neil baldwin – Page 7 – Neil Baldwin's blog : Warning contains walking, technology, photography, holidays.

Polzeath to Rock and back.

We thought the weather was going to be bad so we had thought that maybe we would drive to Bodmin and find a cinema to see the film Legend which on looks quite good. However looking at the weather in the morning it turns out that Sunday was going to be OK till late afternoon and it was some Monday when the rain would really start, there was a deep low coming in from the Atlantic so we changed our plans and were out at a reasonably early time of 9:30.

Rather than head straight to the sea we walked in land up the path that leads to the holiday cottage and then across over the hills and down into rock. On the way we walked through a farmyard where a friendly farmer was happy to tell us where abouts the footpath went through his farm yard.

When we got to Rock we walked down on the beach and round to where the ferries beach and found a cafe called Rock Road where they were serving food and coffee. Unfortunately lunch menu didn’t start till 12 and we were there at about 11:10 but from the breakfast menu chose a veggie sausage bap Helen and egg Royale for me. We managed to get a table right at the front of the terrace so I was able to set up my time lapse camera take pictures of the cloud floating beautifully over the town of Padstow.

The path back to Polzeath was along the beach and round the headland was a bit hard walking because the sand was soft so we did a lot of zig zagging to keep to the firm ground. Eventually we reached Daymer Bay where we headed in land a short way across a golf course, to get to the small church of St. Enodoc church where Sir John Betjeman is buried. The church itself is dug into the dunes and is quite small. There had been a wedding quite recently and the arch across the doorway was surrounded by white flowers with the odd pink one which I thought was quite tasteful. We sat on a bench watching the clouds go by another chance for a time lapse sequence. We headed down to the beach and up around the coastal path back to Polzeath, but stopping off for an ice cream at the next beach. The Eton mess flavour was great and the hippies serving it were playing Pink Floyd over the sound system.

We did some rock pooling out on the headland, before we got back, to the village where we stopped at the Waterfront bar Cafe for a coffee and shared some skinny chips between us. We were on the terrace so had another opportunity to capture some time lapse. Whilst we were there I sorted out some of Helens whining (ed: justified complaints) by installing the BT openzone app on her phone, it cheered her up no end. We booked a table for Tuesday evening.

The weather had held and I have been able to get some great pictures with bright white fluffy clouds on deep blue skies. The walk although not that long had eaten up most of the day, which was perfect. For dinner we had the rest of the salad from the day before.

Castle Drogo on the way to Cornwall

We were up earlier than anticipated and left the house to go on holiday just before 8:30. Our late summer holiday was going to be in Polzeath down in Cornwall followed by a week in Devon. Sat nav told us the best way to go was via Bicester and Oxford then down to Swindon and onto the M4 before joining the usual road to the south west eventually ending up on the A30. We hit the usual big traffic jam at Bristol but the traffic pretty much kept moving and by the time we stopped at the Sedgemoor motorway services just after Bristol we had only lost half an hour which is pretty good going.

As is traditional we had planned a stop at a National Trust property on the way there today choice was Castle Drogo. Helen was not amused when I decided to follow the single track signs to the property. It meant having to stop a few times to let cars and buses go by. In any event we got there without any mishaps parked up and got our tickets to have a look around the Castle. It turns out the castle was in the middle of a very extensive renovation project. The whole Castle is completely enveloped in scaffolding and plastic sheeting. On the inside of the castle they have some of the stuff in storage but they had special art exhibitions on in various rooms where you could see some of the historic things that might have been out had the house was open. The building itself is grey granite which looks very structural and it is a house I would like to return to someday. Our timing was not that great the trips up the scaffolding tower were shut for lunch, so rather than wait an hour we went to get some lunch at the visitors centre.

The queue at the cafe was interminably slow they needed someone to come in and do a time and motion study to get things moving a bit faster. We didn’t fancy the soup of the day or sandwiches so we both settled for cake, we are on holiday after all. Suitably replete we got back in the car and headed to Wadebridge where we wanted to pick up some supplies before heading the cottage in Polzeath.

