Day out – Page 8 – Neil Baldwin's blog : Warning contains walking, technology, photography, holidays.

Expensive trip to London

We had not been to London for quite some time, so we had fixed this weekend to be one a day free for us to do a trip to the wildlife photographer of the Year exhibition, landscape photographer of the Year exhibition and a walk showing film locations in London from Russell Square which is free.

We got the train from Berkhamsted then got on a but to Waterloo Station. The bus dumped us at the lower level entrance of Waterloo Helen had a fag then we walked into the station taking as it was clear that there was not any room for a photography exhibition, so we got the escalators up and arrived in the area that I recognises been Waterloo station then up one to the mezzanine where I could see photos. The photo exhibition was excellent quite a mixture of photos some using wide angle lens, as you would expect, and others using telephoto lenses less usual. Interestingly there was quite a lot of processing going on, as well as stitched panoramas and HDR photos which surprised me. It was clear that you don’t need lots of expensive kit however, from reading the captions, I believe every single one of them was taken with a DSLR.

The plan was to walk from Waterloo via the parks and Buckingham Palace to the Natural History Museum, but after we had walked across Westminster Bridge and dodged The Tourists taking selfies I suggested that rather waste time walking we grab a cab to the Natural History Museum because we were running a little short of time and it was close to lunch time.

Taxi journey cost us 11 quid, life’s too short to be taking the underground. There was a queue to get into the museum and I was a bit worried that we may not be able to get tickets will the wildlife photographer of the Year exhibition. Then I remembered you could book online so we tried for 1 o’clock tickets but there were none free, so I tried again for 1:15 tickets and was able to get them by the time we got the front of the queue.

Once we have had a bag check and got into the main lobby of the museum I found a museum helper who was able to direct us to where the cafe was however she was unable to offer advice on which one was less busy. We opted for the restaurant where they have a slightly unusual process where you order your food at the till, pay for it and then get taken to a table to wait for your food. When we were taken to a table I requested a table over in the quiet areas to avoid all the screaming kids in the main area.

Lunch was OK I had Falafel Mezze and Helen Pizza. Our timing was perfect the WPOTY exhibition time we had was only a couple of minutes away and just down the corridor. We had pre-booked tickets and were ushered to the front of the queue and straight into the exhibition. The great thing about seeing the exhibition in London is that all the photos are in darkened rooms and are back light, the disadvantage is that it is very popular, so being tall is an advantage. Usually we go view the exhibition in the Tring branch of the Natural History Museum but this year, much the the annoyance of many, they are only showing a sample of the pictures. Once again the quality of the pictures was excellent and some of the lengths people go to to get them, for example camping out in Arctic conditions for days waiting for the right moment.

By the time we had finished viewing the exhibit it was clear that that we would not make the walk rendezvous at 14:00, so we wandered around the side streets of Kensington. We walked down a lot of mews interestingly some of them very high end renovations and some which had not been touched since the 60/70’s. We walked around the edge of The Serpentine in Hyde Park, where the birds and water fowl are very trusting, and I got a few pictures.

Next we decided that we would hop on the bus of tube and head back to Euston but I had lost my travel card so bus was out of the question, and we would have to use the tube. Helen hates the tube, and whilst we were waiting a woman was being hysterical up the far end of the platform, then when the train arrived it was packed, so we gave it a miss. Helen suggested getting the tube in the other direction then changing at another station. We got on the tube but at the first stop Helen decided she had had enough, and we got off and and grabbed a cab to Euston where I bought a one-way ticket to Berkhamsted and we got the next train back.

All in all a very enjoyable day if a bit expensive. For me 1.5 train tickets, a tube ticket and two taxis.

Osprey at Weston Turville reservoir

Since the first week of our holiday I had seen reports on Twitter of an Osprey at Weston Turville reservoir, a local to home reservoir. It is pretty small as reservoirs go there is a sailing club but they sail small boats like Lasers. I would say it is about 200 metres by 300-400 metres. I thought I should check it out, so I dropped Helen off at her folks and popped round.

The signs were good there were bird watchers there with scopes and binoculars. I enquired about the Osprey it had apparently made an appearance earlier and caught two fish, but had not been seen for a while. Time lapse and birding are quite complimentary as you can set the camera up and use the waiting time to watch for birds. That is exactly what I did, I tried out my new panning device bought on Amazon for less tgat £20, basically a good quality kitchen timer.

