Here comes summer!

The garden's looking good at the moment and for once we had a day where we could just sit back and enjoy it. I spent the afternoon sat out with a drink and some ice cream, and even brought out the laptop to surf the internet from my garden table!

Of course Erin didn't want to be left out, and before long she was pushing the laptop and books out of the way so that she could sit on my knee instead. I got the photo using the webcam (I'd never used it before) - and was quite pleased with the image quality!

Industrial Heritage at Greenock

Greenock is on the southern shore of the Firth of Clyde, and when walking along the waterfront it's immediately clear that once this was an important port, with plenty of heavy industrial machinery still around. These days some of the old warehouses have been converted into modern apartments, and parts of the old dockland area has been reclaimed and developed into a business park, but there's still plenty of the older industry to see too.


The dockland area to the east, near to where I was staying with work, is known as James Watt dock, and is more recent than I thought, dating from the 1880s. Watt is Greenock's most famous son, known for 'inventing' the steam engine, though actually what he did was improve Newcomen's earlier atmospheric engine, by adding a condenser, making steam power much more efficient.

Anyway, I digress. James Watt dock is still in use today, and the huge hammerhead crane still dominates the landscape. Once this area was used to offload sugar cargoes from the colonies, but today it's used as a berth for the Caledonian Macbrayne ferry.

Further to the west sits the Clydeport Ocean Terminal, the modern port area in Greenock. After a bite to eat, I walked along the pleasant esplanade with views towards the distant cranes, and looked out for the sun setting behind the hills of Argyll in the distance.

Sunshine on fathers' day

The sun came out today for fathers' day, and as the weather was playing ball, we could get the barbecue out for a proper summer treat with traditional burgers and sausages.

We had the usual photo session in the garden, which is looking good at the moment, and of course plenty of laughs too.

Double booked

It seemed like I'd made an error of judgement last night... A couple of weeks ago we booked to see 'The Hired Man', a musical at the Octagon which had received some good reviews, however afterwards I realised it clashed with England's opening group game at the World Cup, against group second favourites America. What should I do??

What swung it was that we'd also booked at the theatre restaurant beforehand, where the food is always excellent, so a plan came together involving switching off all communications with the outside world, so that I could record the game and watch it the next morning.

Having just watched the game now, it's clear I made the right choice; the show was superb and at least I could fast forward through the mediocrity which followed our early goal. When's the next game?

The Three Graces of Liverpool

The sun would be out again today, so with camera choices to make we decided to visit Liverpool on the train for a little shopping and a stroll around the waterfront. It's several years since I'd been there, so I was interested to see the changes that have been happening recently, with the new canal extension and lots of modern developments.

In amongst all these changes, the famous Three Graces still stand prominently on the banks of the Mersey. The Royal Liver Building is the most famous of the three and perhaps the most recognisable building on the waterfront, but it is surprisingly modern, dating from 1911. It's a hugely significant building to Liverpudlians everywhere, but architecturally it is also significant, being one of the first buildings in the world to be constructed out of reinforced concrete.


The Liver Birds that top the building are, according to legend, keeping watch - one looking over the city, the other looking out to sea. The origins of the bird as the emblem of Liverpool are lost over time, but there are many theories of the type of bird they are; it is thought that originally the symbol was that of an eagle, but later theories believe it to be a cormorant.

Another legend warns that if they should fly away, the city would cease to exist, so understandably they are chained in position. The birds are made of copper, so when they were originally fixed in position they would have looked quite different to the oxidised green colour we see today.




Next door is the smaller Cunard building, the headquarters of the Cunard shipping line until the 1960s. The smallest of the three, it is now home to a number of smaller firms. The third is the Port of Liverpool building, until recently the home of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board.

The whole waterfront area here used to be dockland, called George Docks, but in the late 19th century MDHB decided to fill in the site and develop it. This included a new building which would become their head office, and this was completed in 1907. In 1994, MDHB relocated and the building was sold to property developers, who have recently completed a restoration and conversion to exclusive apartments and offices.

We spent so long by the waterfront and neighbouring Albert Docks, that it was soon time to head back to Lime Street station, so we didn't get to the camera shop and my new purchase would have to wait a little longer.

The big 4 0

Well it's not been possible to hold it back any longer... the big 4 0 has arrived!

Yesterday we celebrated with friends at the excellent Clog & Billycock in Pleasington. We were well looked after and had a fabulous afternoon with wonderful food. Carole is younger than me by just a few weeks, and so it made sense to arrange the one meal together, so this was very much a joint celebration.

Our friends had collected together a sizeable fund towards presents for each of us, which we were extremely grateful for. For Carole's birthday she's already decided on a new charm-style bracelet, so the collection has gone towards a number of additional beads for her collection. For me, my thoughts are now on a new camera, so the money will certainly be put to good use, I just have a decision to make about which model to go for!

We'd arranged for a special cake for the occasion, which had been beautifully decorated, and had handed it over at the venue to be brought out, topped with two candles (there wouldn't be room for them all) after the meal. Unfortunately this is where things went wrong - we totally forgot about it, even after everyone had left and we'd got home! So we had to go back to pick it up and bring it back home intact, which wasn't part of the plan. At least there would be my actual birthday itself, when we'd be joined by our parents and could do the cake cutting thing then.

Today has been a quieter day, with lots of cards to open, some more exciting presents and a family meal in the afternoon, with the usual photo shoot in the garden too.

Thank you to all for presents, cards and best wishes, and for helping make the weekend so special.

