19th September photo - Conkers

We drove down to Hemel Hempstead today to stay with my sister overnight before heading into London tomorrow. We went for a lovely walk along the Grand Union canal and there were lots of conker tress about - shedding their lovely fruit. So today's photo is another Autumnal photo. We used to have lots of Conkers in the house when the children were little as they loved collecting them - but they are all too grown up for that now - so just photographed these and left them where they were.

18th September 2009 - Oxford

I had another day out in Oxford today - not the best time I have had I must admit though. I had planned to do lots of geocaching and clear up most of the ones I had not tackled. But when I switched my GPS on - none of the information had been transferred to my machine so I was stumped. I ended up finding an internet cafe and writing down all the information I needed and inputting it manually - not much fun and very time consuming. In the end I only had time for 8 and of these only found 5 - see I am still jinxed!

It was very busy in Oxford as it was the University open day - but this did mean that lots of the colleges which are usually closed were open - so I got to see some different places and take some new snaps.

The journey home was awful - nearly an hour to get out of Oxford and then stuck in Birmingham M6 rush hour for another hour - remind me never to go near the M6 again - oops no good - got to hit it again tomorrow - travelling to London!

Not sure which one will be my POTD yet. This is Keeble College - rather unusual because it is built out of decorated bricks rather than the traditional yellow Oxfordshire sandstone.

This is Oxford University Press building - very grand and I have never been to this part of Oxford before and it was very nice.
The gorgeous Christ Church College.

Lots of the colleges have Ivy / Virginia creeper growing over them which looks quite striking.

A nice arty shot outside University College.

It is very grand - but they had a big white marquee in the grounds for open day - so I could only get high up shots of it.

This is one of the quads at Merton college.

and this another one - I could just imagine Morse climbing these staircases looking for evidence.

And this is the clock and ringer on the Carfax tower. On the hour the soldiers move and chime the bells - but I was too pushed for time today to wait 15 minutes to catch them in action!

17th September photo - carrot cake

A day at home today produced some fine baking including this carrot, fruit & nut cake with lemon frosting. This is the first recipe I have made from my new Philadelphia cookbook and very nice it is too.

Do you think spoiling one's photo set up is grounds for divorce? My hubby came into the kitchen watched me setting up this shot and take 2 photos and then just marched up and cut the slice in half!! He could not understand why I might be slightly miffed with him. I then to cut another slice and start all over again!

16th September photo - The Arrans

T & I have been back into Wales for a good old walk up the Arans. Last week I was high up above Bala Lake and today I was looking down on it but from a different direction. Aran Fawddy is nearly 3000 feet hight (2970' to be exact) and did I know it. I found it quite a struggle - but the gorgeous views were ample reward to all the effort.

This beautiful shot of the sunlight down over the sea (Harlech I think) is going to be my POTD. Thanks to T for taking this photo as I was too exhausted to even press my camera's shutter at this point!

This is where the day started - our first cache find - overlooking the lovely Bala lake - little did I know that this lake would later become just a distant speck!

As we climbed higher it became smaller & smaller.

When we reached the summit - 4 hours later - the views were just outstanding - but as always too outstanding for my camera to do them any justice at all. To be surrounded by all this natural beauty is heart stopping and such an incentive to spur me on to loose all this extra weight again - so that it will be easier for me to get up to such view points without so much difficulty.

At the summit we found another cache (we found 4 in all today).

There was one more cache to be found up here and we were just deciding whether to go for it or not, when the clouds and mist suddenly descended on us - decision made - not today - so were made our way back down. It was rather scary in the mist and I did have a little wobbly moment fearing for my life as there steep cliffs either side of us!

There were more crags & rocks completely hidden behind this mist.

The geology of the region was very clearly demonstrated by the gigantic rocks everywhere and here the different layers of quartz were clear to see.

Another great day out.

15th September photo - around Kerry with Pat

Today Pat & went out walking and geocaching around Kerry & Newtown in Mid Wales. We were lucky again with the weather - nice and sunny all day. We were not so lucky with finding the caches though - we did find 8, but 3 eleuded us. I am beggining to think I am jinxed at the moment with all these that I cannot find.

I think today' s photo will be this one of us at Dolforwyn Castle. We were laughing because she had just got some simple maths wrong - which would have have sent us looking for the cache in the wrong direction! Thankfully I had got mine right for a change.

The castle was perched high up on the hill giving us great views all around. It was still quite misty which I think gives it a romantic / serene touch to the photo.

Any serentiy we might have felt at looking at the views, were soon banished by the workmen's singing!! They were there maintaining the site - but they did not sing like Welshmen - our cue to leave I think!

This is the well at the castle dug in around 1200 - before then they relied on rainwater for their supplies.

After the castle we went and found a cache along the Montgomeryshire canal - it was lovely and SO different to the industrial canal at Ellesmere Port yesterday.

We then walked over Penarron Hill at Kerry. It was a lovely walk of about 2 hours and we were rewarded with a final cache at this delightful pool overlooking the Welsh scenery below.

14th September photo - Canalside sign

Just one photo for today! Today I walked along some part of the Shropshire Union Canal around Ellesmere Port. Luckily this sign was photogenic - because unfortunately the rest of the canal side was not. I am used to Shropshire's prettified up canals - here they were well & truly industrial - raw grime and all sorts -so not the nicest of subjects.

13th September photo - Liverpool - sorry LOADS of photos!

I am spending a couple of days in Liverpool. Here are just a small selection from the first day.

We met Eleanor in the evening and strolled around the park by her home. We bumped into Katya (who Eleanor is living with at the moment) and her gorgeous brown eyed dog.

There was a children's play ground and the 'grown up' children could not wait to have a go!

Why is it that City playgrounds are always so much better than town ones. We have a few slides and swings and that's about it! This one was real fun!

I found this lambannana at The Estuary business park. I thought they had all disappeared after the year of culture had finished so it was a nice surprise to discover this one along with a geocache.
The following photos were taken at Allerton Towers - a lovely park which used to be very grand - but the big house has long since disappeared, leaving just this lodge house and the ruins of the orangery.

I had al lovely walk along the promenade along side the Estuary. It has recently been updated - with lots of Maritime sculptures & artefacts and makes a really nice walk.

my first visit was to Sefton Park - which I have heard about but never visited. It was very nice! I found this statue of Eros - the god of requited love. I like the story of how if his arrow hits you you fall in fall in love with the sender - unrequited love no more!

I think this statue of Eros is going to be my POTD.

The day started off here at the Albert Docks - where I left Liam to go and do some shopping. Liverpoool One is a very good place to visit if you like to shop. Steven met a mini bus here to take him on the National Trust tour of John Lennon & Paul McCartney childhood homes - he had a fantastic time as he is a real Beatles fan.