Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities. Although the Georgian New town is lovely it is really the Old town that I like (They are both UNESCO world heritage sites). The only problem is, in the summer, the tourists and, all year-round, the weather. It is nice sometimes in Edinburgh (I know this must be true because I've seen pictures) but it always seems to be grey and overcast when we are there: No matter what time of year!
Victoria Street which leads (kind of) from the High Street down to the Grass Market is one of the most picturesque parts of the city. This HDR shot of it gives an idea of the colour and interest that all of the independent shops give. It's a real shame that these only now seem to cater to the richer tourist rather than have quirky stuff the average local may want to buy (which it used to, at least that's how I remember it).
The old town seems to be full of dark little alley ways and closes and appears to be a real hotchpotch of chimneys, spires and roofs (had to check the plural and apparently rooves, which I prefer, is so unusual to not be considered standard!) on the skyline. J.K. Rowling lived in Edinburgh and, I think, one can clearly see some of the descriptions of places like Diagon Alley and some of the homes of dark witches and wizards in her books in Edinburgh's Old Town.
As pretty much everyone knows, Edinburgh used to be known as Auld Reekie, because of the smoke and soot from all the chimneys. This is the look I've been trying for in these black and white shots of it. That, plus the dull weather puts pay to colourful shots of buskers on the mile or anything for that matter.
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One of my favourite travel blogs is the travel past 50 site travelpast50.com/. Aside from the fact that its written by people from an atypical demographic to the average bloggers (This means it's a little more thoughtful and is generally better written) they are happy to return to a subject or place again and again. Walking the walls of Berwick always seems to offer something new. Each combination of tide, time and weather seem to offer a new view. So, with that in mind, here are some more shots of my old friends the Bridges of Berwick. These were taken with my phone rather than camera and, believe it not, we had been to Tesco's late in the afternoon and there was a hail storm. I particularly like the blueness of the water in these pictures. There is almost no post production processing. A little bit of curves just to make it 'pop' and straightening the horizon on the Royal Border Bridge shot.
This is what comes of reading too much Nigel Tranter novels! Ooh! Lets go there! On this occasion it was a good call though. This was a top morning out. If you've got a car and are in Edinburgh on a nice day then the 20 minute drive (or train) out of the city to North Berwick is just the ticket! Its as windy as: Even on a beautiful summer's day like this one and not overly warm, exposed as one is here.
Tantallon Castle is the ruins of a 14th century fortress on the East Coast of Scotland and was the historic base of the Red branch of the Douglas clan (The Earls of Angus). Although there were fortresses on this site since at least the 1200s.
When I lived in Burnmouth for a year, this was an occasional (read long) walk along the coast from our house. We then had the problem of the return journey, plus the weather had to be spectacularly good to walk along that coastal path and enjoy it: Hence only the occasional. I had forgotten just how amazing the views of Coldingham from St. Abb's Nature reserve are.
They are a fairly iconic part of Berwick; the three bridges. This is taken from the site of the Castle on a glorious summer's day. Yes, we do have them! From l2r: Old bridge, New bridge and Royal Border bridge.
The old Bridge was the traditional way in and out of the town towards the South and dates from James I's reign: It was completed in 1608. Presumably before this you crossed either by boat or much further up stream.
Then, the Royal Border bridge was built for the trains when they came along. This was when they knocked the castle down to make room for the station in 1850. Perhaps not the greatest decision ever made,. The bridge was was designed by Robert (George's son) Stephenson and opened by little Vicky. Its now a grade 1 listed structure.
Back way back when, I used to come to Melrose at least once a year with a party of school children, I've played rugby there (and won!), driven through and round it numerous times but never really looked at the Abbey apart from in passing.
High time to put that right. It is quite a significant monument in Scottish history. Several Kings are buried there, but it is probably most famous for being the burial site of Robert the Bruce's heart; the rest of him is buried in Dunfermline Abbey. The heart is thought to have been bought back from the Crusades to be buried there, which is more than a bit odd! However, it was 6 (yes SIX!) pounds to go in to look around. Its some ruins in a field! How can they justify that much (see Stonehenge too)? They are ruins! By definition there's no up-keep. A bit of mowing perhaps to keep the grounds looking half decent but I can't see where the money goes. Needless to say I was too tight to pay. I thought it was just my usual meanness but the week after we went friends were moaning about the same thing. They had the same solution too. If you walk to the right of the Abbey there is a little path that allows you to see pretty much everything you could see from inside the fence but, maybe, from 10 metres further away.
