Category Archives: Travel

A Street and Houses Perched on a Manmade Cliff

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The terrain around Bristol is pretty undulating.  Houses are built up the sides of hills on streets that are rather steep.  However, the buildings up in the Clifton area of town seem to have made better use of the land than might have seemed likely.  From low down beneath them, they seem awfully precarious but, since they have been there for well over 100 years, I guess they are reasonable solid.  The road in front of some of the buildings clearly seems to have been built up from very little with the arches supporting the roadway built on to the cliffs.  It all looks rather dramatic.  I suspect if you are up there, you are not as aware of what is beneath you but you will have little doubt of the vantage point you have looking across the surrounding countryside!

Birmingham Trams

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The tram system in Birmingham was built after I had last been there.  We were staying in the center of the city so I didn’t need to use it to get anywhere but our route from the hotel to the evening’s entertainment took as past some of the route.  I noted this for the following morning when I took a little stroll around the city which was much quieter on a Sunday morning than it had been on a Saturday night.  The tram service was clearly less frequent too.  However, I did see some of them come through and wasn’t going to miss a quick shot while I was at it!

One Flying Magister

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The selection of Magisters at California City was the subject of a previous post.  The day continued to improve, though, as a bunch of people showed up to take one of the planes flying.  They had come from France and had a crew of people both helping launch and also filming them in the process.  We were allowed to hang out close by to watch them go.  This did mean having to deal with the intense noise from the tiny turbojets that power the plane.

I shot both stills and video and we were able to get out close by the runway.  The video of the launch preparations was fun, but I wanted stills of the jet airborne, so I focused on getting those instead.  The Magister is a great looking little jet and, I imagine it is a bunch of fun to have some that are airworthy.  I imagine that, as warbirds go, it is probably one of the more affordable ones!

Brandon Park

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Our day in Bristol had a rough plan but not a terribly fixed itinerary.  I did want to check out Brandon Park since it appeared to have a nice view over the rest of the city.  That proved to be the case but that was because of the sizable hill climb involved in getting there.  At the end of our walk, this was a bit of an effort but it was worth it.  The park has a commanding position above the harbor and it provided a relaxing spot in the middle of the city (if you ignore the exertion to get there).

It has Cabot Tower at the top but that will have its own post.  In the surrounding areas, there are some gardens laid out with water features which caught me quite by surprise.  I wasn’t expecting something so structured up at the top of the hill and was very taken with how nice it was.  It was not the best of weather when we were there but I imagine on a sunny afternoon, the place would be heaving with people taking it easy.

Views Of St Pauls

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Our walk through the City last fall brought us out at St Paul’s.  It wasn’t part of our itinerary and is somewhere we have been before but it wasn’t like me to pass a landmark without taking some pictures.  The strange thing about shooting St Paul’s is that it is hemmed in on most sides with other buildings.  It has some space around it but not much given the size of the building.  Consequently, I was shooting some tighter shots to see what I could get.

Darkstar (Not The Real One) and Blackbird (The Real One)

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One of the bigger attractions at the Antelope Valley Air Show, held at Edwards AFB, was the appearance of the Darkstar plane from Top Gun Maverick.  Obviously not a real plane (and not even the real Darkstar which was a reconnaissance UAV that never progressed beyond testing), it was part of a hugely popular movie so garnered a ton of attention.  It was parked in the static display alongside a very real SR-71 Blackbird.  This was something I found far more interesting having seen them fly for real in my younger days.  The Darkstar was still fun to see. I am not that churlish.

Return to the Clifton Suspension Bridge

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When we lived in the UK, Nancy and I spent a weekend in Bristol as part of a visit to the balloon fiesta that is held there (or at least it was then – I don’t know whether it is still a big event or not).  As part of that visit, we did head up to Clifton which sits on the hills overlooking the center of Bristol.  The area is most famous for the Clifton Suspension Bridge spanning the gorge in which the River Avon runs.  Built by engineers based on a design that Brunel had originally proposed, it is quite a structure although the movement you feel in it as you walk across it is a little unsettling.

As you walk along the river from the harbor, you come around to get a good view from the underside of the bridge high above.  We walked up this way to get a little closer and I accepted the cloudy day for what it was and got some photos of the bridge.  You are walking along the river but also a rather busy road so it isn’t the most relaxing way to spend some time.  However, I did get a view from below to match the ones from above from our previous trip.

Merlin Tormenting Me

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During our stay in Longparish, we could hear the sound of helicopters on a regular basis.  We weren’t far from both RAF Odiham and Middle Wallop so getting military movements was to be expected.  Getting a camera to hand when they came over was another thing.  However, while on one walk, we did see a Royal Navy Merlin operating across the fields and behind some trees.  Getting a clear look at it was very difficult and, as we got closer to where it was on our walk, it naturally moved off somewhere else.  I never got a good shot.  Here is the best I could manage as they taunted me by remaining just out of reach.

Sheep Checking Us Out

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Our wanderings through the lanes of Longparish took us past a bunch of fields filled with sheep.  When they are young, sheep are super cute.  As they get older, not so much!  Also, my encounters with them over the years have suggested that they aren’t the brightest of creatures.  Doesn’t stop me finding them interesting, though.  These guys were munching their way around the fields, hiding under trees, licking tree trunks for some reason and occasionally coming close to the road to see who it was that was the other side of the fence.  There was no way I wasn’t going to take some pictures of them!

Seabus

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While in Vancouver in November, we made a trip to North Van to see some friends.  That meant a trip on the Seabus.  The tricky thing about getting images of the Seabus is that you can’t really do anything if you are traveling on it.  The dock is enclosed and the views are restricted so you don’t really have any options (or at least I haven’t worked out what they might be).  However, I did go to the heliport which is very close by and this does provide a better view of the comings and goings of these ferries.

It’s not the most elegant of vessels but it does the job effectively.  Back and forth without turning since it is a bi-directional vessel.  It’s all about shuttling across the harbor as efficiently as possible.  I did also shoot some video of it but it is safe to say that there is nothing terribly dynamic about it that makes for an exciting video!