Summer Holiday, pt 3

By shendyNo Comments
We had two main stops on the drive back through France. The first was the chateau at Villandry, not far from Tours, which was amazing - huge formal gardens, quite spectacular. The other was a visit to Pegasus Bridge just north of Caen, one of the first places (the first?) liberated on D-Day. As it turned out, the hotel we booked happened to be in the village of Benouville so the bridge was only about 5 minutes walk away....
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Aust

By shendyNo Comments
On the way back from Tintern, I fancied trying to get some decent photos of one or other of the Severn Bridges. I ended up parked just near the old ferry at Aust - and what a fantastic location is it! Distant views of the second Severn Bridge over grassy fields, the old ramps for the ferry, the big electricity pylon and the first bridge - superb. Somewhere to return to with the large format camera when it arrives. The pylon with flat light could be Bernd & Hilla Becher-esque....
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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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