Welsh Mega Steam 4

 Holidays, What I do  7 Responses »
Sep 052013
 
Welsh Mega Steam 4

Welsh Mega Steam 4 was an eight-day holiday that I took between August 24th and 31st 2013 in which I toured the preserved railways of North and Central Wales. A group of 32 were on the trip, which was organised by Railtrail Tours, and was the fourth year they had run the trip. Staying in university accommodation, and using a coach to visit the various sites, the itinerary for the tour was as follows: Day 1 – Alfreton to Bangor via the Great Orme Tramway Day 2 – Lakes and mountains Day 3 – The long and the short Day 4 – Bangor to [Read more]

Outer Hebrides – Harris and Lewis

 Holidays, What I do  4 Responses »
Aug 142013
 
Outer Hebrides - Harris and Lewis

The last leg of our self-drive holiday was based in Stornoway, the capital of the Outer Hebrides, where we spent three nights in the Royal Hotel. Before reaching our destination, we had to take another car ferry journey from North Uist to Leverburgh in the south of the Isle of Harris. As we crossed over to Harris, on waters that were so shallow that we could see the bottom on many occasions, we could see the landscape ahead of us was more mountainous than on the other islands. We were yet to find out just how desolate and wild the [Read more]

Outer Hebrides – Eriskay to North Uist

 Holidays, What I do  4 Responses »
Aug 102013
 
Outer Hebrides - Eriskay to North Uist

The second leg of our Outer Hebrides self-drive tour began on Eriskay, and a visit to the Am Politician pub. The name of the pub celebrates the island’s main claim to fame which is the World War 2 shipwreck of the SS Politician and the consequent liberation of its cargo of whisky. The sinking of the SS Politician is immortalised in the novel, and later film, ‘Whisky Galore’. After half an hour in the beer garden, again in glorious sunshine, we started the three-hour journey through Eriskay, South Uist, Benbecula and North Uist to out hotel for the second leg of [Read more]

Outer Hebrides – Barra and Vatersay

 Holidays, What I do  3 Responses »
Aug 052013
 
Outer Hebrides - Barra and Vatersay

The first leg of our self-drive tour of the Outer Hebrides was on Barra, and its neighbouring island of Vatersay. Our arrival on Barra was spectacular, to say the least. We travelled over from Glasgow International Airport on a De Haviland Twin Otter aircraft, specially adapted for landing on a beach – yes, a beach! Barra Airport is one of the few places in the World where scheduled flights land on a beach. The airport is situated in the wide shallow bay of Traigh Mhor at the north tip of the island. The airport has three runways, marked by concrete poles at their [Read more]

Outer Hebrides – an introduction

 Holidays, What I do  3 Responses »
Aug 032013
 
Outer Hebrides - an introduction

On Thursday 18th July 2013, my wife Sandra and I went on a self-drive tour of the Outer Hebrides. The seven night holiday started with two nights in Barra, at the southern end of the islands, followed by two nights on North Uist and concluding with three nights in Stornoway in the north of the islands. The holiday was arranged by Hebridean Hopscotch, a company based in Stornoway, and specialising in holidays in the Outer Hebrides. The company chose and booked the hotels, booked the ferries necessary to travel between the islands and arranged for a hire car to meet [Read more]

Return to paradise

 Holidays  No Responses »
Jul 162013
 
Return to paradise

In July 2012, Sandra and I visited the picture perfect Channel Island of Herm for a week’s holiday. We stayed in a self catering cottage in the Manor Village, which was at the top of a steep road leading down to the harbour, hotel, pub and shops. This year, we decided to stay in the hotel which is situated beside the picturesque harbour, therefore avoiding the hill. We spent the first night of our holiday in Moores Hotel in St Peter Port before taking an early ferry to Herm. We had stayed in the Moore’s about 30 years ago when [Read more]

Time lapsing in Herm

 Computers, Holidays, Photo galleries, What I do  2 Responses »
Jul 042013
 
Time lapsing in Herm

Since I bought a webcam for my weather station a couple of years ago, I have been interested in time-lapse photography. My weather station software uses still images taken by the webcam and makes them into a video. Every ten minutes, hour, day and year, a video is produced and uploaded to my weather site. Bracken House Weather videos page While these videos show some interesting weather events, I have recently been experimenting with creating my own time-lapse videos. For my first experiments, I chose the island of Herm in the Channel Islands. I downloaded an application called Webcam Time [Read more]

Thank you 2012 – you were great.

 Holidays, What I do  No Responses »
Dec 312012
 
Thank you 2012 - you were great.

As a year ends, it is customary to look back at the one just gone, and remember the good times that we had. For me, 2012 was a great year filled with memories of some amazing places and of meeting some lovely people. The beautiful country of Norway 2012 was the year in which I paid my first visit to the beautiful country of Norway, with trips to see the Midnight Sun and the Polar Night, with a sighting of the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) thrown in for good measure. I visited the city of Tromsø in July to experience the [Read more]

Alan saw Santa Claus on webcam – when he traveled from England to Alta

 Holidays  No Responses »
Dec 082012
 

Alan Rowley from Nottingham set for 4-5 weeks and then the webcam over Alta. From the easy chair at home in England, he had a hope of seeing the northern lights in Alta Post’s webcam. Sat down on the first flight The resolution of the camera was not quite good enough that he had taken a closer look at the phenomenon. – I could not see them on the webcam, but when I saw that Santa up camp, I sat on the first flight from Nottingham, laughing Briton. For it is a tent with a so-called “elf world” on a [Read more]

Alta day 5 – time to go home

 Holidays  1 Response »
Dec 062012
 
Alta day 5 - time to go home

I awoke on my final day in Alta to temperatures well into minus double figures. After another substantial breakfast, it was time to pack my case and head back to the UK. The manager of the hotel remarked that he had seen me on television the night before and offered to send me the local paper which was carrying an article about my visit. A view from the entrance to Alta airport. A short journey to the airport followed, and in no time, I was on my way to Heathrow, via Oslo. The journey was unremarkable, and it wasn’t until [Read more]

Alta day 4 – me and my mate Santa

 Holidays  1 Response »
Dec 052012
 
Alta day 4 - me and my mate Santa

Day four in Alta started with another excellent breakfast. This time I tried a hot breakfast consisting of a baked omelette with vegetables, bacon, sausage and the usual muesli. I was intending to take the local bus again, this time to the old part of Alta, but events took a major change when I went to visit Santa’s Grotto again. I was invited inside and was fed with porridge, waffles and a local drink called glögg, a type of mulled wine. When chatting with the locals, I was asked if I would be interviewed by the local television station, which [Read more]

Alta day 3 – city of the Northern Lights

 Holidays  1 Response »
Dec 042012
 
Alta day 3 - city of the Northern Lights

Day three of my Alta holiday started promisingly enough with breaks in the cloud, raising hopes that I may see the aurora, but little did I know what was in store for me later that evening. For breakfast, I had my usual muesli, this time with a very tasty melon yoghurt. I followed this with a selection of cheeses and meats, all of which were very enjoyable. After breakfast, I ventured out into the cold and had a stroll around the shops and I paid another visit to Santa’s Grotto. I took more photographs and video of the town before [Read more]

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