One of the things about Northumberland, and Berwickshire on the other side of the border, are the number of castles. There's a good reason for this of course, in that both sides liked a day out to raid, fight and nick each other's cattle and women. Plus ca change!
One of my favourite ruins is Dunstanburgh castle; a short walk along from the sleepy fishing village of Craster. It dates from the 14th century (about 1313) and was built by the Earl of Lancaster. He was a rival to Edward II and it was probably meant as a safe refuge, if things went too badly wrong in the south. It was also, of course, a monument to his wealth and power. A wise move really, as he only visited it once before his capture after a battle and subsequent execution! It then passed into the hands of the crown (or at least the Royal family) for a couple of centuries at least.
Well, it's been a while!
We bought a house back in the UK where we both used to work and are now busy showing the children the sights of the North East of England, when we can drag them away from the wifi. There will some evidence of nice weather in future posts, but I have to say it is really cold on the coast here after Bangkok! The weather has been a bit hit and miss. We have had some fabulous days and some absolute shocking weather too. The rain has meant that one needed to be creative to take interesting shots on some days. We've had some shocking weather of late. It has either been pouring down, or when it isn't actually raining the humidity because of the rain has been terrible. So, all in all I've not been out and about with the camera much of late. However, I have been trawling through old pictures and re-editing them. I saw some really nice, high contrast, black and white rhinos on instagram and that is what I was (originally) trying to go for. I definitely have a favourite. First up is the original edit... and then the Black & White version. It's fairly close to the effect I was after. BUT, is the third one nicer? ... and then one with a warmer look. Then, a more sun faded/vintage look....
Friends of mine who took 'gapyahs' (to be fair none of them are gap-yah people.) after finishing university went to Koh Chang. No roads, no electricity, just some bloke with a boat who dropped you off on a sandy beach. We decided that we wanted a short break on one of the islands but hated the idea of Phuket and the like. In the end this seemed to be right up our soi.
A bit of diving, a bit of beach, a bit of pool-lounging, eating, a cheeky beer or two and doing nothing much at all. Not our normal trip but, variety is the spice and all that.
This end of the island used to be a fishing village. Most of the new buildings are built on stilts going out into the bay which makes it look lovely. You also feel that the verdant mountains are right on top of one. You can also enjoy your well earned beer looking down through a glass table-top and a hole in the floor straight into the sea, which is a little odd. Relaxing, but odd!
When we lived in Taiwan, on one of the telly Travel channels there used to be an advert they would run again and again and again. It told the story of travelers who turned up in a village in the arse-end of nowhere, realised they were lost and were desperate to get back on the road again. Only, of course, there was no transport for a day or two. They then slowly realised that being lost, or at least not where you wanted to be is what travel is about. I think the tag line was something like 'you can't find yourself until you're lost'. What a load of hippy-dippy baloney, is my usual view of that. I have to say I like things planned. That doesn't mean no flexibility but I enjoy planning a trip and like to know what is going to happen next.
Planning it is half the fun. Although, if that were actually true, then I should plan two trips, have the same amount of enjoyment and save a fortune. But you know what I mean. However, on occasion, I can be proven wrong about this and we stumble upon (or get pushed into) a hidden gem. We were off out for the day from our Air BnB week to, I think, Galle for the day. About 10 minutes into the journey our driver turns off the main road and up a hill, round a corner, up a bit, down a bit and round a few more corners. When he eventually stops he proudly tells that this is the temple of his own village. Just a short post this time, you might be glad to hear. This was the only kingfisher we saw. Last time, they were two-a-penny. And, this was the only decent shot of that. Not as impressive coloring as their more common cousin.
These are magnificent little birds. You see them all over the south of Sri Lanka. This first one was taken in Yala NP. Their feathers are so fine they look like hairs.
As I've said before, this is one of my favourite things to see in Bangkok. This time it was a school trip (To find out about the costs and benefits of tourism, if you're interested.). We were supposed to go to the Grand Palace but it was felt that it would be absolutely rammed (correctly) so this was the substitute.
Although you don't always go exactly where I would have chosen (been here before so somewhere new for preference), it does mean I get to go to some cool places. I didn't even have the hassle of having to organise this one. Nor is it just a jolly, however, please note. There is a proper educational purpose to the trips and you are legally responsible for a bunch of teenagers. So, all the jokes about counting people and nagging about seatbelts do have a purpose. Having said that, it doesn't mean that it isn't a pleasant change either. These are just a few shots taken with my phone. Their purpose was to back-up the evidence the students were collecting on tourism, but a bunch of photos of scruffy 15 year olds huddled over clip-boards wasn't that exciting to be honest. These were part of a troop of monkeys. In fact they are Grey Languer Monkeys. The picture above looks like the baby, especially, has been superimposed but that was how it was shot. This baby was allowed to play but Mum (presumably, mum) kept a close eye on it.