On the smallish road that got us over the A30 we came across some slow traffic, a couple of caravans, which looked more like chicken huts on wheels and were being towed by vintage tractors, they were from Germany!

We did a quick tour of the shops of Wadebridge and I managed to get a hair cut without queuing, the hair dresser corrected my pronunciation of Polzeath apparently it is zeath pronounced like wreath. The co-op supplied us with some salad ingredients and emergency pasta meal, so we were all set to arrive at the cottage.

We had earlier got a text to say that the cottage was ready which I thought was a nice touch. The final few miles to the cottage were very rural. We found the cottage easily by the instructions provided. It over looks a valley which is a caravan park and even has a distant view of the sea. We were not prepared for the many steps up to the front door. I was regretting buying a new large holdall for holidays, I had to stop for a rest on the way up.

We unpacked and had a sit down then walked down to the beach to have a look around, it was a bit grey and the sea was a bit rough. Luckily for us there was a bar Cafe on the beach where we could get a beer, and some WiFi. Helen had committed the ultimate crime of booking a cottage with no WiFi!

We had salad for tea and I was in bed fairly early with a book.

Cley NNT, Blakeney and double crumble

We were up around 0800 in time to get croissants from the deli next door, where there is a sign which says if you don’t want to be disappointed turn up at 0830 or order for collection. I changed my mind when I saw they had baguettes for sale but the woman in n front of me bought the last three! We had planned to get the bus to Cley but by the time we had got ready it was too late for the 0940 and the next one was not till 1020, so we got the car and just about beat the 0940 to the visitors centre at the reserve.

The centre was shut till 1000 so we hung around so Helen could have a pee before the tour of the marsh. We set out anticlockwise not our usual way and stopped off at the group of three hides. We realised it our I’d skills were rusty when we could not is the ruff in front of the hide and the sandpiper. We left the hide and headed to the beach car park where the Cafe used to be, and when we got there sat on some rocks and looked out to sea. Amongst the wind turbines was what looked like an accommodation pod, the sort that is a boat which up ends when you fill the pointy end with water. Terns were conspicuous by there absence all departed south for the winter.

We headed in land along the east bank, I was hoping for a sit down on the bench, near the sluices, but some one was already there, but as we approached they got up I thought that was lucky, but it turned out he was sitting on the grass bank, the bench has gone after being there at least as long as we have been visiting Cley. We stopped and sat on the grass bank in the hope of seeing some bearded tits but we had to settle for sandwiches, perhaps the wind was keeping them low in the reeds. Before we went to the visitors centre for a coffee we stopped of in the last hide on the anticlockwise route, there were plenty of waders, including an avocet spotted by Helen.

The lunchtime queue for food and drinks was long so we decided to whizz round to Cley Spy for some coffee and cake, and some binocular browsing. The Art Cafe at Glandford is a real specialist coffee brewing emporium. They roast and sell the beans. The Cafe offers four ways to brew filter, cafietier, espresso, and Aerobie. I went for an americano and it was great just about the right blend of bitter and nutty, and the apple crumble cake went down nicely too.

Helen and I now have matching binoculars because after a coffee Helen tried a few compact models, some priced at over £600 before settling on a more modestly priced pair just like mine. After that Helen needed a rest so we went back to Blakeney, where we parked at the village hall. After a look round the book sales at the village hall I went off to take some photos and Helen did some light tut shopping.

We had a table at The Moorings booked for 1800 so I headed off to move the car from the village hall to the quay side car park. I found a space at the high end of the car park then did a quick time lapse with the mini Cyclops. The food at The Moorings was excellent, Helen had a risotto and I had a seared tuna steak, then apple elderberry and gooseberry crumble with custard. After eating we headed down to the harbour to watch the cars left to the mercy of the tide a white fiesta was there long enough to get water inside. We hung around long enough for a great sunset. At one point someone tried to get away with my mini Cyclops which I had positioned on a traffic cone.

