Tour to Dublin

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[I didn’t fancy carrying around the DSLR on this trip, so these pictures are from my trusty compact, a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS35]

My first visit to Dublin [I’d visited before, but a few years ago] was in the form of a choir tour with some good friends. We decided to get the ferry from Fishguard, which made for a ridiculously long day’s travelling [never again], but at least we could admire the wildlife on the ferry crossing!

Seagull

Once we arrived, after a spot of singing and a lot of pubbing, we had a day to explore the city. We went on a brilliant river boat cruise, which took in some of Dublin’s famous bridges, including the striking, modern Samuel Beckett bridge.

Samuel Beckett bridge

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WWI commemoration – #LightsOut

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“The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime”

Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Secretary, August 1914

Marking 100 years since the start of the devastating First World War, we joined others across the country in lighting a candle as part of the ‘Lights Out’ WWI commemoration. It was wonderful to see the candles flickering in the windows up and down the street, along with the huge spotlight over London, courtesy of the ArtAngel Spectra project.

Candle

A journey to the Transport Museum

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Having been meaning to go for ages, we meandered our way to the Transport Museum for an afternoon amongst London’s rich and varied transport history. We were glad of the half-price entry we received from attending ‘Tubespotting’, Geoff Marshall’s hilarious Edinburgh Fringe preview show. We’d come across him via his videos on Londonist’s website (about the Tube, funnily enough) but it turns out he’s also the world record holder for visiting all the tube stations. Speedily. Videos, comedy shows and his twitter feed (@geofftech) come highly recommended for any other transport geeks.

Anyway, back to this afternoon out. We first encountered an intricate model of the ‘cut and cover’ construction technique used to make the earliest tube network:

Cut and cover construction

And got slightly freaked out by this historical wooden tube carriage, where you could sit amongst disapproving Victorian commuters…

Wooden tube carriage

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Soho Village Fete

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After a night out and getting home at 4am, we needed a very lazy morning to recover. We got up late and headed to Soho for the Village Fete. We saw some dancers and much bunting…

Soho Village Fete dancers

…and the Soho Waiters’ Race – apparently a long-held tradition! [Some took the “race” part more seriously than others]

Waiters' Race

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Quick visit to Richmond

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[Just the iPhone 5s today, DSLR stayed at home]

On another beautifully sunny Sunday (we’ve been very lucky this summer) the Month of Sundays pair headed out to Richmond to see what we could find. We stumbled upon a particularly retro Tesco Express:

Posh Tesco

If you don’t mind a bit of a walk, there’s a free car park near the National Trust’s Ham House, from where we walked along the river to the centre. There were some extremely photogenic cows:

View over Richmond park

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The Vyne, Hampshire

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[Due to an unfortunate incident the DSLR was out of action for this trip, so the iPhone 5s had to step in]

Recently, we decided to spend a day away from London and headed to The Vyne, a beautiful Tudor house in Hampshire.

The Vyne

Coincidentally, they were having a Tudor weekend so we got involved – with a hog roast and traditional pastimes, such as archery. There was a bit of girly success here, which was extremely exciting (please note the arrow directly in the centre…) [Please also note that it was an unsporting extra arrow that gifted this victory]

Golden arrow

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Trip to the Isle of Wight

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[My Canon 600D was unfortunately out of action for this trip, but my flatmate kindly lent me his Nikon 3200, so all was not lost]

We recently had a wonderful trip to the Isle of Wight for a weekend away. Expecting rain, we were pleased and surprised to have hot, dry weather and beautiful blue sky for all three days. We visited beautiful, unspoilt beaches like this one and paddled (although the pebbles were painful!).

Isle of Wight beach

Walking down to another beach, we found a stream of little notes, taped to branches and fenceposts, and sometimes to the path itself. So romantic! [She gets excited about these things.] We decided it must be for a husband or boyfriend returning from the army.

Returning love notes

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Black Country Living Museum

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A little bit geographically removed from our usual stomping ground, we headed up to Birmingham for a family Easter weekend. One of the activities on the agenda was a trip to the Black Country Living Museum. A fan of similar setups like Beamish, we were very excited to see what this museum had to offer. And we weren’t disappointed!

An old fashioned fairground to start – one of us [I think you can guess which one] *may* have been busted with a sneaky hand over the side to slow the helter-skelter pace a little bit…

Helter Skelter

Some gorgeous old trolleybuses to excite the Northerner (plus we’re both secret [and not so secret] transport geeks…)

Trolleybus

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Exeter Cathedral

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As we mentioned in this post, we enjoy a bit of singing, a pastime which takes us to beautiful buildings and cities (and sometimes we’re even paid to go to these places!). A little bit off the beaten track, Exeter is a lovely city with plenty to do and a simply stunning cathedral.

Exeter Cathedral window

Amazing vaulting in the main nave – and beautiful organ:

Exeter Cathedral nave

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