France 2018

By shendyNo Comments
We stayed in Bordeaux on the way down to our holiday in France - I had a Big Birthday shortly beforehand and fancied visiting some vineyards and doing a couple of tastings.We visited Chateaux Siran in Margaux, Chasse-Spleen in Moulis-en-Medoc and Bouscaut in Pessac-Leognan. The tours were interesting, particularly the Siran nuclear bunker... Once at the gite we actually did very little (which was lovely), but I still managed to take quite a lot of photos - we had the usual good sunsets, as well as one morning with a thick fog. There will be more images from the gite in the film update I'll be posting later. On the way home, we stopped off in the Loire for a Chateau visit - Azay-le-Rideau this time. And of course there was a decent selection of meals... As we'd been to this particular gite before, we knew that there would be plenty of opportunity for photographing the stars. ...
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France 2017

By shendyNo Comments
We went back to France for our summery holiday, after a slight aberration last year when we spent a few days in a caravan in Cornwall - any mention of that holiday now gets us both whistling the theme tune to Peter Kaye's Phoenix Nights, given the quality of the evening entertainment the caravan park laid on... We went back to a gite we've been to a couple of times before - it's nice, it's a good size for the two of us, it's quiet, it's very close to the local wine producer and it's got very clear views of the night sky. So here's a few different sets: Giverny On the way down through France, we stopped off at Giverny to visit the Monet gardens - we'd been a couple of times about 15 years ago now and thought it time for another visit. The last image is a little different - not taken at Giverny but fairly close by. Slightly inspired by the...
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Cornwall 2016

By shendyNo Comments
We spent a week in Cornwall (or more specifically The Lizard), ambling around various villages and coves. Kynance Cove was as glorious as ever - I think this was the third time I've been there and there have been spectacular waves every time. A lovely place. Porthcurno and the Minack Theatre are favourites too. Mullion Cove was new to us, as was Coverack where a chance spot of a notice in a shop window led us to the Terence Coventry Sculpture Garden - chock full of really interesting modern sculpture. ...
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Exmouth Boat Trip

By shendyNo Comments
Friday was a lovely evening for a boat trip up the River Exe from Exmouth - warm and sunny but with some good clouds to photograph, good company and nice food - all with some really nice live music. I've been on similar trips the last couple of summers but instead of turning round at Topsham, we went all the way up to Countess Weir (apparently) - something only possible a few times each year. This included passing under the M5 bridge, which was wonderfully lit by the evening sun. Less nice was the sewage treatment plant... As usual, we seemed to attract a bit of attention from passing boats (we even made it into the Exeter Express and Echo) - have these people never seen a naturist boat trip before? ...
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