A Canterbury Tale

Another trip down to Kent meant more exploring of the south-eastern tip of England. This time me and Jen made it to Canterbury (home city of Maddy who was kind enough to meet us). Being a Northerner it always suprises me how big Kent seems - on a map it doesnt really look that large but there is quite a lot to it and i still havent reached Margate or Dungeness. It can takes over an hour and a half to cover the 56 (ish) miles from London to Canterbury by train, which compared to the 188 miles from London to York covered in 1hour 5o seems painfully slow. Still its better progress than the pilgrims who use to walk, leading to Chaucer writing the famous "Canterbury tales" that are now a kind of interactive attraction in the pretty city centre. Above is the rather splendid Canterbury Cathedral, an old place of pilgrimage (thanks to Rob i cant ever take that word seriously anymore) since the murder of the priest Thomas Beckett here in 1170.

Inside i also took a picture of the roof utilising my new (to me) 17-85 f4-5.6 lense's Image stabilizing ability. For those interested in photography, the expected sucessor to my camera has been announced by Canon recently as the 400D. The differences dont seem huge, though it gains a few more megapixels, 2 more AF points, and more buffer to name some - Specs . In other news, hasnt the end of August, and hence virtually the start of Autumn come round bloody quickly?

Hard water

Had an excellent weekend at Steves 21st bash, which once again saw me in Knaresborough (see June) . This time i actually went in Mother Shiptons cave, for the bargain price of £0 thanks to Steve's friend (cheers). The main feature, apart from a picturesque river side setting and of course the cave where the illegitimate "witch" was born, is the above picture. This is the Petrifying well, which taking the literal meaning of petrify, turns things to stone. Many minerals in the water are to blame for this, which can turn an object left with the water running over it solid in 3 months. The array of dangling objects include hats, a lobster, teapot, mask and many teddies which i am informed are sold all over the world when hardened. The site has been attracting visitors since 1630, claiming to be the oldest tourist destination in England. If anyone wishes to see the pictures i took last weekend, i've made a gallery on fotopic, and also one of my Scotland holiday. Click!

1/25 [I.S] , F.8 , ISO 400

Military Might

Fort George from the sea showing defences

Interior of fort george showing barracks

Ive got to admit, this long summer is making me lazy. I cant even be arsed updating this much really - to be honest it does take longer than it looks if I want to include some interesting information. Anyway, I was lacking inspiration, so I thought ill try and do requests ... If you want me to put up or take a photo of anything thats a) legal [no little kids please!] and b) pratically attainable ill try my best. Just add your requests as a comment below - I may even already have something in my collection.

Due to a lack of recent updates ive given you 2 for 1. From the title you may guess there is a military theme, for this is Fort George which lies on the Moray Firth just east of Inverness. A few miles from the fort was the battlefield of Culloden, when in April 1746 the English army pretty much put an end to anymore Scottish Jacobite uprisings, in what was essentially, much like today, a religious dispute. Despite the decisive English victory, they had had enough, so as a permenant deterrent they decided to build a Huge fort in the heart of the Highlands. This was to be Fort George, an excellent piece of military design and engineering of the time to house 1600 soldiers, taking 21 years and a (today) cost of £1billion to finish. It worked, despite critics saying it never saw action, becasue surley thats the point of a deterrent? Its had many upgrades too as warfare has changed over the years from Napoleon era to the 1st and 2nd world wars and beyond, including the upgrading of guns with some Armstrong ( see "Art for Arts sake") kit. Although its suitablity to new roles has been debated, it was always considered an important stronghold.

Today you get in for the sum of £6.50. Whilst being able to walk all around the walls and some buildings, its most interesting as it still houses army facilities and staff, so you can see soldiers going about their business (smoking, pimping round in Clios, and playing loud music on the saturday afternoon i visited - much like castle leazes). Apparently you can also watch dolphins in the Moray, though i didnt see any.

Art for Arts sake?

This is a double bed .... in a Lake* - which apparently makes art, and an excuse for me to use a 10CC song as the title (excellent old band if youve ever heard of them). Its not a particuarly amazing shot in any respects, but it tickled me and ive done a zoom view- click here

* When i say lake, technically i should probably say reservoir, for this is at Cragside, Lord Armstrongs country house in Northumberland. Armstrong was a Victorian industrialist, famous in the north east of England for his factories on the Tyne. These engineering facilities turned out warships and heavy guns to name a few examples, later becoming Vickers- Armstrong and now eventually part of Rolls-Royce. For the uni people, Jesmond Dene in the Newcastle suburbs was donated by Armstrong to the working classes of the "toon" for them to enjoy. His house at Cragside was revolutionary in many respects, for the "lake" was part of his hydro electricty scheme (worlds 1st) - the whole house utilising water power. Mechanically to power a lift and kitchen and household equipment, and electrically to become the first electrically lit house in the world in 1878. Funny thing is, after all these years the house needs re-wiring, so its shut for 2 years while they do it, hence the random "art" around the estate to try and make up for it.