On the way back from one of the safaris in Sri Lanka, the driver pulled off the main road and stopped in front of tree that was full, and I do mean full, of sleeping bats. All hanging upside down as they do on the telly. And again, but this time a bit closer through the zoom. They are much bigger than I thought they would be.
I feel this should be a longer post because it was an amazing sight but there isn't really much else to say. But it was pretty cool!
We were encouraged by several people to climb up the hill and have a beer at Helga's folly. It is a hotel cum bar high above Kandy. It's a short but steep climb up from the lake side but a nice walk. The eponymous Helga knew lots of famous people and the walls are covered in their pictures and, the whole place in general, with the endless crap that was collected.
The guidebooks very definitely say it's seen better days and it's a bit past its best but worth seeing as you won't find owt else like it. True! It is one of the strangest places, I think, we have ever visited. I thought it looked like a VIth Form Common room, when the Ho6 has said: 'Yes, of course you can decorate it so long as you do it all.' A bit gothic and just weird.
This place was really amazing.... AND free!
I think for most people this is a day trip from Kandy but we stopped on the way down from a disappointing few days t'up North. It might have been the weather which was atrocious, or the fact that I constantly felt I was being ripped off and seeing nothing much in return. This was much better, partly at least because the sun came out. It is a steep climb up to the cave. The guidebooks are a bit sniffy about the huge Buddha at the bottom of the hill. It is huge and it does look plastic. However, once you've climbed up its like nothing else I've seen. There is a danger of over-egging the pudding but I like eggy puddings. So, therefore here are some more bird shots from Bundala.
This time the pelican. Again, a bird that isn't going to win too many design awards: So much so it looks like it can't possibly actually work effectively. It got to the point in Bundala where we didn't even bother slowing down for peacocks. They were two-a-penny. In fact, we barely paused for the tail fan-dance, thing. Quite a turnaround as 40 minutes earlier I hadn't ever seen a peacock with its tail up. I have to say it wasn't our decision to drive on but the guides. This boy put on a bit of a show for us. He was spinning round showing his tail in all its glory. Never did get a glimpse of the hen he was trying to impress though.
I have to say that I absolutely loved this place. It was just 4 hours driving round beautiful scenery and seeing amazing wildlife every few minutes. The only downside was we were expecting to see flocks of flalelamingos and there weren't any.
It was far, far quieter than the next door Yala NP. However, Bandula doesn't have leopards. Which were amazing.... See previous posts. I couldn't say that we had the place to ourselves but you were definitely on your own most of the time. It was muy peaceful! The stillness, the dawn light, the coolness all added up to make this stunning. I think, probably, that the stars of the day were the painted stalks, although we did see a whole load of amazing stuff... See future posts... these were just lovely and unusual, elegant and gawky. Yeah, I though they were pretty cool This is one of the iconic sights of Sri Lanka: People fishing from poles stuck out in the sea. The only thing these guys fish for now are tourists.
We managed to haggle them right down in price by walking off (convincingly) and then letting another group pay the full price to view them on the poles and then we chucked a small amount on top. However, I did feel like I was being exploited. Not sure why though. I'd happily pay to watch actors or dancers put on a show. Why shouldn't they earn a living from it? Also, nobody was unpleasant or forced us to pay or was underhand or anything, but still... I think it was because even once people had paid they really looked they would really rather be doing almost anything else. Also, now I come to think of it I still owe my mate Dean for my share of their fee. Ooops! In all those years we lived in Brunei, I never saw a single hornbill. This, apparently, is the Malabar pied hornbill. I hadn't realised quite how big they were. I suppose it stands to reason though when you think about the weight on its head it would have to be quite big.
These are supposed to be quite rare sightings in Yala, but we saw at least two. Warning! There now follows a lot of effort for a fairly poor gag! The second one was, of course, our last Roler so we didn't share it!
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AuthorsWe are teachers and have worked in various schools in Europe & Asia. This is really a chronicle of out travels over the years. It is meant for us to look back on, reflect and remember where we've been, what we've done and all our little adventures. If you like it too, then fab! If you don't, do you think we care? Archives
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