Yorkshire

In Central Scotland, mates from university, and how the time flew!
Marie provided for her husband Paul (left), and Jim and Bob (right). All school teachers for most of their careers. We missed you, Kay.  Paul, in answer to your question, my sister-in-law said straight away that the collective noun for a group of superannuated geographers must be a "mappery" (!)


Off to St Cyrus, near Montrose, where Neil's brother found their great(x4) grandfather's birth registered by their great(x5) grandfather.  We looked in this old graveyard hidden down the cliff because Jim at Uni Mates re-union lunch had said he had visited St Cyrus' old burial ground at the foot of the cliff whilst walking there & had seen Graham headstones, which we found quite remarkable.  They must be distant "cousins".

From the top of the cliff by St Cyrus looking down. A long way to the old graveyard.

Another great (x5) grandfather was watchmaker in the nearby town of Laurencekirk.

There were twin Gateposts to the pheasant-infested property of "the Big House" of the area, formerly Grahams.

Still called Pitbeadlie, this was the place of the tenant farmer's house, an older building then, where the Graham ancestor Alexander registered the birth of his son Alexander. A popular name. Sandra's family too, have at least 6 Alexanders going back, not counting the 2 females in the family today.


After that family diversion, we caught up with my brother, Mal, & Carol, his better half, at their friends caravan, on the coast of East Yorkshire, where Mal & I grew up.  It was a chance to catch up with our shared hobby, steam trains :-

Steam on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
Another day we did train chasing.

Neil's brother Mal and his wife Carol, at their friends' caravan.

Riding with the top down in their new 'TwinTop' convertible.

This is the crypt is below Lastingham Church, and  still in use. Oldest archeological  piece was from the 10th century.

Out on the Moors.









Wildlife: red grouse and hare.

Flamborough North Landing. Looks bright, but the wind is chill.

Mal and Neil.

Mal, Carol and Neil.

What a special time it has been back in Yorkshire!



The High Wolds of East Yorkshire, with York in the distance...

Neil's parents, Bridlington.

Paternal grandparents in Hull.

Maternal grandparents, Hull.

Bruce, of Hull City Council, marking the plot of Peter Graham, the great-grandfather, who came down from North East Scotland, and of Isabella, his wife.

Outer Hebrides - the First Time !

Crossing was smooth with cliffs & Gannets to see...

 Arriving at Tarbert, Isle of Harris enabled us to see the rocky landscape behind the village, and in the evening, a local drive confirmed our thoughts - its a barren land, in many ways !

 But with spectacular moments to offset the above...

 Strong winds, peaty water meeting a blue sea, gives rise to lovely combinations - but it was fresh, too..

 with other animals unperturbed by such minimal concerns..

 We crossed to North Uist in the afternoon, & our ferry had to weave in & out of so many rocks, with waves coming up a couple of channels, too - giving us a few sea-worthy moments

 The Uists & Benbecula are different to Harris with sandy (Machair) lowlands, strangely on the windward, ocean, side !

See the soccer pitch. although the local game is shinty - a kind of very dangerous hockey.

Peat has accumulated over the years & it is cut & left to dry out, before being used to heat the houses - smells like old rope on fire ?

 Birds were our interest, of course, & we saw these, which were not actually walking like all the rest, due to the windy conditions..

 Beautiful views of Barra, to the south of Eriskay, with its causeway from South Uist, left.  Several of  these join up islands, which the otters have to hurdle...

The narrow roads go round garden fences, according to villager's wishes.
Most of the roads are single track with passing places !

 Property is cheap... and wet...

 Atmospherics are plentiful...

And when the wind comes back - it blows the waterfalls back up the cliff faces of Skye !

North Devon

A few days' jaunt to North Devon  

Serendipity. Happened to see this splendid windmill.

This engine, according to expert Neil, never operated in this area.

Welcome to Glastonbury.  Underneath "Beware of the Lawyer", the small print adds, "The dog is harmless".

At the wetlands on the way, an osprey migrating south had stopped for lunch. it is clasping a fish.

Once again the small print escapes you.
After some roadworks, the information on the red sign says, "CATS EYES REMOVED".
We turned round specially to go back and get this shot.

Sunken Devon lanes and a wheatear at the beach.

Tide's out.
From Instow looking across the estuary to Appledore.
It is all very awkward twice a day (or night!)

Diversion, just for fun.
Over the new Severn Bridge into Wales, only to return a few minutes later over the old Severn Bridge.
When we were students, Neil had a thesis to write for his geography degree which meant we camped for a month in this area, including a site at the base of the old bridge.  The old bridge was almost completed at that time, but soon could not cope with the traffic.

An afternoon at Slimbridge, a WWT site with captive birds on display, many free to roam, as well as wild bird   visitors migrating through, especially wintering here. Of course we were too early for those.
But here are Nene Geese saved from extinction by Sir Peter Scott, the founder of Slimbridge.

The red team and the blue team.
What varieties there are!

Moorhen feeding her chick. The tiny wings show the vestigial "thumb", but again I think the scale of the photo has lost that detail.





Reflections.  Artist Neil loves reflections, in this case of Caribbean Flamingos.





West Somerset Railways... what a wonderful holiday railway this is between Taunton & Minehead... providing walkers, biking folk with genial journeys in support of their hobbies, not to mention old steamers like my brother and myself... (Neil)

After watching quite a few comings & goings up and down the line, as you can see, we even managed a walk to the bottom of an old mineral wagonway.  This is a local historical industrial site that includes a ropeway incline at a gradient of 1 in 4 !  All that remains today is this wonderful stone arch bridge at the foot of the hill.

Our return to Alcester was to honour Gladys Lavender, at her funeral in Bridgnorth.  It was a very special time for all.  The weather was warm & sunny.  All was said and done in good order.  In a video we saw Gladys a few years ago telling her friends at her Home, of her own memorable stories.
We were privileged to know her.

Mal, Carol, Sandra, Kate (M&C's daughter), Mike, Carol's brother, & in front his wife, Irene, and finally at the right Karim, Kate's friend.