30th April photo - new GPS

Thelma & I have been out walking again today. We did a seven mile hike along the Darnford Walk in the Shropshire Hills around Ratlinghope and we were able to do 2 geocaches as well.

I was strict with myself and decided not to take too many photos today - as it is so hard to choose just one - so todays photo is our GPS's.

We have both just bought new ones - the Garmin Oregon - which is meant to be an all singing all dancing version. But I am still getting used to mine. We had our old Garmin Venture Etrex ones for a year now and they did us very well - but with these new ones - all the information about the caches is contained within the unit, so we don't need to print out tons & tons of paper info for each cache - so it should save me money - by using less paper & ink - well thats what I am telling Steven! You can't see the screens very well in the photo and in fact they are quite hard to see in real life and if the sun is shinning - its hopeless - so they are not perfect by any means.

Just 2 photos of me with the caches we found along the route.

29th April photo- a lovely long walk with some lovely friends

I have been out for a nice long walk today - 7.5 miles around the Ellesmere lakes with a group of friends. The weather was beautiful, the scenery stunning and the company great - so a super day out. I have my usual problem of which photo to choose for POTD!

I think it will probably be this one.

Though this group one is nice as well!

Kathy & Eileen

A nice group photo whilst we stopped for elevenses!

Karen P.

Carol & Julie

The girls doing their ballet exercises at the bar!

Debs & Angela

The area we walked in is beautiful so here are a few scenic shots - a beautiful chocolate box thatched cottage which overlooked one of the meres.

Rolling Shropshire countryside.

if you look very carefully at this photo you will see a tiny baby gosling sticking his head out of his mother's wings!

28th April photo - lazy day!

Well I won't tell you what time I got out of bed today - but suffice to say I was following my Chiropractors advice to rest - so I did not feel too guilty. Trouble was this did not leave me much time for a POTD - so stopped on the way home to photograph a building I have always noticed as we passed through - even as a young child.


This water wheel is in Wales at a place called Furnace and the building is a furnace built in 1755 to make iron - so it must be where the village got its name from.

This water fall is right next to it and where the energy supply for the furnace was obtained from. I would love to see it in action. I don't think it works anymore though.

27th April photo - not sure which one yet!

As I was in Wales taking Steven - I decided that I might as well stay in Wales, so I headed down to the caravan for a few days. I have been out walking today. I did the coastal path walk from Clarach Bay to Borth - it took me a good 4 hours of solid walking and my legs ached afterwards as it was much steeper than I had expected.

The reason it was not as level as I had hoped, was that the path kept dipping down to the sea - which was lovely as I sat and watched the waves - but a killer on the legs to get back up the cliff.

The path was very narrow and at sometimes very close to the edge - so that I had to tread carefully otherwise I would have disappeared down the cliff face!

After a little afternoon siesta I was back out exploring new places. The Cwm Rheidol valley is so beautiful that the photos do not do it justice. This the view over Aberystwyth.

and this is the view in the opposite direction over the Plylimon ranges.

This gorgeous view has not been cropped because the 2 black blobs at the top are actually the very first buzzards I have seen. I also saw my first red Kite today.

A closer shot of the buzzards. I found this fascinating old AA box at Devils Bridge - I wonder how old it is.

And the hillsides are covered in these - I am not really sure what I think of them yet - are they a blot on the landscape or an environmental necessity?

26th April photo - back among the mountains!

Not walking them unfortunatley, but still close enough to amire their magic.

Steven's birthday clebrations continued today with me taking him to Snowdonia for his other big birthday present - a weeks kyaking course at Plas Y Brenin. We hope that he will come back competent and safe to go out kyaking on the sea at the caravan.

This is the lake at the centre where they practice - after getting the basics in the heated indoor pool. Once they are deemed safe on the lake they move to a nearby river and then by the end of the week - the open sea! Its not my cup of tea as I get too travel sick on the water - but he really enjoyed it when he kyaked in the sea at St Lucia - I think the sea was a bit warmer there though!

These are the mountains surrounding the centre - it is set in a beautiful area - I am so jealous that he gets to spend a whole week there.

After I had dropped him off I got my GPS out and found that there were a few caches around by the centre so I spent some time finding these and admiring the views and desperately hoping that I will be back walking in them very soon. Just look at this inviting path heading up the hill from this lake!

I grabbed a random stanger to take my photo at this Earth cache - you have to post your photo to prove you have been there!



Its not just the mountains that are beautiful here - the lakes are just as lovely and I spent a while just sitting beside these contemplating and watching the world go by.

25th April photo - happy birthday darling

Today is Steven's 50th birthday - happy birthday old man!

So here is the birthday boy!

We have had a lovely morning already. The girls got up early and decorated the house with balloons and banners and laid up the table for a breakfast full of the treats he likes - croissants and Cinnamon whirls.

After breakfast he opened his 50 presents - one for each year of his life. It took ages but he liked all the little gifts.Present No. 50 was the best - a Mac Book. Liam is already a total Apple convert and I am hoping Steven will become one now. He is all set up and playing with it now - we all had fun on Photo Booth - very silly but very funny.

And this one is the best of all - Liam is laughing!!

24th April photo - my camera

Whilst trying what to think to choose for today's photo - it occurred to me that my constant companion at the moment is my camera - where ever I go, it goes as well - but apart from the end result I had no evidence to show which camera I use - so today's pic is my Nikon D40.

I quite like my camera - but don't use it to the best of its ability - it stays on auto. I have done a couple of courses, but I am so forgetful that I can't remember which are the best settings to use - I should practice more! I dream about owning a Nikon D700 but as my cameras are thrown into my grubby geocaching bag and I already have dust inside this camera that I can't get rid of - don't think that I really deserve such a super monster ( thankfully I can't afford one anyway!)

I have 2 other cameras - both Panasonic which are fab - a compact one and a bridge one. I really like these cameras and they are so easy to carry and to use - no having to change lenses all the time, but on blance the DSLR does produce better photos (usually).