Rotherhithe Ramble

Another day, another urban walk.

This time a local one, around Rotherhithe and the Surrey Docks (or Surrey Quays as its now known)

Most of the route following the Thames Path, and has a lot of historical interest in the area, from the place where the Mayflower first set sail from to the first tunnel known to have been constructed successfully underneath a navigable river.

Although this side of the docks has been re-developed, it is mainly with housing and not the towering buildings of Canary Wharf and this helps to show how big the docks really were.

Rotherhithe Ramble

Greenland Dock

Tide Gauge House

Canary Wharf

Lavender Pumphouse

Rotherhithe Tunnel Shaft No.2

Brunel Museum

I.K.Brunel

Mayflower

Hope (Sufferance) Wharf

St. Mary's Church

Thames and City of London

Hampstead Heath

On Monday and the weather looking good, I decided to recce out a new photowalk.

Using the 'new' London Overground I managed to get from South London to Hampstead in just over an hour, if I had of made better connections I think I could of done it in less time.

The Map shows the route I walked over the Heath, I know it looks messy but that is because I was looking for places of interest, which there are plenty and probably mean that 2 walks could be done in this area.

I need to refine the route and work it down to a reasonable size.

How to

Sharpen a soft image

Smile

How to

make a HDR photograph with one picture

Backpacking Trolls

Be rude not to

As it was passing the bottom of the road.

To be honest, it was a bit of an anticlimax as the runner went pass in a flash. There were a few other vehicles that went pass, mainly from the sponsors.

SoFoBoMo 2012

SoFoBoMo is a group event where a bunch of photographers all make solo photo books from start to finish in 31 days.

This year the project runs from 1st July to 31st August; this is a fuzzy month which allows the photogrpher to start at any time within these date but still have a month to complete the project.

I did this project in 2010 with Elephant's in London, I have done one again this year and it's along the same lines as my previous one.

This year's SoFoBoMo is called London Calling and can be see here

Why I Love London

Two for the price of one

Shad

London Calling

Abe

funny

Lesnes Abbey

This very old tree is reputed to be one of the mulberry trees commissioned to be planted by King James I who wanted to set up his own English silk industry. However silk moth caterpillars feed on the white mulberry and the trees the King was sold were black mulberries.


Ruins of Lesnes Abbey at Abbey Wood. The skyscrapers of London Docklands are visible in the distance.

A dead oak trunk carved with a "green man" figure.

Urban Walk Olympic Park & Greenwich Peninsula

From Olympic Park

From Olympic Park

From Olympic Park

From Olympic Park

I've gone a bit MAD

With HDR on the photographs.

All shot in Greenwich, clicking on the photograph with go to the bigger photograph

Eltham Lights Up

Last night my youngest daughter was part of the Lights Up Eltham, which is the turning on of the Christmas lights in our local high street.

This years theme was Time & Alice in Wonderland, this involves the local schools making lanterns for the parade along the high street.

Below are some pictures from the event.

TGO Photographs

I've finally gotten around to sorting out my photographs from this year's TGO Challenge.

As you may remember from a previous post; I left the SD card for my camera behind and had to take most of the photographs with my video camera.

If you click on the link below the picture, it will take you to the TGO Challenge album.

St. Cyrus beach

From My TGO Challenge

More days out

Deer, Greenwich Park


Greenwich Naval College


Greenwich Park Panorama

Canary Wharf

From Days out

Don't see many of these in town

Elan Valley 2

I awoke about 6.00am on Friday and the hillside was covered in mist, so decided to have an extra hour in bad. By 7.00 am the mist had lifted but it was looking like it was going to be a cloudy grey day.

We broke camp around 9.00am and headed West to pick up the Monks trod again at Pont ar Elan, this is part of the Elan Estate and also the area covered by the many reservoirs serving Birmingham and the Midlands.

Criag Goch Reservoir

The path climbs in a Westerly direction from the reservoir and eventually plateaus out, it was quite boggy in parts and the path seemed to run off in different directions, there were the occasionally signposts but at time these were 10 to 20 yards away from the path we would be on.

Although it wasn't hot; it was hard and thirsty work, and this did cause a problem. Although boggy there wasn't a good supply of water up on the top. At the Llyn Cerrigllwydion lakes, it looked possible to get down to them from the path but once closer, it was a steep climb down and the way back out didn't look to inviting.

We pushed on and finally found water, in a small crack in the ground with water running off the hillside.

We continued on down to the Afron Claerwen; where we across the river and stopped to have lunch, at this point I realised I'd lost my mapcase, I'm not sure if it was as I was manly striding down the hill or more likely when I bent down in the river to collect water, either way it was pretty stupid and dangerous not to keep my mapcase somewhere safer. Lucky we both had maps; so had to continued on Keith's.

We now had a decision to make; do we continued West and make for the Llyn Teifi lakes or stay on the original route. The route across to Llyn Teifi on the map looked O.K.but on the ground it looked very sketchy and boggy, so we went with the original plan.

We re-crossed the river and picked up a sheep track going up and around the back of Claerwen Farm; this brought us out on to the reservoir track, which we had the joy of walking on for the next 4 miles.

Start of the Claerwen reservoir and track

So far on this trip we haven't see any walkers, we did meet a couple driving at Pont ar Elan but that was all, until the track we finally met a group of D.o.E.

We had a rough idea on where to pitch or the night; we found an alternative site but did have to carry 3 litres of water up to it.

Two things on this trip I've never seen so much of is sheep and sheep s**t!