Having spent much time near the sea, I have seen plenty of harbour masters’ offices over the years. They are usually pretty uninteresting. However, as we took the ferry out of Lymington heading across to the Isle of Wight, I saw this structure sitting outside the harbour. As harbour master offices go, this one is a little less accessible. I guess the parking is fine – provided that you have a boat. At least that is in keeping for the role.
The Watercress Line makes pretty regular appearances on this blog at the moment. Since it is close to home, if I am not doing something else, there is something on and the weather isn’t crummy, I might sneak across to get a few photos. One weekend morning, the Steam Gala was on. We had some plans later in the morning, but I figured the light would be best early and so headed across to Bishops Stoke to get some shots.
They had a variety of steam locos taking part (with the occasional diesel providing some support). Some were larger late generation locos, there were some tank engines and there was one that, to my untrained eye, looked like it was a lot older given the open area of the cab and the high chimney (is that the right term?). I used the same set up that I had tried previously with a longer lens handheld and a wide-angle lens set on the ground controlled by a Pocket Wizard. I also had the Insta360 mounted high on a fence to get some video.
The set up worked better this time. I had gone with a wider lens for the ground camera and also held the Pocket Wizard in a better way to allow a smoother transition from one shot to the other without any frantic fumbling! Overall, pretty happy with the way things worked out. I suspect I might head back for some of their other events this year if I am free (and the weather plays ball).
Taking the Red Jet out of Southampton took us past the other ships in the harbour and that included this vessel that was loaded up with blades for wind turbines. These blades are massive and having this many on one vessel was impressive. I don’t know whether this is for transporting them to other countries or is to take them offshore to be installed but it is a chunky boat. While the ship was the first thing that caught my eye, I then realised how many blades were sitting on the dockside behind it. The engineer in me would love to spend a bit of time having a look around that location!
The airlines have adopted the practice of writing their name on the underside of their planes. I am not sure if it was Emirates that started it but that was who I first noticed doing it and now others have followed suit. I haven’t seen the type written on the underside of the plane before, though. This bizjet flew over home on approach to Southampton. I can safely say I would have known what it was but apparently the owner wants to make sure no one is in any doubt about what type they are operating.
I have posted a number of shots from the demonstration that Griffon Hoverwork undertook with Solent Express before she was sold. During the demo, I also took a load of video. The stills are something I like but the dynamics of the motion of the hovercraft and the flow of the spray around the vehicle are cool to watch and video is the only way that really allows that to be shared. It was a windy day, so the spray flows were really interesting as the hovercraft slew around. It took me quite a while to get around to editing the video, but it is finally done. I haven’t added any music because people often like the the raw noise. That also includes a lot of wind noise when the hovercraft is far away so be ready for that!
A sunny Sunday in late April found me out in the countryside on a photo hunt. As I was walking back to the car, I saw a vintage green Jaguar pass by, and I didn’t have the camera to hand. I was a touch disappointed, but it wasn’t the end of the world. A short while later, I saw a red MG heading towards me and this time I was prepared to get a shot. Stopping off in New Alresford about ten minutes later, the Jag came by again and I did get a shot. I guess, if you own a convertible old car, you get it out as soon as the sun appears. I shall be watching for plenty more.
I won’t say too much about this one. Instead, I will let the image do the talking. I hope it shows up large enough to read on here. A gravestone that is in Winchester Cathedral grounds tells the tale of the death of a soldier. Apparently, he should have stuck with stronger beer. Heed this lesson everyone!
While walking on my regular route around the nature reserve, I saw a hoodie that someone had left on the fence. I imagined that there was a chance that they would come back this way and find it and was going to move on but then I saw a shape on the fabric which enticed me to look closer. This spider had taken up residence on the hoodie and seemed quite at home in the sun. I don’t know spider species so have no idea what this is, but it looked rather fascinating.
After her time on the beach, the Griffon Hoverwork team took Solent Express back out to sea. Once on the water, they proceeded to give a demonstration of the manoeuvrability of the craft as they spun her around on the spot and then sped up to make a few passes. Despite her size, it was made to look easy to control her direction and to pivot in next to no space. Given that this is all done with the ducting of the rear fans and the two front nozzles whilst countering some wind, it was most impressive.
They then came back ashore which I hadn’t expected. There were a few people onboard that need to disembark before the hovercraft departed so we got another view of the landing and departure before they headed out to see and back up the Solent in the direction of their base at Ryde. It was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning.
Back to last summer and I was out on the bike for a ride. I was doing a climb over a hill in Bighton and, once I came over the summer, I descended along a road that crosses the Watercress Line. I stopped to have a drink while sitting on the bridge and heard a diesel approaching. It turned out that it was the weekend of their diesel gala and I had timed my arrival well.
A couple of guys were in the process of taking a loco out of the sidings while a train was heading back towards Alresford. I am not a specialist when it comes to diesels but even I can read the number on the side. This was apparently a Class 46 pulling a train of customers. It was entering the station at Ropley and this is one of the passing places on the line so I figured there was a chance another train would be coming the other way.
This proved to be the case. I think the loco coming the other way is a Western but might be mistaken so be gentle in the comments if this is wrong. As it pulled out of Ropley, the air above it was black with sooty smoke. These older locos are definitely not clean burning! Since it was accelerating uphill, it was working hard – hence the serious darkening of the sky! With it on its way, I had taken enough rest, and it was time to continue on my ride.
