Tag Archives: travel

Painswick

Another famous Cotswold village about which I knew nothing is Painswick. I am beginning to think that I am clueless about my own country! Even so, I managed to get us there (even if a little GPS assistance was involved).

Painswick is another of those old towns that boomed in a time before industrialization when the local production and access to a river meant it was well suited to commerce. Apparently the town flourished in more than one area if the local signs are anything to go by but if you want to know the details, Google will be more helpful to you than I. The town has an interesting selection of old buildings a winding streets but the area that was of most interest to me was around the church.

As befits a community that had a lot of cash, they had a big church. The idea of buying your way into heaven has obviously been around a long time! While the church is impressive, what really catches the eye is the topiary collection in the churchyard. There are many yew trees that have been trimmed and shaped together over a long period of time. The result is many shapes and archways across the paths all formed from the trees. The town may not be the booming center it once was but it still knows how to take care of itself and these displays really impress.

The rest of the town is worth a wander around too and that is what we did for a couple of hours. If you are in the area, pay it a visit. Then you will know as much about it as me!

Bibury

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Nancy had looked at some possible places to visit while we were in the Cotswolds and one of them was Bibury. I had never heard of the place but it turns out that this is one of the most photographed places in the UK. I guess I should have known about it but I didn’t. The photogenic area is a row of old cottages that are down near the river. We certainly took a look but we also wandered around the rest of the village which is pretty without needing the most visited sections.

The heart of the village is the church. It was a pretty nice looking building but surrounded by some places that were either not too appealing or were being rebuilt and were covered in scaffolding. A little careful angling meant I could avoid the worst of the backgrounds. The graveyard was also an interesting place to look around and see just how old some of the grave were.

We did return to the most visited part of the village. Coach loads of people would show up every once in a while so we did our best to avoid them and find times when they weren’t filling up the view. Also, it was an effort to try and minimize the cars in the shot. When you live in an old home, you don’t have parking included. Therefore, you park outside your house. Perfectly reasonable for the homeowner but having colorful modern cars is not what you want when taking a picture of centuries old buildings!

I can certainly see why the place is so popular with the tourists. It really is about as typical of an English country village. No idea why I had never heard of it but now I have so all is good.

Burford

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Our stay in the Cotswolds needed a base and Burford was the place we chose. It is Oxfordshire rather than Gloucestershire but just about sneaks in on the edge of an area that I don’t think has a hard boundary anyway. Burford is an old market town and looks just like you would expect a Cotswold town to look. The buildings are all Cotswold stone and fit your image of what you would want. Apart from providing a nice location and a great hotel, it also provided the opportunity to take some walks without having to drive anywhere.

One walk we took was a loop starting and finishing at the hotel. It was a lovely day for a walk (and not just because I could see Hercules and A330s flying from nearby RAF Brize Norton in the distance!). The sun also seemed to be attracting a large number of pheasants. Every time we came around a corner, there seemed to be more pheasants hanging out in our path.

The walk provided a variety of sights as we went. Some wide open hillsides which had been harvested so were easy to cross, wooded areas, small valleys with trees either side and riverside sections meant the outing was constantly interesting. We saw some very old churches, some long views and a selection of wildlife.

The river had swans and geese that were interested in our presence and one section of the footpath included some young cattle. They were not huge since they were young but young cattle are still pretty chunky. While they were busy eating, we appeared to be of no interest. However, once we got a little closer, they got curious and came to greet us. We took a little care since, while they were not going to harm us, they can push you around without realizing it.

The last part of the walk brought us back in through the village and to the hotel. Given how much we were eating and drinking on this trip, it was a good thing to get some exercise in at last!

Oxford

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Our UK trip included a stay in the Cotswolds. While we were there, we wanted to take a look at Oxford. It has been a long time since I was last there and my previous visit was an ad hoc trip so we didn’t really see all that we could. This time, we took a guided walking tour of the city center. The guy who took the tour, Jacob, was a local lad and a student at the university. He had plenty of information at his finger tips and I suspect most of it was true. How would we know?

The tour focused on the area in the center of the city around some of the older and more famous colleges as well as some of the university buildings. It was a lovely day and the city was very busy. Consequently, pictures taken were holiday snaps – no time to try and be too artistic. We did have a shorter second loop after the tour though so I could go back and look at some places in slower time rather than get hurried on to the next part of the tour.

It is an old city with some great architecture. The school is okay I suppose but there are better establishments of learning if you are serious about your studies! As the parochial cousins go, though, they do okay. It all ended up with us having a pint at a pub down by the river so it really could not be considered a bad day.