Who is Neil Baldwin

For quite some time when you searched for Neil Baldwin this blog appeared on the first page of Google, but recently I have been kicked off the front page and put several pages back. The main reason was because of a film about the Neil Baldwin a registered clown who is also associated with Keele University and Stoke City football club. This blog entry s an attempt to improve my SEO by a blog post that mentions all the Neil Baldwin’s I know of. Just don’t the Google spider about my cunning plan.

The wikipedia article about the my Stoke City name sake says “Neil Baldwin (born 1946) is an honorary graduate of Keele University from Westlands, Staffordshire. He is a registered clown and also worked for Stoke City Football Club, for whom he once played briefly in a friendly match. He is the subject of an award-winning BBC television drama, Marvellous, which was broadcast in 2014.” The wiki article is here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Baldwin_(Keele_University)

Up until the Stoke City Neil Baldwin came on the scene I generally swapped the top spot with the American author with the same name. According to his wikipedia article “Neil Baldwin is the author of a variety of books on various topics related to history and culture, and a professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Montclair State University. Baldwin earned a B.A. in English from the University of Rochester, and a Ph.D. in Modern American Poetry from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He was the editor of The Niagara Magazine between 1974 and 1982, and worked in fundraising for the New York Public Library between 1984 and 1989. He was the director of the National Book Foundation from its founding in 1989 until his resignation in 2003” He has a website devoted to his books at http://neilbaldwinbooks.com

Another Neil Baldwin came to the fore in the 80’s when he composed music for the Commodore 64, the introduction on his website says “I wrote my first music on the NES 20 years ago and have recently been amazed to discover that the “chip music” scene is still going strong. So, in a bid to do my bit to keep the history alive and because some of my music is either missing, mis-credited or in some cases never even saw the light of day, I decided I’d put together a little document of my work and experiences. You’ll need Flash to play the MP3s via the embedded audio players or you can download a ZIP file containing all the songs for each game. Alternatively you can download the .NSF file but you’ll need a player to play these; personally I use Audio Overload but there’s lots of others.” His website is here http://dutycyclegenerator.com/

Double Hubble in London

My birthday was coming up and Helen had arranged a treat in London, for the Saturday so we were up earlyish and out of the house to catch the 0915 from Berkhamsted. We managed to find a spot in the free parking outside Berkhamsted castle. We got travel cards from the machine and only then did we notice delays and cancellations on the Euston line, apparently due to signalling problems. It turns out that we would have less of a wait because the 0901 was due in at 0908 so we only had time to get a coffee before the train arrived.

I had plans for the trip too, I was going to choose a new light tripod, with a tilting centre column to help with taking photospheres. I thought I might also have a look at a Canon 8-15mm lens, which would enable me to apply to be a Google trusted photographer.

The weather was grey with the threat of rain, temperature was below 10 degrees. It turns out the signalling issues were near Tring so it did not affect our journey time. We got on the 68 bus and because we were early I suggested that we get off the bus at the British museum. I thought it would be a good idea to take some photospheres of be fantastic roof inside the british museum.

Helen tried to help some Chinese guys looking for the university of London once I told Helen that she had the map upside down she send them on the right direction. We can across a load more Chinese tourists outside the museum some of them in factory overall suits, not sure if they were the guides or something else. Once at the museum helen send a happy half an hour with the elgin marbles while i went round and took photos of museum roof.

Suitably photographed we left the museum and got on the 188 and alighted on Waterloo bridge, then headed to the BFI iMax cinema which was the surprise that Helen had arranged, the film was about the Hubble telescope in 3D, which I was well pleased about. We had time for a coffee at the Costa franchise.

