper" summer holiday this year, I had a couple of weeks off and we pottered about a bit. We had a week in Wales (pics to follow), but started off with a visit to Tyntesfield The National Trust have done a massive amount of restoration since they acquired the property in 2002, and the whole building is currently covered in a mass of scaffolding. Interestingly, they've built a viewing platform, so you can actually go up and see what's going on. It's fascinating to be able to look out over the roof! The garden had an excellent array of flowers in bloom, so out came the Panasonic compact camera in macro mode. I'm told they're dahlias. To me, the natural world consists of lilies, roses, tulips and "flowers"....
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Beckford’s Tower

By shendyNo Comments
Just before going to photograph a rugby match (see next post), I stopped off at Beckford's Tower on the edge of Bath. Far easier to climb up than Alfred's Tower at Stourhead - apparently Beckford built it when he was in his 60s, so that might explain why it's so much wider and less steep! The views from the top weren't anything to write home about, but I did quite like the spiral stairs....
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