ABC Wednesday:K is for Knipling

Lace shop in Tønder, Denmark, 1988.

Thanks to all those who made such great responses to last week's post Just because ...

For more K posts visit ABC Wednesday.

Shadow Shot Sunday:Peak Forest Canal Towpath

Last week's shadow shot was of a muddy field near Bridge #8 on the Peak Forest Canal.

As I said then, I turned round and recrossed the footbridge.

These are shadows that were falling across the towpath on the other side.

You can see the full view looking North from the bridge on Hyde Daily Photo.

For more shadows visit Hey Harriet

Streetview Finds (1)Milford Highway

Googlemap's Streetview has opened up how we look at the world and I'm going to share a few of my finds from time to time.

I recently showed you my photos of the Homer Tunnel between Te Aneau and Milford Sound.

Well the googlecar didn't get that far. It went several miles up the road but eventually decided to turn round here. Perhaps the road ahead was blocked by snow?


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ABC Wednesday:J is for Just Because ...

Just because ...

These week I'll let my readers complete the sentence.

For more J posts visit ABC Wednesday.

Shadow Shot SundayFootpath to Church Fold

Today's photo is again from the walk I took on a sunny but cold Sunday a couple of weeks ago. This footpath on the East side of the Peak Forest Canal is signposted "Church Fold".

Well there may be a footpath across this muddy field and back to Woodend Lane, but that is thick mud under those shadows.

I turned round and recrossed the footbridge you can see on Hyde Daily Photo.

For more shadows visit Hey Harriet

Friday Bench (34):Overlooking Haughton Dale

This bench in Haughton Dale is near a footpath that leads from the Peak Forest Canal towpath down to the river Tame at Gibraltar Bridge.

The view from the bench can be seen on Hyde Daily Photograph.

Other benches that have attracted my attention recently include Bob's in Little Langdale, Steff's in Stuttgart, Jacob's at Lake Sumter Landing and Yvi's in Basel.

ABC Wednesday:I is for Inner Farne

Inner Farne is the largest of the Farne Islands which lie off the coast of Northumberland.


It is home to shags, puffins, arctic terns and other birds.


These photographs are from my one and only visit on 23rd July 2001.


Apart from the Inner Farne Lighthouse, all the buildings on the island date from the monastic period. In 1540 a Prior named Castell built the "Pele Tower" to house the monks who lived on the island. The Tower is now home to the National Trust Wardens who live there for nine months of the year to look after the Island and its wildlife.


In 678 Inner Farne was home to St Cuthbert. After 12 years as Prior of Lindisfarne, St.Cuthbert retired to Inner Farne until he became Bishop of Lindisfarne in 684. He returned to Inner Farne when his health deteriorated and died there on 20th March 687.


A church was built on the island in 1370 dedicated to St Cuthbert and is open to the public today. Inside is a monument to Grace Darling.


Some other photos from my trip to the islands from Seahouses can be seen at Farne Islands 2001.

For more I posts visit ABC Wednesday.

Shadow Shot Sunday:Woodend Lane

I had a lovely walk last Sunday in bright sunshine and captured these long shadows on Woodend Lane.

For a more normal view of Woodend Lane see Hyde Daily Photo.

To find more Shadow Shots, visit Hey Harriet.

ABC WednesdayH is for Homer Tunnel

This week I'm returning again to my archive of photographs from our journey to the Land of the Long White Cloud.


On Day 14 we travelled to Milford Sound with Ron Peacock a National Park Ranger. It started to rain as we left Te Aneau and steadily got worse. As we headed towards the Homer Tunnel we saw waterfalls appearing over what is normally just bare rock. Then as the rain got heavier and the surrounding rock-faces got steeper the waterfalls multiplied into an almost continuous curtain.


As Wikipedia informs us, the tunnel pierces the main divide of the Homer Saddle connecting the valley of the Eglinton and Hollyford Rivers to the east with that of the Cleddau to the west. The tunnel is straight, and was originally single-lane and gravel-surfaced. The tunnel walls remain unlined granite. The east portal end is at 945m elevation; the tunnel runs 1270m at approximately a 1:10 gradient down to the western portal. Construction of the tunnel began in 1935 but it wasn't completed and opened until 1954.


Here is the Eastern portal after we had passed through it on our return journey. Yes there it is down in the bottom right of the photograph. At the bottom of the mountainside are piles of dirty snow.



For more H posts visit ABC Wednesday.

Haijinx is back

haijinx was an international web-based journal that focused on "the hai in haiku". It was created by Mark Brooks in 2001 and staffed by an international band of editors. It featured haiku, articles, reviews, poet spotlights and detailed author bios.

In March 2004, the original issues of haijinx were pulled from the web due to broken links.

On February 14, 2010, Mark relaunched the haijinx portal with a new haikai twitter feed, @haijinx.

Now the pages from the original issues have been archived, as I discovered when Google alerted by my haiku published on page 3 of Vol.1 #1 Spring 2001.

To find out more about putting the hai back in haiku visit haijinx.

Shadow Shot Sunday:Ashburys Station

A few days ago I caught a train out of Manchester Piccadilly towards Glossop. It is an electrified line. Power is passed from the overhead cables to pick-up arms on the top of the train.

When we stopped at Ashburys station, I couldn't help but notice how the shadow of one of the pick-up arms fell so neatly on the platform fence.

To find more Shadow Shots, visit Hey Harriet.

Friday Bench (33):Godley Hill

Today's bench is situated next to the Godley Hill War Memorial which you can see on Hyde Daily Photo.

My favourite benches discovered recently include Lois' in Tallahassee, Frederik's in Ystad, Robert's in Athens and Yvi's in Basel.

ABC Wednesday G is for Geirangerfjord

Today's photographs were all taken from the ferry which runs between Hellesylt and Gerianger. It was just a short section of our 2005 Cruise.


Many spectacular waterfalls descend the sides of the fjord. These are known as the "Seven Sisters".


On the opposite side is "Friaren", also known as "The Suitor".


To get an impression of their size, compare this photo of a yacht at the bottom of the falls with the one above.


Even more amazing are the tiny farmsteads that cling to the fjordsides. This is Knivsflå.


How anyone can reach these farms either from above or below is extraordinary.


This one is Skageflå.

For more G posts visit ABC Wednesday.