Saturday 27 September 2014

Thursday 25 September 2014

Blue Skys at Elan


These photos were take on the hillside road leading to the Elan Valley in Wales the view is looking down to Rhayader


Below you can just make out a lone Red Kite flying past


Monday 22 September 2014

Stonehenge



One of the more famous places in the UK, one which people from all over the world come to visit. There is a lot of history enveloping the place and the surrounding area. I doubt that historians really know what it was built for let alone the so called druids that flock to the place to welcome the solstice’s in. If you can get BBC iPlayer then watch Stonehenge What Lies Beneath  and make you own mind up.
My wife & I had been wanting to visit the place for a while and got the opportunity during our holidays. Both of us ad been to the place before I might mention.

A couple of weeks before it seems this guy  made a visit and had a wander round the stones but just for the record both myself and my wife had been round them in the past when you could walk among the stones and even picnic on them
BTW the two photos came Courtesy of the BBC and were taken by Charles Dharapak


Fact is you could do this till around 1977 when it was roped off because of erosion & damage, probably not helped by the Stonehenge Free Festival that happened between 1972 & 1984 and culminating with the Battle of Beanfield in 1985. Since then any use has been strictly restricted





Lets get on with this post and it's a long one, bit like the henge from the entrance here which is a couple of miles away. Have to admit I'm not impressed with this new building but saying that the give shop is not bad nor is the cafe which sells a great pasty. There is also a museum you can walk around




This cross is a memorial to two pioneer flyer's who were killed in an accident in 1912 not far from this point





Did not get a photo of the shuttle but it takes about ten min to get here from the reception area




Only things that get near the stones (apart from Presidents) now are the crows round the area





In the distance you can see a line of barrows or burial mounds, they are common round here




Going further round the stones, you can see a ditch in the foreground





That's the nearby road you see here and it get chocked up with rubber necking drivers looking at the stones
Got to admit they are impressive





People looking at the stones





A nearby barrow





The road again, check the line of cars behind the rubber neckers






This is called the heel stone




and this is a milestone which is not from the henge but was beside the old road that ran by here




this is a replica of a stone on a sled which is how the pulled it. Cop the numpty on the right trying his hardest



I recon this lady did better




This is a replica of the building that may have stood round here though I doubt very much if they were painted white, more a nice shade of mud









Well that's my little tour to Stonehenge, make of it what you will but if your in the area no doubt you will want to visit. You can check out more at English Heritage or read the link on Wicki.
Taking Part in Our World Tuesday

















Toilet Mural


Last week I showed you a mural at an information centre, well just behind are the toilets and that is where I was heading at the time, going in the door I noticed this bright mural.

 
Normaly in the gents your stood staring atthe wall either reading the obcene srawls or graffit, this toilet has this written on the wall


Follow the lines over ( I suggest you finnish peeing first )
 
and you see what happens to the waste water that drains from the urinals

I think it's a really cool mural and brightens up  a dull public tolet

The cycle ends up here coming back out in the taps. I might add on leaving the toilet you can see the ladys toilet opposite with the same mural in the first photo showing in the entrance so I presume it's replicated there
 
If have five min to while away then check out this Link I came across today
Taking Part in Monday Mural
 

Saturday 20 September 2014

Thursday 18 September 2014

Sunset over Castle Bank


I was in Wales the other week and got a stock of Skywatch photo's to keep me going for a while, so I'll start it off with a Sunset over a place called Castle Bank near Builth Wells



http://skyley.blogspot.co.uk/

Monday 15 September 2014

Waverley Abbey


My last Our World Tuesday post was on Farham Castle, well after my wife & I visited Waverley Abbey which you can see in the link but I thought I'd share a few other photos from  the place as well.





Not sure many people take much notice of this which is still an important part of out history of the second world war. A type 22 pillbox




This is the inside of a loopholed wall which is a defensive position near




This large type 28 pillbox. The whole area has many more pillboxes which lay forgotten like these.
 On the way to the abbey you can see this bridge which crosses a pond and leads to Waverley Abbey House
 And this is the House which was not open on the occasion we were there
The Abbey or the ruins of them






The abbey ruins as you come up to them along the path
 I took this just before we left the place, it's the gatehouse cottage to the old house estate, place looks a bit derelict at the time
Nearby is this old disused bridge I doubt anyone notices, it would have taken people into the estate at one time. So there you are, a few photos from places round the old abbey.
Taking Part in Our World Tuesday

Mural at the Center


Spotted this mosaic mural at an wildlife information center in Wales last week.





There seems to be a couple of parts to it which depict all the wildlife you can see round the area






 Cormorant 





Thrush with a snail





 Rabbits






Ducks and the last one looks like Dheep, Geese & Chickens

Taking Part in Monday Mural