Welcome

The final day of the holiday saw a last minute change of plan - a trip to St. Ives instead of a more local walk. We wanted to have a second look at a particular gallery - the Donald MacLeod Maritime Art gallery, having visited it a number of years ago. The Great Western Railway is extremely scenic in this part of the world, albeit a little slow travelling a maximum of around 60mph, over all the old bridges, viaducts and through the cuttings. It must have been a lot of effort to construct all those years ago. ...

The start of the week was marked by a day trip on the ferry between St Mawes and Falmouth. The weather was not fully cooperating with light drizzle and dark grey skies. We arrived and parked up just in time to catch the boat, clambering down the wet dock steps to climb aboard and find a seat out of the inclement weather. ...

The week is flying by - day 4 already. A trip to another National Trust site - Cotehele, a house from the Tudor ages. On the day of visiting, much to Mother’s delight there was a ‘pick apples from the tree’ event on. ...

Day 3 of the adventure in Cornwall - a short bus ride to the coastal town of Looe. A statue of a previous inhabitant of the town, Nelson the Seal. A boat trip returning to the jetty after a run out to sea. The ever present Seagulls, watching for any tourist who drops their guard on their pasty or ice cream - I know too well from first hand experience on a previous trip! ...

A prompt start for a lengthy trip out West to Marazion, down towards the farthest corner of the United Kingdom. After parking in the long stay car park and successfully talked my way past the National Trust St Michael’s Mount ticket collectors having not yet received my National Trust membership card, we joined the line of people walking across the causeway to the busy attraction. ...

A trip the Emily Hobhouse museum at St Ive (Liskeard) in Cornwall was a thought provoking experience, based about the life of Emily Hobhouse at the turn of the 20th century and the second Boer war in South Africa. The experience consisted of a carefully time choreographed walk around ’the War Room’, wearing a headset which detailed the story of the war, and included a virtual reality session set in the harsh environment of a British concentration camp for all the women and children which were captured following the hard battle with the Boers. ...

Parakeets have made it down to Hampshire! What a noise they will make. Still, the more native fauna was making the most of the bumper harvest. I am not totally sure what variety this is - I am thinking a juvenile Coot? Meanwhile, the young boy Mallards are starting to show their colours, magnificent! ...

Operation Market Harborough 2026 was a scorcher, replicating in part what the crews would have faced in the Middle East conflicts - dry, dusty, inescapable heat - and no air conditioning car to jump into at the end of the day to go home! The team did try and dampen down the ground to reduce the dust, but sadly this was rather ineffective, not surprising considering the drought which the country was going through at the time. ...

My young nephew Oscar joined me at Operation Market Harborough 2026, and expertly handled his Grandad’s snapper, capturing the following super results! Quite how he managed a selfie in the first image is beyond my comprehension, has he got exceedlingly long arms like Mr Tickle?