From the train, on a day trip to the seaside (Bognor), I took this iPhone picture of Arundel, where we broke our journey for a brief visit. Arundel is a lovely, small town on a steep hill, though it’s difficult to take decent pictures that don’t include loads of parked cars. Continue reading “Arundel and Bognor, by train”
Chartwell, Kent
Chartwell, home of Winston Churchill, has beautiful gardens and an interesting house, and makes for a lovely day out.
Kew Gardens
Ely, Cambridgeshire
A day trip by train to Ely.
There is a cathedral, too.
Green sea at Eastbourne
A day trip by train to the seaside. The sea was Lake Louise green.
The Itchen Way walk – stage 4
The fourth and final stage of the 4-stage walk along the Itchen Way was around 8 miles and took a little under 4 hours. Starting at Itchen Stoke, where the third stage finished, it ended at the tiny village of Cheriton. On a generally warm and sunny day the best bit of the walk was at the very start, where the river was present and the sun was out. After that there was not much of the river to be seen until the trickle at the very source of the river.
This is a part of Hampshire I’m unfamiliar with. It is absolutely beautiful, with lots of thatched cottages and tiny villages. The 67 bus from Winchester, towards Petersfield via Alresford, is a real joy if you can get to the front seat on the top deck!
Possibly the source of the River Itchen
Day trip Southampton to Cowes on the Isle of Wight
A trip for the ferry ride.
Camera images on the way but then the lens mechanism jammed and the iPhone camera took over (but not in raw format – my mistake).
Continue reading “Day trip Southampton to Cowes on the Isle of Wight”
Polesden Lacey
On a grey and windy day, some pictures from a morning visit to the National Trust’s Polesden Lacey. I’ve no idea who the gentleman in the hat is, but I liked his look. We took the tour, which was extremely interesting, before ambling through the rooms.
The Itchen Way walk – stage 3
The third stage of the 4-stage walk along the Itchen Way was around 8 miles and took a little under 4 hours. Starting at Winchester, where the second stage finished, it ended at the tiny village of Itchen Stoke (no shops!). It was a generally lovely, sunny day and an attractive walk. A bus to Alresford and then another back to Winchester Station and eventually home, rounded off a lovely day.
24 hours on the Hampshire coast
On the way down to our destination at Milford on Sea we did a longish walk along the Lymington Marshes.
Groombridge Place, Kent – oh dear!
If you’re thinking of a trip to Groombridge Place, check out Tripadvisor first! Though these pictures make it look rather attractive, it’s actually quite sad and run down. Apparently the company running it went into liquidation in May, which no doubt explains a lot.
Hampton Court
On another hot and sunny day we strolled around Hampton Court gardens. For lunch we sat in deckchairs under the trees, with a sandwich and can of lemonade. There were boat races on the Thames. The sky in the black and white image is misleading.
Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
The walk from Benfleet to Leigh-on-Sea took over an hour in the baking sun (30°C?) and was one of the dullest and excessively hot walks I’ve ever done! Continue reading “Leigh-on-Sea, Essex”
A hazy Worthing
It was warm but hazy in Worthing today and not the best weather for nice images, but these three came out OK with some help from Photoshop.
Chatham and Rochester, Kent
Chatham Dockyard is a terrific place to visit, and this was my third or fourth visit. However I baulked at the £21 entry fee and decided to abandon the visit. After all, I already had loads of pictures from the previous visits!
After a bus ride to the nearby Rochester, I headed for the huge second-hand bookshop Baggins Book Bazaar, which, with half a million books, claims to be ‘England’s largest second-hand and rare bookshop’. I honestly think it’s possible to get lost in this amazing bookshop!
I bought three novels and was particularly taken by the cover of the New Crimes anthology.
While waiting at Rochester station I took a panoramic picture (multiple shots stitched together) of the track and platform. Note how the straight track has been curved by the panorama. I like the effect even though it might not be a truthful image.
Bosham – the tide was out
Bosham is a lovely village near Chichester. On a previous visit the tide was in, but today it was out. I think I prefer it when the tide is in. [Helpful public transport tip! Bus route 56, every 90 minutes or so from Chichester, takes you right down to Bosham harbour, whereas bus 700, every 20 minutes or so from Chichester, leaves you a mile from the harbour.]
For a second day I decided to take JPG images, intending to use the pictures straight from the camera – ie with no photoshopping. This also means I could use the panorama feature of my camera, whereby I can scan a wide scene and the camera will automatically take and stitch together multiple images into a panorama.
Sadly, I am not happy with the images straight from the camera and I have resorted to photoshopping to beef up the pictures. I’m not totally happy with the results – some pictures have come out better than others. I think in future I might take both JPG+RAW images so that if a JPG image is inadequate I can use the RAW file to do the photoshopping – this is the preferred way. Sadly this does rule out using the panorama feature, which only works when taking just JPG images.
Hurst Point, near Lymington
On our last day in Lymington we took a short drive to Keyhaven to get the small ferry to Hurst Point and Hurst Castle. It’s a fabulous short boat trip and on landing one can enjoy visiting the castle or just wandering around the spit which is just ¾ mile from the Isle of Wight.
Travelling by boat
The best bit about travelling to a destination by boat is the travelling by boat! However I’ve never experienced a rough boat trip, so it may not always be the case. The first of our voyages during our 48 hours in Lymington was the round trip to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight.
Leaving Lymington
Sailing towards Yarmouth
Arriving at Yarmouth
The ferry deck
The other ferry
Hurst Castle from the Isle of Wight
I’m too knackered to process and cull the 100+ images taken during 48 hours in Lymington, but here is a nice picture of the wonderful Hurst Point / Hurst Castle site, taken from the Isle of Wight. More to follow…
Hever Castle & gardens
The castle
This is probably my dream sitting room! 
This is probably my dream sitting room!
The lake
The gardens
Winchester
Winchester is an historic city – ruins, walls, old buildings and a cathedral. But these aren’t my scene, and on a gloriously sunny day I was looking for images, for colour. In the event, I’m not happy with the few usable shots I took, so I’ve thrown in a Clapham Junction shot as well. Despite this, I found Winchester to be a pleasant place to visit, helped by a sunny day. It has a decent high-street and plenty of interesting side streets to explore. And I did manage to buy a book from an independent bookshop.
Whilst wandering around the city I received a text message – “Have you heard the news?” Not having a smartphone, I hadn’t, and fearing a nuclear strike on the Korean Peninsula (!), I rang L then J, only to discover that a general election has been called. This is not a big enough deal to justify calling off my visit!
Regarding the election, there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is we’ve got 7 weeks of electioneering to endure. The good news is we’ve only got another 7 weeks with Corbyn as the leader of the Labour Party (remember you first read that prediction, here!).
On the train back I kept falling asleep / waking up and realising my mouth was wide open. That’s old-age for you.
The Magic Garden at Hampton Court Palace
For little people aged 2-13. Fabulous!
