Tag Archives: travel

No Low Flying in These Valleys Today

There were a couple of days while we were in the Lake District when the weather was misty. In some places, it burned off as the day warmed up but in others it lingered. The Lakes can be a popular place for low level flying by military jets but, when the mist stays, there is not going to be sufficient visibility to get down low and fast. While I might have liked to have some planes come through, the contrast with the lower parts of the valleys in the clear with the mist on the hills around was very appealing.

Glasgow Airport Brings Some Variety (At Least for Me)

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I have had to make a few trips to Glasgow recently and, while some of them involved the train up, I did also fly on occasion. This meant I had some time at Glasgow Airport waiting for my flight home. British Airways and EasyJet are regular features at Glasgow so nothing new about them. However, you get some visitors from Europe and Loganair has a number of turboprops based there so this was a nice chance to see something different to the norm (although I get plenty of ATRs passing the house).

Herdwick Sheep

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I wasn’t previously aware that there is a breed of sheep that is predominantly localised to the Lake District. These are Herdwick Sheep. They are well suited to the rugged terrain of the Lakes and can handle living in the exposed countryside throughout the year. They have quite a distinctive look and the colours of their fleeces are unusual. We saw plenty of them during our visit and I loved the different looks of them as they age. My favourite is when they are in the grey phase. I just thought they looked really interesting.

Buttermere Looks Gorgeous

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We took a trip to Buttermere while up in the Lakes. Buttermere is not a huge lake so provides a nice walk around its perimeter. When we got there, it was still quite misty, but the sun progressively burnt through, and we were treated to some lovely views along the shore and across the water. Here are a few shots I took while we walked around the lake.

Sizergh Castle Gardens

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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.

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.

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.

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!

The Backyard at Pima is Interesting

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The museum at Pima is well stocked with interesting aircraft. However, the backyard beyond the fence for the museum area also provides some interesting stuff. Some of these things are going to be museum exhibits before too long but I am not sure all of them are. During my last visit, there were a few things of note when peering over the fence.

Probably the one that will get most attention is an F-117 Nighthawk. It was sitting alongside a SEPECAT Jaguar (big fave of mine) and an F/A-18C Hornet. There was a Royal Norwegian Air Force P-3 Orion and I think that was in for some work rather than ready to be displayed. Another P-3 was there in AWACS configuration as previously used by the Coast Guard. The fuselage of a Tunnan was close to the fence while a pair of Dash 7s were sitting without engines. An old United 727 was further off as well. What an amazing collection of stuff to get as a bonus during a visit.