Hovercraft Museum

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Pete and I had another detour after visiting Portsmouth. Just along the coast is Lee-On-Solent which used to be a Naval airfield and now is used for a variety of other things. One is a museum of hovercraft. They have quite a collection which I would like to see one day and Pete has taken a look at. They include two Super 4 hovercraft that used to ply their trade across the English Channel taking people and their cars on their way. We used this en route to France a long time ago. Now they are retired and part of the museum collection.

They are not alone with a number of other hovercraft stored alongside them, some of which look like they might be ones I have used on my travels as well. A quick chat to the tower, a healthy eye out for the glider operations and we were clear to do a quick orbit and get some shots. Very nice.

Portsmouth Harbour (It’s a British Harbor so the spelling is right)

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Pete and I continued our flying excursion with a trip to Portsmouth. We wanted to take a look at the forts out in the Solent since one of them would be part of our fun the following day. However, we were also interested in seeing the dockyards at Portsmouth. For those that don’t know Portsmouth, it is the home of the Royal Navy. The Navy has been based there for centuries and it is still home to a substantial portion of the fleet – even if that is a lot smaller than it used to be. There are also moorings for out of commission warships which is what we were actually interested in seeing.

We weren’t sure how open the airspace was to us. The charts did not show any issue but we checked in with the radar service to tell them what we had in mind and they said it was no problem so we headed across. Spinnaker Tower is a large structure that has been built as part of the redevelopment of the dock area. We flew past it and checked out the moored old warships. Then we did a loop around to see the docks themselves. This includes HMS Victory, Nelson’s flagship from the Battle of Trafalgar. She looks great from above. Next to her is the building housing the recovered wreck of the Mary Rose, Henry VIII’s flagship. These are both worth visiting if you ever find yourself there.

Cowes – Where I Used to Live

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More of our Isle of Wight flying here. Just a short highlight of a place I spent a lot of my childhood. Cowes is the place I lived and went to school for a number of years. We lived in a few places but our last home was in an apartment on the seafront. It was a great spot and I enjoyed living there. So much to see. We flew over it and I managed to grab one shot of our old place. I also got a shot my old school which appears to be about to be demolished with a huge new set of building having sprung up on our old playing fields.

A few shots of the harbor were also possible as we orbited around before we headed off to our next stop!

Boats from Above

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Continuing with the round the Island flight that Pete and I took, we ended up having a bit of a maritime excursion. It seems that anyone with a boat was out waiting for us, whatever form those boats took. As we reached Yarmouth, the Wightlink ferry was arriving so I got a shot of it. As we reached Cowes, the Red Funnel ferry was coming out so we got it too. Just off Cowes, the paddle steamer Waverly was blasting along (she really can move) so an orbit of her was required.

On to Fishbourne and two more Wightlink ferries. One was just departing and the other just arriving. They have to turn around at this point so a little dance ensues as seen from above. Then it was on to Ryde and there we get a hovercraft making its arrival. None of this was planned so I guess we were just on a lucky roll. Then, as we headed across to Portsmouth, the catamaran from Ryde was on its way so we got a shot of that too. I guess that is a full set for access to the Island!

The Needles

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My relative Pete shares a number of interests with me with flying being a big one. He is an airline pilot currently flying 747s but he also has a Piper Arrow that has been in the family for decades. He maintains this on the Isle of Wight and, with us coming across to see my mum, he was keen to go and play. As has been the case a few times recently, the weather was not ideal but we still had enough to go so we took a trip around the Island.

One of the Isle of Wight’s most famous landmarks is The Needles. A chalk outcrop at the western end of the island with a lighthouse built on the end of it, I am by no means the first person to photograph it. When I first learned to fly and took people on trips around the Island, this was always the bit everyone wanted to see.

I was shooting through the windows of the Arrow which is not ideal but they were in pretty good shape and I managed to avoid too many reflections. The Needles looked as impressive as ever and we got a pretty good look before heading on to Alum Bay, home of the multicolored sands. On an overcast day, the colors were hardly popping but you can take my word for it, the colors really do vary!

Olympia Capitol building

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I was in Olympia WA recently for some meetings. The meetings were near the state capitol and with some time free at lunchtime, I wandered over to have a look around. The building is quite similar in form to a number of capitol buildings with a domed structure topping the main building. It was very nicely decorated with it being impressive without be too grandiose. I met one of the building guides as I came in and she kindly showed me around including letting me into one of the function rooms that is normally locked.

George Washington appears throughout the building in various places as you might expect for a state named after him. Neither chamber was sitting while I was there so I could go to the visitors galleries for both and walk around without restrictions. We even got to go into the Governor’s office to see the room in which he holds meetings with visitors. (We didn’t go into the office he occupies as I think he was in there at the time!) The grounds around the capitol were very nice too and it was a great day so not a bad way to spend a lunch break.