London

I had arranged to meet a friend in London several months ago and booked a cheap advanced train ticket. Unfortunately,  the meeting was cancelled at short notice but I decided to go anyway to take in some tourism that I had not seen for quite some time.

Portrait of East coast power (20 and 35 years of service respectively) or rather....... the end of the line.

In between the pillars of St Pauls

Under a Southwark railway Bridge

Even Boadicea has to pull up at the traffic light

Marriot entrance

A birds eye view

A ride on the ghost train.....

....to the chamber of horrors !!

Time to move on to another famous location, I wonder if he has a sneaky drink of that water when no one's watching, speaking of which, there's not many toilets around here......

.......I wonder if they would mind if I jumped over the Royal fence...........

   ....and use the Queens bathroom !!!

St James' Park

.......where even the squirrels bow.......

......Within view of the great building ....

... heading towards Downing street, a resident prepares a speech.

Household cavalry.  In case of emergency, please ring doorbell.......iron and vacuum cleaner just behind the door...........

Rear Guard !!

......speaking of which, this picture was taken from the viewing stable where there was something to vacuum clean up !!!

A goodbye kiss from London ..........for a while

All to soon, it was time to return for the train but I was recommended by a work colleague to visit the newly refurbished Eurostar terminal in St Pancras station where there was a statue in memory of the poet associated with the railways in the UK and the couple depicted above ..... a much larger scale than i had previously imagined.  It was time to buy a few snacks from the shopping mall downstairs before returning next door into Kings Cross to find my platform for the journey home !!

Walk 3 :- Etal - Ford

After much discussion and debate with one of the fellow walkers, this was finally the walk that was accepted on the basis of a next to no incline and two refreshment stops. The starting point for this north Northumberland walk was at Etal castle car park and the route was originally meant to be six miles long.

Etal is an idyllic Northumberland village consisting of a few different buildings in one street with the most famous building being the Black Bull thatched pub.

Due to my mis-calculation of the speed of traffic on the A697, I cut out half a mile from the first quarter of the walk in order to avoid a rebellion in the ranks and take in a coffee shop at Heatherslaw Mill to keep the group on my side.  The mill is a working museum that makes bakery products for distribution to  local delicatessens and also houses a souvenir / bakery store with a coffee shop upstairs (a bit of incline for my walking group !!). There is a nearby narrow gauge railway just over the river to transport the non walkers to and from Etal. The above picture show some of the party through the mill stone rushing to the coffee shop !

After sustenance, the trekkers  pursue a route through the jungle that doubles as the riverside walk of the River Till in the direction of Ford.....

....with a quick look back at typical countryside from the area

On reaching Ford, a few of the party were quite worried about sitting down on the grass eating sandwiches on the well kept grass. This village has unique architecture with the most famous building being a former school room called Lady Waterford hall. The above photograph is another example of something a bit quirky which housed a glassworks exhibition.

All too soon, after a lunch break and a varied countryside walk, we were nearing the end as we reached the traditional gates of Etal Hall and the re-connection with civilisation.

On entering the main thoroughfare of Etal, Jan's plants are always popular with tourists as something to take home. The local village Hall is noted in the background.

It is sometimes difficult to spot anything out of place in this village as we enter the final refreshment location for the day, there are however, trained specimens who tidy up during and after the guests indulgence !

Dunoon - North East Railtours

Today was never about a railtour but nautical nostalgia when I spent teenage school holidays watching a trio of boats. This particular boat ( MV Jupiter) is the only one left in regular service as the Saturn works a relief summer service to Rothesay and the Juno no longer has a passenger certificate. Interestingly enough, today's boat trip was originally meant to be going to Rothesay, on possibly the Saturn, but the Northern Belle train stole the all day slot in Weymss Bay (Rothesay departure point) forcing the NER organiser to re-arrange another destination at seven days notice. This was Calmac's premier route from Gourock to Dunoon.

Departing from Gourock with a porthole view

Lifeline .... to escape people I was placed next to on the train. ( Some of these trips have seat vacancies  and one of the problems of solo travelling is the people you are thrown together with. One had repetitive conversation & the other .... I still have no idea what they were talking about !!)

The re-routing of the trip gave me the opportunity to view, via zoom lens, the large house (in the trees with the turret on the left) where I stayed in Kilcreggan.

The Firth of Clyde is rather different to what people expect who have never had the opportunity to see it. The view north is to Loch Long and the Arrochar Alps.

...while to the south is the lighthouse at Cloch point through a ship porthole. This particular picture was quite difficult to take as I had to stand well back from the hole to gain maximum zoom of the lighthouse. I had a few staring passengers unable to understand what I was photographing !

On arrival at Dunoon, the sight of greeting was the Castle which houses a museum and was the scene of a wedding today.

Behind the castle, there was a good view south down the west side of the Firth of Clyde.

Highland Mary keeps a watchful eye on the Firth but unfortunately not looking after herself as she wasn't wearing a hat !!

Dunoon Mugs

The shopping centre in Dunoon is nothing to write home about, but ever the eager eye looking for a photo opportunity..... had to resort for something in a mug shop.

Policing the view for a few chips

Dunoon Pier

All too soon, it was time to return from the solitude of the park and return to the MV Jupiter for my very last trip on it and the verbal torture on the train at Gourock.