I had done one sequence and popped over to start a new one, taking in the sailing rave tgat had just started and noticed that the other bird watchers had got all excited. The Osprey was back, it circled over the water for a while, giving me a chance to get some shots, as it passed over the bank end of the reservoir, then headed off towards Stoke Mandeville. Mission accomplished, next I popped up to Coombe hill to get some more sequences, there was s nothing like doing something to get proficient at it, the old 10,000 hours theory.

I put the GoPro on the panorama plinth at the monument, at the top of Coombe hill, it got some funny looks and some questions but I managed to do 20 minutes which equates to 120 degrees of panning. Some people were I view at times but I hoped that it would add to the final video, remember every day is a school day.

The rest of the day was spent processing photo’s and videos and catching up on missed TV especially “This is England 90”

Journey home via Stourhead National Trust

There was not much to do in the morning as we had cleared most of the house the night before. We left the hut at 09:35 with Helen’s parents with us for the journey home, lunch would be at Stourhead NT which was about the half way point and convenient for lunch. The traffic was heavy but nothing really held us up apart from the odd queue at major junctions. Stourhead Was busy as the sun was out and it was warm, but we easily found a table in the Cafe.

The courgette and minted pea soup went down well, as did Helen’s cheese scone. We did a light stroll around the park via the gardens, but did not bother with the house. There was a wedding on and I suspect there is most weekends, the photographers seemed to be numerous on the ground so probably an expensive one.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful other than wasting 30 minutes having to stop at a Tesco to check the pressure of the tyres as the warning light had come on. We stopped at Waitrose in Berkhamsted for some dinner then dropped Helen’s folks off at home before getting home to have a ready made curry, watch the rugby, and start to download the 600 odd pictures that need to be sorted and filtered.

Last day of holiday at Croyde Bay

Another slow start for me, the more enthusiastic ones were down on the beach walking or paddling, followed by hot drinks. People had mentioned plans, pottering around the local point and beach, and body boarding. For myself I thought it would be good to go to Lee and walk out to Bull Point and back.

View from Coastal Path just past Morte Point Devon

Helen’s dad and I went for the walk, we drove to Lee which is a lovely little village nestled into a deep valley. The walk starts in land and very steep up through some woods with lots of rhododendron making it dark and damp. After plenty of huffing and puffing we were out of the woods and into the sun although there was still some ascent to do. The footpath took us over the rolling hills and we had to descend two further deep valleys before we got to Bull Point light house our turn around point. We were hoping that the path back would be less brutal but it was, the valleys have streams in them which eventually need to get to sea level so the three valleys we had negotiated in land were that much deeper when they got to the sea side. Mostly they were steps maintained by the National Trust, most of them very deep. When we finally hit the road again at Lee it could not have come soon enough. The hotel at the bottom and of the village was still shut, and apparently had been for the past 8 years, they were having problems with planning permissions. There was however an Italian place selling food, but J wanted a beer and they did not sell alcohol, so we walked towards the car and dropped into the Gamas Inn where we had a very welcome half of bitter, brewed on the premises, and a cheese and tomato panini, which was very welcome.

When we got back to the hut no one was there, so J went to read his book and I went down to the rocks to see if I could spy the others on Croyde beach, with my binoculars. They were body boarding or swimming (ed: the braver members of the party swimming without wetsuits!). It was an usually high tide, which might relate to the imminent full moon (or Supermoon). We did some tidying up and got ready to go out to dinner, at The Rock in Georgeham, but unfortunately C was feeling ill, so missed out.

I had salt and pepper squid, followed by spaghetti a la vongole, very nice, and cheese cake for dessert. The bonus was that they also sold Timothy Taylor’s Landlord ale which went down a treat.

Not on Lundy but a walk around Morte Point

Three of the party went to Ilfracombe to catch the boat to Lundy, the wind was blowing so my decision not to spend 4 hours on a boat was vilified. Breakfast was at a leisurely pace and Helen and I left the house at just after 10:30, destination Mortehoe, where we have done a very enjoyable walk on a few occasions.

