Tuesday 31 January 2012

A winter morning in Sutton Harbour


Friday morning dawned cold and crystal clear, with not a breath of wind.


There was barely a ripple in the marina, only a young swan moved on the water. 



  1. But it is not forecast to last for long.

Monday 30 January 2012

Finding Winter Sunshine on the shore of Plymouth Sound

After a long period of dark, wet weather, Friday was a beautiful clear, sunny day.
Air Temperature 6C, water temperature 11C.
Not quite as warm as the Canary Islands, but this hardy, all year round swimmer clearly enjoys her daily dip.






Ready










Steady













Go!

Sunday 29 January 2012

Friday 27 January 2012

The search for Winter Sunshine in Madeira.

We Brits have a dress code for sunny weather which is recognisable anywhere. 





Shorts must be short - straight from the playing fields of our school days.

Sandals can only be worn with socks - any suntan must finish in a straight line at sock level.

Shirts must be firmly tucked into the shorts - no tails flapping in the breeze.

British men are not good at carrying "man-bags" - a simple plastic shopping bag will do us nicely.

Thursday 26 January 2012

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Segway Art

Learning to ride on the quayside in Vigo, Galicia, Spain. 
The octopus capital of Europe.


Tuesday 24 January 2012

Home Again

We arrived home last night from our search for some winter warmth, sailing around the Canary Islands, 
just off the Atlantic coast of Morocco. 

In Las Palmas we berthed alongside these two wonderful Tall Ships.

 
The Christian Radich, from Norway, and the Lord Nelson from the UK.



















We were aboard the slightly larger vessel on the left of the picture.

Friday 20 January 2012

Thursday 19 January 2012

Tuesday 17 January 2012

Friday 13 January 2012

Heading South

I am sailing south for a week or so and have set up some pages from my sketchbook on automatic, till I get back.

I look forward to seeing soon.

Thursday 12 January 2012

A skein of Geese heading across Plymouth Sound towards Mt Edgecombe Park.




Tuesday 10 January 2012

Sunday 8 January 2012

Winter Chill.

The number of city centre retail premises, empty long term, is likely to increase now that the Christmas Christmas trading period is over.



Saturday 7 January 2012

By the twelfth day of Christmas .......

.... most of the short term Christmas tenancies, of the long term empty shops in the city centre, are closing down.



Friday 6 January 2012

A welcome splash of colour.


This beautiful tree welcomes in the New Year in a rather unprepossessing street.


Thursday 5 January 2012

The Ghost of Sir Francis Drake?

When I was taking a picture of the Morris Dancers on New Year's Day a ghostly image flitted across the viewfinder.

Could it be Sir Francis? Of course not, he died in 1596!


But that is him surely; with his wife Mary Newman.













Why is nobody taking any notice of them?

Am I the only one who can see them?

How can a ghost eat ice cream?

Wednesday 4 January 2012

New Year's Day 2012

Here's another way to welcome the New Year. 
These traditional Morris Dancers braved the wind and rain to dance in the street on the Barbican. 


Mind you they didn't venture too far from the warmth of The Dolphin Hotel,one of Plymouth's best known pubs, immortalised in the wonderful paintings of local artist, Beryl Cook.

Tuesday 3 January 2012

New Year's Day 2012

More than 200 swimmers braved the the elements to take part in the annual New Year's Day Swim at Wembury beach.

This year they were raising money for the Shekinah Mission in Plymouth, an organisation providing support for the homeless.

As the organiser said, "The weather was atrocious and then got worse but people turned up in droves."

See these brave young souls make their dash for the sea.

Monday 2 January 2012

Irene of Bridgewater (2)

The Irene of Bridgewater was launched in 1907 and is the last West Country Trading Ketch still under sail.
She finally retired from her trading service in 1960, having sailed for fifty years as part of the fleet of British merchant vessels through two world wars and the great depression.

She then changed hands a few times before being converted into a houseboat.

After many more changes of use she finally ended up in the Caribbean as a much loved charter yacht, but on 29th May 2003, her 96 birthday,  she was lying at the bottom of Marigot Bay, St Maarten in the West Indies, a burnt out wreck following a mysterious catastrophic fire.




Follow the story of how she was brought back to life in a creek on the River Lynher, just across the River Tamar from Plymouth, rising from the ashes as the painstaking restoration was undertaken.

It is apt that these pictures show her berthed close to Phoenix Wharf, on the Barbican.




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