The film was excellent it told the story of a mission to upgrade the Hubble telescope in 1990. The result I on of imax is very high and the footage from n space was stunning. After the film we headed to o the National Theatre just in case there was a photo exhibition in the lobby, it turns out there was not but in the past we have seen the press photographer of the year and landscape photographer of the yeat., both free and well worth a visit to. On the was to the NT we past a street food market and after some deliberation I had an excellent griddle toasted sandwich and Helen had a Polish cottage cheese, onion and potato dumpling.

We decided to walk to Tottenham court road, I wanted to check out Park cameras. I looked at the to pods and liked the look of the 190 carbon fibre model with 4 sections, it is small light, has a 90 degree centre column feature and is very expensive. So I bought the even more impressive Canon 8-15mm USM lens because I asked and got a £50 discount. It is likely to become my goto lens as it covers that wide angles I look and is suitable for photosphere sets. Oh forgot to mention we also stopped off Foyle’s and helen bought some books.

Having spent enough money for the day we headed back to Euston on the 73 bus.

A wet London to Brighton 2014

Another year has cone round quickly and it is time four our annual pilgrimage to Brighton. A good friend has a car that qualifies for the Bonham’s London to Brighton vintage car run, and we use it as an excuse to take Monday off and stay the Sunday night in Brighton, which this year only cost £25 at the North Street Premier Inn. Helen and I have in recent years (I have been doing it for over 21) skipped the early 05:00 start to be in Hyde Park by 07:00 and motored directly to Crawley leaving the house at a more sociable 09:00.

The drive round the M25 was steady due to the biblical rain caused by a long bank of cloud dissecting the country at 45 degrees and stationed directly over the A23 on this Sunday morning. Luckily the rain had stopped by the time we reached Gatwick Honda on the outskirts of Crawley, which new for this year is where the official coffee stop was arranged. Usually the coffee stop the is on Crawley high Street which is an ideal spot for the public to see the cars parked up on the cobbled square. The Honda dealership was on a main road with pretty poor viewing opportunities. We found a suitable place to park in a nearby housing area and soon met up with the support crew at the car show room. I heard many people grumbling about the new venue. Suddenly the rain came down again so we made a sharp exit and got back on the road to chase down the Humberette. I got some pictures of Paul Holywood who was driving the Beaulieu DeDion Bouton, we later found out that Sir Steve Redgrave and Sir Ben Ainslie were taking part but did not spot them.

We did some of the office coal route but diverted off to do some catching up and with some luck caught up with the Humberette not far from Pyecombe where we had agreed to meet up for a passenger swap. Swap done we took the back road into Brighton to park the car near the Premier Inn before heading down to Madeira Drive to meet up with the others. Helen went shopping L&J whilst Rory and I went down the front. Chilli and mulled wine was on offer in the hospitality tent, but I opted for a coffee. We did the usual hanging around looking at cars before getting the car on the trailer for its journey home.

Walking back to the hotel Rory felt peckish and could not resist the opportunity for some traditional seaside fayre of Fish & Chips. Back at the hotel we found the girls and agreed to meet up at 19:00 to go and find somewhere to eat. We settled on Zafferelli’s which was just down the road. The food was good and the waiters took a shine to J and did some impromptu baby sitting so that his parents could enjoy their meal. I had Calamari Luciana (squid in a chili tomato sauce) followed by spaghetti Puttanesca both of which were good. We were all drinking and the bill came to £26 each which I thought was a fair price. We went for a final pint at the Horse and Wagon which was just up the street, a got to bed about 23:00 ish.

London to Brighton Vintage Car Run LBVCR

We woke up to rain the next morning and met up in reception at 08:50 for our tradition visit to Bill’s for breakfast. I had the vegetarian breakfast which consists of eggs, tomatoes and mushrooms on two pieces of toast one spread with Guacamole the other with chilli humus, and it is always very nice, and I washed it down with two Americano’s. Bills is on North Street just 5 minutes walk form the Premier Inn. Then we were off for a spot of shopping, and I managed to buy a T Shirt. We had to leave at about 11:30 or pay for extra parking at an exorbitant rate but that suited us as we had a stop on the way home to visit and elderly relative of Helen’s, who was expecting us for lunch.