There was a shower coming in as we parked up so we delayed our start with a look around the museum and then a coffee. The museum is a small eclectic collection of stuff about Mortehoe and surroundings, apparently you could rent a rabbit farm for £40 a year then sell the rabbit meat at 19d per pound, which would bring in £15 per week, which seems good business.

The National Trust coffee shop was closed on Wednesday’s and Thursday’s but there was a coffee shop and deli just down the road, I fancied a cake. The coffee shop was a bit of a disappointment they only had filter coffee and no cake. The deli supplies were a bit thin on the ground too, it gave the impression they were either shutting down for good or the winter months.

At the southern edge of the village you can pick up the path that goes around the point, we chose that end to gave us the wind behind us for the best part of the walk, as it turned out we would also be facing the direction for the best light too. The weather was in fact great for photography with small cumulous clouds growing and high altitude whispy ones on a blues sky.

Just round Morte point we found a convenient bench out of the wind and hung around a while doing some time lapse sequences. I’m quite getting into them and will do a blog post with my workflow soon. This morning I was taking a look on eBay for cheap canon powershots that will run CHDK, you can get them for less that £50 which is a bargain.

The final slog from the coastal path back to Mortehoe took some considerable effort, but we took our time today’s walk was a very leisurely affair. At the village shop we got a loaf and headed back to the hut, but pulled into a parking space at Woolacombe to book a table for 7 for Friday evening at The Rock at Georgeham, a restaurant we enjoyed the previous time were were down this way. We stopped of at the local Nisa for some more supplies and popped into the amusements for 10 minutes but the quality and variety of games was disappointing, why do they insist of giving prizes as paper tickets, it is not the same as hearing the cash tinkle as it is paid out.

After a sandwich I went up to Baggy Point to take some pictures and left Helen watching Bridget Jones on Amazon Prime. In the end I never got to Baggy Point as I went down into the rocks and worked my way towards it, but eventually came to a dead end where the sensible thing was to turn back, and retrace my steps. I made the most of the opportunity by taking some stills and a few time lapse sequences.

I got back to the hut at 17:00 hoping to help Helen with the cooking for the evening, tonight would be Helens lovely veggie sausage and bean Spanish stew with baked potatoes. The question is do you add olive oil and/or salt or just leave them au naturel? I would go with the plain but the consensus is olive oil and salt, as the the people from Portadown say “just go with the flow”. (ed: the stew was of course, fantastic 🙂 )

(ed: The Lundyites had some great tales, they had seen seals and a porpoise. The trip was a bit bouncy, about one in ten of the passengers needed a sick bag but according to the friendly & helpful staff, it was nothing compared to the trip out on windy Tuesday. On occasions our party to had to hastily move to avoid being “caught” by a traveller loosing their sea legs/breakfast. There was a point where travellers were asked not to move about the boat as some big waves were coming up. Fortunately Lundy has a very good pub.)

Pirate golf at Woolacombe and a long walk back

Grey start to the morning and another leisurely preparation for the day. We left in two cars to drive to Woolacombe for a round of Pirate golf. We took the really small lanes via Georgeham to Woolacombe, I suspect there may have been a longer but takes the same time route further in land. We had to do a lot of giving way, and had to reverse once. Confusion with a cyclist meant we had to sit behind them as they cycled up the road. The cyclist waved us past but in the confusion we missed the opportunity to pass and then the road narrowed, the cyclist shook his head in disgust!

At Woolacombe we parked up they have a car park where you pay £3 if you leave before 13:00 and £5 if you leave after 13:00, which means if you turn up at 16:00 and park for even 5 minutes it will cost you £5, is that the most expensive parking around? The pirate golf is an unusual 15 holes, and although it has a pirate theme that is more the surroundings than the golf itself. Each hole is basically a straight forward rolling patch of green carpet, some of the holes are in dips which makes getting a hole in one fairly simple and keeps people moving on. T was winning most of the time, until C awarded him a 7 on one hole, then I got a hole in one at the penultimate hole and pipped everyone for the win.

