Wow, what a day makes. The weather has totally changed – overnight! Although still below 10 degrees, it was bright clear with a light breeze – amazing.
Decided to try out some new stuff, and some old… It’s mainly pictures today, I’ll pop in some notes here and there, but enjoy them – please comment if you’re enjoying the holiday series.
… overlooking Freshwater Bay
… this is St. Catherine’s Lighthouse, its isolated and the weather shows no mercy…
… playing with depth of focus…
… and macro…
… I call this one “Stony face looks on…”
… the colour and texture of the likens were amazing…
… back to the dramatic drops of “The Devils Chimney…”
… would hate to be here on a dark night, scary tree…
… same with different exposure, spring summer tree!!
The National Rail network only covers a small part of the island, from Ryde to Shanklin.I decided to relive my youth and take the train, which are almost as old as me! They use old London Underground train’s the carriages are made from wood which gives away their age somewhat.
What was a little surreal was travelling on an old underground train through some baron landscapes between stops and to complete the trip, the train heads out into the Solent racing the Hovercrafts to Portsmouth along Ryde Pier Head (Wikipedia).
Below you can see a couple of postcards from 1880 to early 1900’s more can be found at this great site full of local history.
… below you can see the remains of the original railway; old but still standing…
… the train disappears under Ryde…
… from the end of the pier, Portsmouth on the mainland can be clearly seen…
… below; a great British invention, the hovercraft. You have pilots on hovercrafts, not captains as the craft really does fly – but only a couple of inches…
… give you an idea of speed, it takes about 1hr by regular ferry, takes 10 minutes on the hovercraft.