Saying bye to a colleague

One of my colleagues Ian was finishing work today today, after 24 years in the organisation. And all this coincided with his 40th birthday, so it was a day of strange emotions all round.

To send him off, we'd had the customary collections, and had bought him some vouchers for a local wine merchants, which included a leisurely visit to their extensive cellars.

But was it coincidence that his leaving was timed so close to the World Cup? We didn't think so, and so with concerns on how he might cope over the next few weeks, we also decided to create our very own World Cup survival hamper for him, complete with beers, crisps from the different nations, an England shirt, flags, football chocs, a giant flag and a guide to the competition.

He tells us there's lots of jobs to do around the home over the summer - he'll need something to help him burn all these calories off!

Competition success!

I had a pleasant surprise at camera club this evening. I'd entered three recently taken pictures in the monthly competition, and came 1st and 3rd, and the other one was shortlisted too.

The photo which won was the Eagle Owl picture I took at Muncaster last week:


Third place went to this one, which I'd taken on a sunny morning a few weeks ago:

Muncaster owls

After yesterday's exertions, any plans for another walk had long been shelved, but actually the aches and pains from last night quickly vanished by the time we'd finished breakfast. Even so, today was to be a more relaxing day with a visit to Muncaster to see the castle and the owls.

The castle is a popular place for tourists, with tours available around the castle itself, vast well-maintained gardens and plenty of special events going on throughout the year.




At this time of year the walks through the bluebell woods and past the many types of rhododendrons were exceptional, so even though the legs were still sore we enjoyed a leisurely walk around the gardens and clocked up another couple of miles.


One of the main attractions at the castle though is the owls, as the castle houses the headquarters of the World Owl Trust, a conservation group aiming to protect endangered owls from accross the globe.

Although the owls are kept in captivity, many brought here had already been domesticated elsewhere and so couldn't ever be released back to the wild, but their offspring still retain their wild instincts. The trust have an extensive breeding programme and aim to return owls to their natural habitats whenever possible, but in the meantime the owls are well cared for and are kept in large airy enclosures.

The trust holds dozens of different species of owl, from all over the world, as well as some other birds of prey such as buzzards and kestrels. The highlight of the day is the 'Meet the birds' session in the afternoon on the castle lawn. Here the keepers explain the work of the trust and bring out some of the owls to show how they fly and hunt, and although there was a sudden short shower during the display, this was certainly the highlight of the day.

You can't visit the owls without taking lots of pictures, so here's a selection of mine, all these taken through the wire cages:

Bowfell and Crinkle Crags

When writing his fourth Pictorial Guide, to the Southern Fells, Wainwright declared Bowfell "among the best half-dozen fells in the Lake District". This was the only time he allowed himself such a statement until the end of his final guidebook, which shows how much respect and awe he had for this particular mountain.

The neighbouring fell, Crinkle Crags, is also held in high regard, described as "much too good to be missed", and the ridge walk between the two mountains "entirely delightful", and such praise demands a closer look.

I'd persuaded Kevan to give these two mountains a try the last time we were in the Lakes, but the weather wasn't great and 3,000ft up overlooking sheer rock faces is not the best place to be in mist, so we amended our plans. But this week's weather was much better, so we'd had this one in our sights from the first day we arrived.

Today was the day, and with John accompanying us too, we were well set as we parked up at the Old Dungeon Ghyll at around half nine. The first mile or so is along the flat Langdale valley floor, forking left at the head of the valley up the Oxendale branch. After crossing the beck, we started our first climb up the valley side, heading toward Great Knott and skirting round Pike of Blisco. The change in gradient soon slowed us down, but with every pause for breath, the views back along the valley got steadily better.

Just before Red Tarn, the path swung round to head behind Great Knott and then onwards to the first of the five Crinkles. We'd covered more than 3 miles by this point and climbed over 800m, so as it was approaching lunch-time, we found a sheltered spot just below the summit, with fine views over the West Cumbria coast, right down to Blackpool in the distance.


It was from here that the walk became much more of a challenge - the tops of Crinkle Crags were boulder-strewn, and the climbing and then descending of each of the five Crinkle summits was tough-going. Still, the views down Langdale were amazing and our spirits were still high. The descent from the final Crinkle was even more rocky, and this set the tone for the next one and a half miles to Bowfell. Wainwright admits the progress here is slow, but believe me this was tough going.

The summit of Bowfell was even more rocky, with huge boulders littering the upper reaches. Not only this, but now the weather was closing in all around us, and it was clear there was heavy rain out towards Sellafield to the west, and Ambleside to the east. I even saw lightening, not a welcome sight when you're on one of the highest mountains in England, so on reaching the summit there was more than a concerned glance around and we didn't stay on the very top for long.

Fortunately the rain stayed away from us, and we plotted our descent carefully all the way down to Angle Tarn, a difficult route again over rocks and boulders down almost 300m. By now the legs were burning, but we were now on the main path which would take us all the way back to the start. However the car was still around 4 miles away and although the path was clearly marked on the map, the reality was quite different as we had to take an even steeper and rockier route down, eventually meeting Rossett Gill and down into Mickleden. Only now we reached a reasonable path and the gradient finally relented, but the time had passed 5pm and we still had a good couple of miles or more to go. Eventually we made it back to the car, but it was after six and we'd been walking for well over eight hours.

We'd had an exhilerating, if exhausting day, and by the time Kevan and I had dropped John off and got ourselves ready for an evening meal, we just about had the energy to haul ourselves to the nearest restaurant where we collapsed into a chair with a well deserved drink.