We grabbed a pasty from a little bakery on the front then headed down to the sea front benches to meet the non-golfers. Next activity was either the slot machines or a walk back. I opted for the walk back. We wandered down the beach along Woolacombe Sand towards Putsborough Sand. On the way we saw a dead young seal washed up, and a plastic crate that had what looked like mussels on stalks, they were still alive and were putting out tentacles as if they were trying to taste the sea. A look on Google when I got back but could not figure out what they were. At the Putsborough cafe I had a coffee and a slice of Banana Cranberry and Orange cake which was nice. At one point a squall passed over so we waited for the rain to stop, people taking shelter by returning to the cafe.

Next was the slog up out of the bay and onto the coastal path towards Baggy Point, about half a mile round we were hit by another squall and I had to get the poncho out, but it has seen better days and only managed to keep the worst of the rain off, luckily it was windy so we dried out quickly once the rain stopped.We decided not to go right round the point and took the route over the top that comes down into the national trust car park, but we sneaked over a field and came down just above the hut. The others got back an hour later. T ran back to Woolacombe to pick up his car!

For dinner we grazed on the contents of the fridge, most of it healthy.

A gentle walk from Saunton Sands to Croyde Bay

We woke a a reasonable 08:30 to rain, as expected, so we took our time with breakfast, followed by some card game version of Monopoly. By about 11 the rain had stopped and the weather looked good for taking photos. C&T were planning a bike ride and the others were going to Saunton Sands, so I hitched a ride.

I walked for a while on the beach at Saunton there were some surfers and bodyboarders. There was also a kite surfer, I think because the beach is not patrolled by the RNLI and as such kite surfers are allowed. It seems that kite surfers are often not welcome on beaches.

We walked about half a mile down the beach and then the others decided to head into the burrows, I chose that moment to head back to Croyde on foot, the burrows are sand dunes and therefore hard going under foot. I purchased some Polos from the souvenir shop, then headed up the stepped path to the famous hotel, and sneaked through the car park. Rather than the coastal path which heads high up above the road, and for a good part of it the view is obscured by the bushes. I thought it might be possible to walk below the road on the field.

It turns out you can’t walk in the field despite what looked like a path, so I ended up walking up the road. There are a few parking spaces along the road and I stopped and sat on the wall and took a time lapse of the view across Saunton Sands. At the end of the road the coastal path crosses and I was able to get down to the sea, for another time lapse. The tide was out so was able to walk straight across Croyde Bay which saves a lot of time. The hut is across the bay and up the coastal path, and there is a jetty you can take to get just about 100m from the hut.

Dinner was to be a fish and chip supper from the best chip shop in Braunton, South Sixteen fish and chips I volunteered to go and collect. After dinner we were planning some card games.

Walking to Baggy Point and cooking dinner

Early but slow start with a leisurely breakfast. Some of us left the house at about 10 for a walk to Baggy Point and round to Putsborough Sands for a coffee before heading back over the top. The weather was a bit grey so I put my 50mm on the camera which forces you to think a bit more, rather more than I do when I have my favoured wide angle lenses. Part way round we lost two of the walking party as they headed over the top to get back to watch the Davis cup matches.

At the Cafe there was a rush on and it took some time to get J and I a coffee and a portion of chips each. The trouble with going to the Cafe us that it is a long descent so to get back over the top we had a fierce hill to climb, however once tackled the rest of the way back to the north end of Croyde Bay is level or down hill. The path follows old farm tracks where you can see the way carts have worn ruts in the bedrock just below the surface. We also had to follow the path of a stream which had been paved with breeze blocks to make walking dryer.

The tennis finished Murray won but not without making it look difficult, then we turned over to watch rugby world cup matches. I had volunteered to cook and spent the afternoon in and out of the Kitchen. On the menu was my usual tomato pasta sauce, my new favourite roast cauliflower and hazelnut carbonara, and a BlackBerry baked cheese cake, with the berries coming from the bushes just up the lane from where we are staying. There were plenty about but not at the edges, they grow low so it was easy enough to kind of walk on them without getting too scratched by the brambles.

Timing for dinner went well with everything ready within 5 minutes of of the predicted 19:00. All the dishes went down well, I was pleased with the cauliflower dish I seem to have cracked it, so it will now be part of my small repertoire. The cheese cake was not as good as I thought it might be perhaps it was still a bit warm but it seemed a bit split. Not sure what I need to do to fix it?

