A week in Argyll

Sunset over Loch Melfort - view from our window


McGrew on the Easdale ferry looking out towards Mull


McGrew leading the way

The five of us on Melfort Pier (Dibble is in the back-pack!)

Mummy and her three boys...

Whirlpools, eagles and fantastic views

Mrs D and I returned on Wednesday from a wonderful few days in Argyll - staying beside Loch Melfort with my parental parents - we used to go there every October holiday, but I've never known such fantastic weather!

We walked and took in views north over Seil towards Mull, and south towards Scarba, the Garvellachs and Jura.

We ventured out on the sea from Craobh Haven on Farsain with Duncan, our skipper and wildlife expert, for a circumnavigation of Scarba.

Apart from the currents, waves and whirlpools of the Corryvreckan, a highlight must have been seeing a couple of golden eagles soaring high overhead. Then later we saw sea eagles - one flew past us, landing in a tree on Scarba - this was joined by another, and then we spotted a third in a different tree, higher up the hillside. An unforgettable sight!

A selection of photos...


Corryvreckan - standing wave


Corryvreckan looking south towards Jura


Looking north towards Seil and Mull


Looking south towards Seil, Scarba and the Garvellachs


Sunset over Loch Melfort

Druridge Bay

We love this place...
It was lovely to visit again, this time with two wonderful friends - Roz and Mark, who came up to the northeast for the weekend. Mind you, I don't think I've ever seen anyone as excited at seeing the sea as Roz was!


Cloud swirls at dusk


Where has all the sand gone? Highest tide I've seen here...


Heelan coo!

London

Mrs D and I are just back from a fantastic 36 hours in London, courtesy of some free return 1st class tickets on National Express East Coast.


Lunch at Covent Garden with string quintet...

...then off to see Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace Theatre - the way the show manages to capture the grit of the miners' strike and 1980's Co Durham, with the magic of a boy's dreams and ambitions is fantastic... the language is unsanitised, but adds to the reality.

Dinner at a lovely little restaurant in Smithfield - special thanks to our waitress who saved me from a fate worse than sweetbreads! One of the other waiters had helped us with some of the menu items (all written in French), and wrongly told us that rognons de veaux were veal steaks... how wrong he was! I'm still reeling from the shock of what might have been on my plate!


A short after dinner stroll along the Thames near our hotel at London Bridge.


Sunday morning after breakfast - and onto the river heading east towards Greenwich on the river boat from London Bridge...


Tower Bridge, looking west towards the city


The Traitors' Gate hasn't been used for a while...


The Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich


The structure formerly known as the Millennium Dome (now the O2 arena), with Canary Wharf in the background


The roof of the Millennium Dome

Then inside the dome to see 3000 year old treasures from the tomb of King Tutankhamun and some of the other Egyptian kings and queens - an amazing exhibition... I couldn't quite believe that the stuff was so old - much of it looked like it was made yesterday, particularly the wooden items... Well worth the trip if you can - it runs till August.

Happy New Year!

Some late afternoon photos from Druridge Bay on the last day of 2007...

Dreamy Spires

Some photos from our visit to our friends Rose & Andy in Oxford last weekend...
It was so cold... but we found a lovely coffee shop on the corner of Queen's Lane!


Andy, Mrs D and Rose outside Christ Church


Christ Church


Bicycles...


Spires...


Bridge of Sighs... not the original though!


Martyr's Cross


Burnt for their faith...

RIP Virgin Cross Country

After many weeks of travelling to and fro between Newcastle and Leeds, it was with a tear in my eye that I made my last ever journey courtesy of Mr Branson and Virgin Trains on that route.





For as of tomorrow, the route is taken over by no less than the mighty Arriva Cross Country...

Same trains; same liklihood of getting cut in two by the automatically closing doors at the carriage ends; same problems working out whether the toilet door is locked or not; same scrolling digital display above every seat; same staff; same track; same signals; same timetable; same opportunity for delays...

New train colours; new uniform; no doubt new (higher) prices; new script for the endless announcements before and after every station....

Will I be able to tell the difference next week?
We'll see!

Lofty mountain granduer

The words from this hymn kept coming back to us as we travelled through the Rockies...


Angel Glacier, Jasper National Park
The glacier tumbles down from Mount Edith Cavell, and looks very like an angel with arms outstretched...


Lake Agnes, Banff National Park
This is about an hour and half's walk above Lake Louise
There's a lovely tea shop next to the lake - a just reward after the walk uphill!


A glacier tumbles down from the Columbia Icefield
The Columbia Icefield is one of the largest masses of ice outside the polar regions, and is the source of water for three oceans - the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific!


Castle Mountain, Banff National Park


The top of Whistler Mountain in Jasper National Park
Elevation: 8,100 ft (we took the gondola rather than climbing!)
The Athabasca River is in the background, with the Queen Elizabeth range of mountains behind.


View from the top of Sulpher Mountain, Banff National Park
Elevation: 7,400 ft (again - there's a gondola!)
The views from here are incredible - mountains for 360 degrees!


Peyto Lake, Banff National Park
The water in many of these lakes is vivid green / blue because they are fed by glaciers. The glaciers crush the rock underneath them, making a very fine rock flour which is deposited in the lakes, and stays in suspension - absorbing all the light except green / blue.


Spirit Island and Maligne Lake, Jasper National Park
This is one of the best views in the Canadian Rockies...


Lake beneath Mount Edith Cavell, Jasper National Park
Just look at the colour of the water!

Wildlife in the aquarium

These are some of the animals in the Vancouver aquarium - well worth the visit if you ever find yourself there...


Jellyfish
These are spectacular... Luckily we didn't stand on any at the beach!


Sea Otters
These are the cutest things - they lie on their backs all day floating around, washing themselves... and holding hands so they don't lose each other. There is a fantastic video of them on youtube (not mine, I'm afraid) - have a look...


Beluga whale
This is an amazing creature - with advanced sonar to find its way, and loads of blubber to keep warm. It also has a smile on its face too!

Canadian wildlife

Bald eagle
These are everywhere - there were a pair nesting in the garden of one of our B&Bs - they have a white head and bright yellow beak.


Big horn sheep
This was one of about 12 which decided to cross the road in front of us in Banff.


Black bear
We went bear watching in Tofino and saw 10 - they come down to the shore at low tide, turning over the rocks to look for crabs. We saw a couple more beside the road on our travels too.


Ground squirrel
They look a lot like chipmunks, but apparently aren't related at all. They were everywhere we went and are particularly tame - it must be the Japanese tourists feeding them muffins!


Hump back whale
We went whale watching from Victoria, and watched this humpy for an hour or so.

Race Rocks and lighthouse

Perhaps my favourite photo of them all...

This is Race Rocks, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. We went through here on our boat while looking for whales... There is an urban myth that the stone for the lighthouse was quarried in Scotland and shipped over... the internet is full of claims and counterclaims over where the stone came from - but there isn't a shortage of rock in Canada, so it seems a little strange to have brought it from Scotland!