We stopped off for a couple of hours and caught up on family news then headed off at about 14:00 home. It was still raining and we took a cross country route to avoid the tail back on the A23 near m25. We were home in good time about 16:00 we had beaten the rush hour traffic. A great weekend with friends.

A circular walk from Croyde to Sauton and back

Three of us (the men) decided a walk would be preferable to a shopping trip, so we thought a walk to Suanton Sands for lunch and back again looked like a good idea. We headed into Croyde and then hit the beach and headed up between the dunes where the stream flows onto the beach, from there you can pick up a foot path that heads to the center of Croyde, along Carpenters Lane, rather than having to walk along the road. When we hit the main road J went to grab his Telegraph from the post office while T and I waited.

Head out of Croyde by taking Cloutmans Lane which turns into Milkaway Lane, perhaps because they used it to get the milk to town possibly? Take a right branch onto Pathdown lane, a suitable name had we been going in the other direction. It was a steep climb but meant that we got all the hard up hill out of the way at the beginning of the walk always the best option in my opinion. Eventually you get to the top of the hill which is wide and round, but at the very summit you have views all around. Over the top the foot path signs are mounted on large gate posts we speculated whether people ogt lost in the fog up there and whether veering off the path could lead to a fall off a cliff.

It would be mainly down hill from now on, we headed down to Saunton Court a very large house with a very manucured expansive lawn and garden, where you walk down the drive and eventually get to the main road at which point (according to the map) there was a vague path which you could pick up if you walked into the golf course club house area. We were a bit worried about being told to get out of the golf course but followed the road to the clubhouse then the signs to the driving range, were a trodden path headed down the back of some houses and parallel to the road and in the direction of the cafe at Saunton Sands.

It was time for lunch so we decided on the Cafe with the terrace who were more than happy to allow the dog. The cafe is run by the Hotel above and the smart waiters in all black seemed very good at their job. I order a coffee to go with my Smoked fish anti-pasto platter/starter, Mr T had the meat anti-pasto and J had spaghetti bolognese. The food took quite some time to arrive but the sit down after the long walk and the lovely weather was welcome anyway. The food when it turned up was excellent. I managed to leave my phone there when we left but realised very soon and was able to retrieve it by retracing only 100m or walking.

Again the walk started with a steep section up to the hotel over the road onto the foot path which climed a bit more to get above the road which it followed all the way to the end of the finger of land which ended at Downend, where we had to turn the corner and then walk back the way we cam up the road for about 75 yards, to follow the coastal path around the point and onto the beach at Croyde. We crossed the beach on the harder sand hwere the sea had been at high tide for an easier walk. Back at the hut we had a peaceful rest of the afternoon updating blogs and reading.

The ladies had followed us to the Cafe at Saunton and the service was even slower for them they they waited an hour while the waiters forgot their order then they were given their drinks for free as an apology. We had fish and chips for tea from Braunton.

Stand up surf boarding SUP

Against my better judgement I agreed to have a go at SUP (stand up surfing), which is basicslly standing on an over sized surf board with a a paddle. I imagined that I would spend a considerable amount of time climbing back on to the board then, attempting to stand up followed by falling off the baord and starting the whole process again.

The lesson was booked for 10:30 which was arounf high tide which was very convenient as the seas would be closer to the top of the beach and therefore less of a walk with a large surfboard to get to the water. They booked us in and got us to sign our lives away using the insurance indemnity form, issued us with a wetsuit of roughly the right size. Getting the wetsuit on was a bit of a struggle as I am not a regular user but despite it being damp and clod I managed to get the thing stretched over my body.

Next was the obligatory briefing where they explained that we were about to stand on a surfboard and use a paddle to move about, and that the sea was a dangerous place and should be respected, in fact it was like a mill pond. We carried the boards down to the sea which take quite and effort there is a handle at the center of gravity of the board, so basically you can only use one arm to carry it. I had to stop a few times to rest my arm.

