Monday, April 30, 2007

Coast & Cornwall Day 3 - Teignmouth & Heligan

Lots more driving today, from Weymouth to St. Austell. I did a little detour for lunch in Teignmouth and found a pleasant little town with a picturesque bay:

[Rowing Boats beached in Teignmouth Bay]

It was late afternoon by the time I arrived in St. Austell, and I was in need of a cuppa and a cream tea - so headed to the Lost Gardens of Heligan just in time for last entry at 4:30pm. Having fortified myself with tea and scones, I pottered around the North Gardens until they were turning folks out at six.

[Black velvet tulips in Heligan]

As well as the cultivated flowers, I found some natural visitors:

[A Red Admiral perches on an Azalea bloom]

It's off to The Eden Project tomorrow, so expect a few more flora and fauna shots. The internet connections have been a bit flakey, so not sure when I'll be able to post the next day's stuff, but I'll do my best.

See a few more photos from today in my Flickrstream.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Coast & Cornwall Day 2 - Durdle Door & Swanage

The weather was a little hazy again today but I did manage to get some quite nice shots. I decided to visit the Purbeck Jurassic Coast today, and started off at the picturesque Durdle Door:

[The cliff top approach to Durdle Door]

After a couple of hours scrambling up and down the cliffs, I headed off to Norden Station to catch the Swanage Railway to Swanage for the afternoon:

[Changing the header board at Swanage Station]

The ride from Norden is a pleasant one, and takes about half an hour. The train drops you right in the centre of Swanage and after finding some lunch, I went for a potter around the bay. Folks were out enjoying the beach, pier, diving, fishing, rowing etc. Here's one guy setting off for a paddle around the bay:

[Captain Carolina heads off for a paddle]

To round off the day, I drove up to Studland Head where the South West Coast Path starts - all 630 miles of it - to Minehead:

[Fancy a walk?]

I'm being rather lazy and doing my coastal tour in the car!

See a few more photos from today in my Flickrstream.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Coast & Cornwall Day 1 - Chesil Beach

Off On My Hols
I've taken myself off to the south coast and Cornwall for a photographic trip, and will be blogging my best photos as I'm going along. I spent quite a while driving today, stopping off in Dorchester on the way during the afternoon. But unfortunately, I didn't feel very inspired by the town, and so made my way to Chesil Beach (it's a long drive so I'm breaking the journey at Weymouth). The weather wasn't great for photos - weak, hazy sunshine (I was hoping for blue skies), so I took a few pictures of things I found on the beach. Here are a few examples:

[Hazy Horizon at Chesil Beach - it's in there somewhere!]

[A clump of pink flowers surrounded by pebbles]

[Discarded feather amongst the stones]

See a few more photos from today in my Flickrstream.