Category Archives: Travel

Sizergh Castle Gardens

Nancy had been to Sizergh Castle before but, for some reason, in all the time we lived in Lancashire, I had never been there. We rectified that during our recent trip to the Lake District. When it comes to places like this, we are not terribly interested in the interior of the buildings. The exterior and the grounds are usually what we want to explore. Sizergh was a nice enough looking building, but the gardens were excellent.

A Cedar of Lebanon tree is always going to get my attention because I love the layered effect of the branches. They have one very close to the main building. A walk through the wood brought us to a Japanese garden which was very attractively laid out and only open to walk through on certain days. This meant thee weren’t people getting in the way of photos too often!!

Back near the house was a more structured garden. This included a lot of acers, and, at this time of year, they had turned a delightful colour. One of the staff at the entrance had said they shouldn’t be missed and he wasn’t wrong. I was glad I had brought along my polariser. I have no idea why I hadn’t made the effort to visit previously but that omission is now rectified.

Hurst Castle and the Needles

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I don’t know for certain whether I have ever previously taken the ferry from Lymington to Yarmouth. Something tells me I might have done so at one point, but I have no idea why I would have done so. Anyway, I definitely have made the crossing now because we took a trip across to Yarmouth. As we were crossing the Solent, there were some interesting views down the water towards the Needles. Hurst Castle marks the narrowest point between the mainland and the Isle of Wight. Getting both the castle and the Needles in view was possible. The distance difference meant a little careful processing was necessary to have clarity of both elements, but I loved the compression a long lens provided of this view.

Yarmouth Mill

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Being in Hampshire makes a day trip to the Isle of Wight a simple option. We decided to go to Yarmouth for the day. Despite having lived on the Island for many years, Yarmouth is a place in which I spent remarkably little time. I would usually pass through, but it is a place with a bit to offer for a day trip. We walked around the harbour and out towards the marshes to head to a lunch spot. This took us passed the old mill building. It is an imposing structure and a sign of what might have been a busy place in days past. Here are a couple of shots of this cool looking place.

Walking the Waterfront in Liverpool

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I have only previously been to Liverpool once before. That was for an appointment back when we lived in Lancashire and it was pretty much an in and out visit. I never saw the city itself. I was finally there in September as it was the starting point of a charity bike ride I was participating in. I got there the day before we started and had some time later in the afternoon to walk around and explore with some of my fellow riders.

The Albert Dock was something I was familiar with from the time when it was the location for a breakfast TV show. Everyone knows the Liver Building. Other buildings along the water tell the story of how important Liverpool was as a trading port. The docks also include some old boats as a part of the tale of the city’s history.

It wasn’t like I had a ton of time to explore the city in depth but it was nice to see a bit of it on a lovely afternoon. The following day, I got to see a lot more of the area as a whole as we started our ride across the country. Lots of parks and old architecture hinting at what the city has to offer but no photos of those because I was busy riding!

Hoodoos on a Smaller Scale

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Many years ago, we visited Bryce Canyon in Utah. It is famous for its rocky pillars known as hoodoos. I was slightly surprised to see signs about hoodoos in Banff when we were staying in Alberta. We took a diversion along the road to the overlook for these hoodoos. They are down on the slopes towards the river, and the overlook is some distance from them. Clearly not the same number of them than you get in Bryce but still just as interesting a formation. It was a worthwhile diversion since it didn’t take us far out of our way. To be honest, the view of the river valley was the more impressive element of the visit.

Ozzy the Bull

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I travel through Birmingham New Street Station a lot these days. It is a connection for a bunch of my journeys and sometimes a destination in its own right. The station had a major rebuild a few years ago and one of the features in there now is Ozzie. Ozzie is a huge mechanical bull. It is such an imposing device and I do find it cheers me up. If you are ever heading that way, do find the time to check it out.

Rose Garden in the Park

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I had to make a trip to Lyon for work earlier this year. It wasn’t exactly an in and out trip but there wasn’t a ton of spare time while there. However, my hotel was on the opposite side of the park from the central part of the city where we were going to be dining. Since I had the time, I chose to walk across the park to meet up with everyone. There was an old house near the top of the park and, in front of it, there was a rose garden. Since it was a pretty hot day, I was in no hurry to rush across the park and taking the chance to stop and look at the roses on the trellises gave me an excuse to avoid getting too hot and bothered.

Showing Visitors HydroFLEX

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2025 is 200 years after the Stockton and Darlington Railway first operated. While some might debate what the first true railway was, the UK industry is celebrating this year as Rail200. There are events taking place across the country throughout the year. One of these was held at the Severn Valley Railway at Kidderminster and we took one of our trains to be part of the display. This was our HydroFLEX unit, and I went along to support the visitor tours.

HydroFLEX is the first UK hydrogen fuel cell powered unit that is cleared for mainline running. We use it to test the technology and learn what is involved in a hydrogen fuel cell train. There are multiple technologies that will be needed to decarbonise the railway, and this is one of the ways forward that is being explored. We had it open to view at Kidderminster and had a steady stream of visitors coming to look at it. They had lots of interesting questions and some interesting opinions on all sorts of things – many not to do with hydrogen power!

The train is a converted Class 319 – a type I used to ride frequently when Thameslink operated them, and we lived along the Brighton mainline. Three of the vehicles are basically unchanged other than interior changes including a boardroom configuration. The fourth car is the one where everything is different. It has four fuel cells that provide power along with a battery under the vehicle. These fuel cells generate a lot of heat along with the electricity, so large cooling fans are incorporated.

The fuel cells are supplied by high pressure hydrogen tanks. There are 36 of these tanks made from spun aluminium wrapped in Kevlar. We would take visitors through this vehicle to see the changes that make it a hydrogen powered unit along with all of the safety systems. It is a cramped space, so we had to pre-book visitors five at a time. We could have shown many more people if we could have fitted them in because demand was high.

It is really interesting to be involved in a technology demonstrator of this sort. Our team has worked so hard on creating and developing this unit and we have learned so much that will hopefully be taken forward to trial operations and will then feed into the design of a production train. The train regularly goes out on the mainline so you can see it if you are in the right place at the right time.

Gateway Airliners

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Mesa Gateway airport in Arizona does get some airline visitors. Allegiant was bringing some jets in while we were visiting early last year. GlobalX also had some coming in. Judging by how many of their jets I saw off to one side not looking too active, I assume they undertake some maintenance work there too. Not a ton of variety with these two but here are some shots of their planes. Makes a change to not show a GlobalX jet at Boeing Field!

Getting Older with the Post Boxes

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A Georgian post box got a “post” a while back. That one was a regular post box on a road in Winchester. This post box is a lot older as it is Victorian. The fact it is located at a vintage railway leads me to think it hasn’t always been there, but it is still a legitimate post box with collections by Royal Mail. The ornate design is very appropriate for its time.