Sojourn to Spain

Mike and I enjoyed Michael Portillo's series on train journeys around Europe.  As we both rather like trains - (unique for us, as we tend to follow quite different hobbies!) we decided to have a go at a DiY rail trip through Spain.  My family on Dad's side originated from Spain - and Mike's birthday was on May 13th!  Aqui!  Decision made!

First stop - Madrid!  We bought a Metro four-day ticket for the duration - and it proved extremely useful.  A Metro station was only a couple of hundred yards away from our hotel - and we made fulsome use of the ticket.

Four days wasn't really long enough - but we certainly covered quite a few square miles and saw a lot of the city.

Atocha Station.  The original station, now preserved and a stunning piece of architecture.

Permanent second-hand book sales lined the roads around the main park.  

The San Isidro Day Religious Festival.  Fantastic event with loads to see and do!

Everyone dressed up in traditional costume - even the smallest children!

Food was cooked on site - and it was delicious!

Wonderful Jacaranda trees were at their peak while we were there!

So hot - it was great to pop into churches to cool down!  No - we didn't sit in the doorway like this character!

Next stop - Cordoba!

A Bit of a Bump

Although this happened in February, and I am now fully recovered - I thought maybe I should post a few snaps of "how the mighty fall"!

Keen to get to a new meeting place one evening, I didn't notice the curb edge in a darkened car-park. Next thing, I was head-butting the ground!  Feeling foolish, like you do when you fall over in public, I was keen to get back on my feet and pretend nothing odd had happened!

However, my glasses had come off badly, and were lying on the ground like a wounded pigeon, with it's "wing" stuck up in the air (one arm of the specs)!  I gingerly straighten them, and tried to realign them and put them back on.  They felt a bit odd, but I was pretty confident no-one would notice!

However, when I got into the meeting, I was met with some curious stares - and then the person sitting next to me asked if I was alright!  Thinking my glasses must still be a bit skewiff, I acknowledged the tumble in the car-park.  However, it was the blood smeared face that was causing all the curiosity!

The head hurt a bit but the woozy and I had a massive lump, easily cupped in my hand, on the side of my head!  The woozy feeling soon passed off although the headache persisted - but two hours later, I felt OK to drive the 50 miles back home!  The next day - this is what I looked like!

The next day!

As you can imagine, it caused a lot of concern, and comments like "more water next time!"

One week later - getting more colourful!

Two weeks later and bizarrely, the bruise was sliding down my face!

It is now three months since the head-butting incident - and all the bruising has disappeared.  However, I still have a bit of a lump on the side of my head.  "All your badness coming out" as I have been told!

Easter Sunday

Woke early to let the Easter Bunny in!  Only just beat Ella, who was up at 6.00am keen and eager to see if said rabbit had hopped into their garden bearing his goodies!

She got quite a haul!

Finding hidden treasures in the wall!

And amongst the plants!

Farnham for Easter

Staying in Farnham with daughter and family for Easter.  Lovely weather for the whole time!

Rachael had to have a foot operation so Granddad and I were being chief cook and housemaid!

Bourne Woods was looking really lovely in the spring sunshine, with silver birches being highlighted against the darker pine trees.

Louis acted a bit daft one afternoon when Ella set us some charade challenges!  He did cartwheels -

and my challenge was to take a family portrait!

An Early Start

Was lucky enough to be invited to join two friend for an early morning shoot on plymouth Hoe this morning.  The light was lovely - and I had a couple of hours of happy snapping!

Marmite images!!  You will either like them - or not!!

Have to wait now for the next high tide and nice weather!!  Fingers crossed.

Stumbling About in the Dark - Again!!

A couple of nights ago, a friend and I spent an afternoon and evening out on Dartmoor.  Weather was still lovely - and fearing rain may start any day soon - we decided to take our big, 18 million candle power torches for a walk!

We left home at 4.00pm.  Stopped for a quick bite to eat in Tavistock - then headed out to a location to try for a sunset before the serious business started.

Despite careful research, the location we decided on didn't really prove that successful.  The sun was too far over to the left!  Still - we made the best of it!

                             

                             Just before the sun set.  Some lovely clouds in the sky.

                   

And this is what should have appeared behind Brentor Church!

At about 8.00pm, we packed up and headed for our next location - Post Bridge in the middle of Dartmoor, where there is a lovely old clapper bridge.  Trouble was - now it was dark - and despite having our big, powerful torches, we still had to stumble about in the dark trying to find the best place to put up tripods, frame up the shot and focus! It all took time!  Eventually, we did it - and managed to take about half a dozen shots before it was 11.00pm, and we were cold and exhausted!

Was it worth it?  I'll let you decide.

In Colour . . . 

. . . . and converted to monochrome.

Porlock

Three of us from Ivybridge CC took a trip to Porlock in search of barn surrounded by dead trees!  Sounds easy, doesn't it?

Took two and a half hours to get there - then a further hour tramping across mud flats searching, searching, searching!

Eventually, by dint of asking walkers coming in the other direction where the mythical barn and dead trees were - we found it!

Could have had a better sky - and the light was very flat.  Therefore, it had to be a monochrome effort!
Was it worth the effort?

I'll leave it up to you to decide!

Found at last - the barn surrounded by dead trees!

Just caught my eye!

Why all the dead trees?  Well - the sea broached the shingle sea defences a few years ago, and a decision was made to leave well alone - and so all the trees died from sea water poisoning!