Downton starts again tonight so it will be a late night all of 22:30 before it finishes, so a lay in tomorrow will be the order of the day.

Holiday centre change from Cornwall to Devon

Holiday change over day, from Cornwall to Croyde in Devon, and from just me and Helen to Helens family and hangers on. We were up early and ready to leave the hut at 09:30 without any trouble at all there was not much to tidy, so we had time for a leisurely breakfast. Helen prides herself on leaving holiday properties tidily, today was no exception, ensuring the mantle piece items were repositioned where we had found them.

We took the coastal A39 which winds through the Cornish and Devonshire countryside, the sun was shining and the atmosphere pretty crystal clear, so the drive was a pleasure. We passed through quite a few familiar places from holidays past. At Bideford we passed the turn off to Croyde but we had planned a detour to the National Trusts Arlington Court where our first priority was coffee and cake in the Cafe. The gluten free lime and coconut cake went down a treat with a large americano.

Arlington Court was or is home to the Chichester family which are related to Sir Francis Chichester who sailed around the world single handed at a time without GPS. (ed: bloody good book). The house itself is full of shells, stuffed birds and model boats, it seems that they were a family that liked collecting stuff. The last of the house even had a museum wing to store all of it that somehow there was no room for on the house itself. We left Arlington Court at about 13:00, time for a supermarket sweep before our anticipated arrival at the new holiday venue in Croyde at 15:00.

I hadn’t banked on the amount of shopping that would be required at the Braunton Tesco we needed provisions for 7 for a week, almost £300 and a trolley full. The very helpful store manager asked if we had picked one of every item they sold! The shopping took about an hour, we wondered why people bothered doing that every week, we get Tesco to deliver which is far more convenient.

C&T were already at the hut when we arrived and five journeys later I had unpacked the car of luggage and shopping. Everyone was accounted for by 17:00 and we all settled in, some resting on the lawn others taking a stroll on the beach. Dinner would a simple affair preprepared salad stuff from Waitrose. Bring Devon on.

Padstow to Stepper point look out including Padstow to Rock ferry

The next door neighbours have have vacated the property next door and annoyingly have switched off their broadband hub, so we have lost the small internet access point that is the corner of the sofa in the front window of the property. Last full day in Cornwall we fancied a light walk, so Padstow was the obvious choice. Helen was not keen on a boat across the river Camel but a 5 minute drive to Rock and a ferry, compared to a 30 minute drive to Padstien made the sensible choice the boat. Parking at Rock is an exorbitant £4.50.

The wait for the ferry was short and we boarded with a family, and made the short crossing to Padstow. Feeling lazy and because it looked like it might rain we opted for a coffee before heading out on the coastal path. We nostalgically looked at the flat we rented above the public conveniences quite a few years ago, whilst make use of them.

The path hugs the headland and is relatively flat compared to the walk we had done the day before, and is semi paved with Cornish rock. The sun came out as we got to the point and it seemed like a good place to stop for sandwiches and to lose a layer. Two marmalade sandwiches later we popped round the headland where the wind was blowing and spent ten minutes with the coast lookout volunteer. I always find the coastal lookout people very accommodating, and always make a point of popping in. On a winters day they always have a heater going and it is a welcome break from the constant coastal wind.

The lookout also provided a short cut saving us a big descent and adventure on the coastal path, however it did mean that Helen had to walk through a field of friendly (ed: ???) and inquisitive cows. We were soon heading down hill as luck would have to a Cafe in a set of cottages called “Rest a while Tea Garden” where we stopped for another cup of coffee. A flock of house sparrows were scrounging for food but every time I tried to get a picture some one walked through the garden gate and they flew off, I even tried offering them my sandwich crumbs. (ed: very friendly and good quality food/drinks).

It was not far back to the ferry pickup which had moved closer to where we were because the tide, which had the added benefit of allowing us to walk on the sand directly across the bay. The ferry crossing was smooth enough for Helen to announce that she was enjoying the mode of transport.

We were back at the hut by 15:30 so we went down to the seafront where Helen did some shopping then after a brief walk on the beach we went to the Waterfront bar for a final Cornish beer, Tribute, before moving on to Devon beer next week. Pasta for tea then watched the opening game of the rugby world cup. Tomorrow a new county and another week of holiday.