Castles and coasts

It's been a long time since my last post with 2015 being a year of changes.

In this post I am revisiting a holiday last September to a beautiful  and unspoilt part of Northumberland. We were fortunate to have a few days of glorious sunshine and were burnt to a crisp by the wind..

Holy island

 

 

lobster pots on Lindisfarne

 

 upturned boats have been made into sheds, a particular feature on Lindisfarne

 

 

another glorious day and a morning view of Bamburgh castle

 

a deserted coastline a mile or so further on from Bamburgh

 

Milo enjoying hours of swimming

 


a day spent in Berwick upon Tweed, Milo was welcome wherever we went

Alnwick

rock formations in Alnwick

negotiating a carrot in the sand..

ah, the bliss of the seabreeze in one's ears- a trip to the Farne Islands

our last day,  High- Newton-by-the-Sea, Dunstanburgh castle in the distance

a couple of hills

 A beautiful break in North Wales with breath taking scenery and a couple of hills to climb. Milo was in his element.

LLyn Y Gader on the path from Rhyd-ddu to Beddgelert

Llyn Y Gader

the Llanberis path up Snowdon - apparently the easiest of the paths that takes you to the summit. We are nearing the half way point here.

three quarters of the way up and at particularly steep section

Milo insists on getting as close to the edge as possible with only a rickety old fence between him and a long way down..

the summit is in sight here  (the part in shadow).

lunch at the top

An incredible view, a challenging climb, worth every minute on a glorious day.

Rhyd- ddu, the first leg of a 2nd path up Snowdon

Borth-y-Gest , a beautiful and deserted beach just outside Porthmadog

me and the ordnance survey map go it alone with spectacular views of Rhyd-ddu

Corton Denham early autumn

A much looked forward to visit to Somerset after a year long wait.. the last of the blackberries marking the end of summer.

a spidery day in August

For some reason the woods were alive with spiders today, a combination of the recent rains and warm weather perhaps.

The mechanics of how this particular spider 'stored it's legs' was a fascinating revelation to me. The legs are all neatly tucked up under the abdomen which in picture 2 and 3 you can see gradually lifting to reveal the legs in all their spidery glory attached to the thorax

freshly caught with no escape

the Greenbottle of course, feeds off carrion

Rhingia Campestris- it's prominent snout and orange abdomen distinguish it from other flies

too small to identify but it looked like a bee the way it was collecting pollen

for no other reason than I love the patterns and shapes within this image

a Shield bug

 Silver -studded blue, this one is female as has a brown upperside. Prefers low-growing plants.

Shield bug