Once at the waters edge we had a another brief this time on the techniques, i.e. how to get on the board (we knew how to get off) how to use the paddle how to steer etc, eventually we were allowed into the water. It was not long before we were stood up on the board which turned out to be not that difficult, but it was also not long before we learnt how to climb back on the board when we were out of standing depth. The wind was blowing off shore and because our technique was poor meant we were soon quite a way from the shore. Andy out instructor encouraged us to practice the turning technique he had show us and head a bit closer into to the bay.

We spent some time paddling, falling, standing up and I was soon glad they the lesson was only for one hour, as towards the end it was becoming a bit of an effort climbing back onto the board, as the falling in became quite frequent as I was attempting to use the small breaking waves to “surf” towards the shore, but mainly failed to do. Luckily we only had to carry one of the boards back to the surf school building as there was one guy on the next lesson.

Back at the hut we had a coffee and a sandwich then Helen and I headed across the bay to do sme ook pooling and panorama photo’s. John was on cooking duties and we had giant stuffed butternut squash, veggie sausages and green beans which was very tasty.

Real day one of the holiday in Croyde

First day of holiday has to start with a good walk with a view of the sea today would not be and exception. We were up relatively early after a sensible time going to bed. A leisurely break fast saw myself, Helen and Helen’s dad leave the house at 09:30 heading north up the coast path around the headland to Pulborough sands, where we had a coffee at the campsite/seaside cafe.

The return journey took us over the headland and down a very old track, you could see three ruts in the bedrock, one in the middle wide and shallow and two eaither side narrow and deep, clearly made by a horse and cart. We also spotted many Red Admiral butterflies feasting on the flowering ivy plants which they seem to love. Apparently they migrate back to Morocco when they have had their fill.

In the afternoon I had a walk across the rocks and then the beach with my camera, and took a panorama set looking back to land which turned out better than I expected. The sea was quite calm so the surfers where not getting a long run in, but I guess it was ideal conditions to learn. Back at the hut we decided to pop to the Manor pub in town which looked good from the menu we found on line, but in reality the food was not great, I like to think that it was probably because it was a Sunday and the pub had been busy all day.

Tower of London Poppies

Helen and I have the day off so I thought I would treat Helen to a day in London. We got the 09:31 from Berkhamsted by the skin of our teeth due to the queue at the ticket office and our in ability to figure out how to use or travel card on the automatic machines. The train must have started from Tring as it was empty so we got good seats.

The plan was to go and look at the poppies at the tower of London, where I had a surprise for Helen, then the museum of London which neither of us had been to before, and then possibly the British museum if we had the stamina and the time. We had ofg peak tickets so had to avoid the rush hour.

We took the slow bus to the tower of London it seemed to stop for every traffic light. In the end we got off early and walked the short distance remaining. The poppies at the tower are very impressive and there was an army of people planeting the new ones. The surprise I has for Helen was that one of them was hers, you can buy them on line here, then when the installation is over with they pay out to you. Helen seemed really chuffed with the idea.

We stopped for a bite to eat at Eat whisly we consulted the maps to find the most interesting way to walk to the museum of London. It is close to the barbican and was probably built at the same time. On the way we stored at the guildhall to have a look at the Roman ruins that are displayed there but they were refurbishing so we had a look around the great hall which was quite interesting. The is also a church which inside is very bright and airy not quite enough though for a handheld panorama.

Moving on we passed through the banking district and on to the “roundabout” that the museum of London is on top of. The museum is free to look round and I would say worth a visit, you are taken from the earlier time to current time as you make your way through the exhibits, I found the more recent two centuries most interesting. Helen preferred the older stuff.

The journey back was for more straight forward we eventually found a tube station and got on the Northern line and popped out at Euston, “simple”. I got Helen a bit worried while we waited for the train to leave I jumped off the train to do a panorama of the platform, just 5 minutes before the train was due to depart. I got some wifely looks when I came back.