Thursday, 20 July 2017

Attacking The Malverns with Roger: Thursday, 20th July, 2017.

10:45-ish:
Roger says this is the steepest section.
I hope so 'cos I'm already out of breath and we haven't been going for 5 mins yet.
Looking to the west and The Black Mountains of the Welsh borders.
Onwards and upwards.
11:30-ish:
We have reached the highest point.
Dead easy.
Looking north towards Worcester and Birmingham beyond (not that you can see either in this photo, unless you know where you are looking).
Note huge school party trekking towards us.
Time to leave.
Looking south east towards..um…The Cotswolds an' all that.
Heading south and back down to ground zero.
Much easier.
Favourite photo of the day for obvious reasons (well, they are to me).

Monday, 17 July 2017

Wild flowers, Worcester: Monday, 17th July, 2017.

Flowers by the railway viaduct looking south west.
Flowers by the railway viaduct looking east.
A flower by the railway viaduct looking north towards Vicky, with our latest contribution to the nation's economy, and the racecourse.

Monday, 10 July 2017

Castle Combe Grand National, Sunday, 9th July, 2017.

10:45-ish.
We have arrived at Castle Combe after a straightforward journey and are now exploring the paddock.
It is absolutely heaving. Not that you can tell from this picture.
We've had to park 'off circuit'. Not had to do that before.
Stand there Vic. There's loads of people behind you in the crowded paddock.
Oh b*gg*r! Most of them have just moved out of shot.
Chris Firmin - Manx Norton 500 - about to leave the paddock 
and compete in the Lansdowne Classic Series race.
Viper 8.0 Litre V10.
Nothing else to say.
Yoshimura Suzuki heavy metal.
Nice.
Talking of heavy metal………
John McGuinness and fans contemplate the fine handiwork 
(or should that be 'leggi'-work) of his surgeon.
Guy Martin and Neil Tuxworth (left).
12:30-ish:
We're now at Camp Corner and Guy Martin is giving the Honda 297-6 a sound thrashing as part of the day's Tribute to Mike Hailwood.
Camp Corner I:
Told you the place is rammed.
It's as tho' we have been transported back to Mallory Park in the '70's.
Short circuit - loads of people.
Camp Corner II:
The view in the opposite direction.
Fans all around the track.
Motorsport fans are no different from football fans it would appear.
Vicky has a great view but as soon as summat happens - i.e. Freddie Spencer riding past - everyone gets up out of there seats to get a 'better' view even tho' the view is no better 
than when they were seated.
People are a funny lot.
It's a good photo tho', Vic.
The Castle Combe infield is now a Solar Energy Farm.
Good for the environment but we really miss the poppies.
Freddie Spencer - on a Honda 500-4 - waves to the crowd.
The crowd waves back, or takes a photo.
We've moved along to the Dean Straight and Freddie Spencer is now
 enjoying riding a Honda NS 500-3.
Now we are at Tower Corner as two classic 'bike paraders fly past.
2:30-ish:
We are now at Farm Straight (none of The Combe's straights are straight, by the way) 
and this is Josh Day who's just won the Powerbike Race on his Kawasaki ZX10R.
Chris Pope (11) - Yamaha R1 - and Peter Carr (27) - Kawasaki ZX10 - have enjoyed 
their Powerbike dice and we have enjoyed watching 'em.
Mark Compton - Suzuki K5 1000 - celebrates the end of The Powerbike race.
3:00pm-ish:
Yay! A gap in the fencing.
Leading riders in the Open 500 & Moto Mini Twins race hurtle through Quarry Corner.
It's been a hot one today and it's now time for us to stroll back to the car and head home.
By the end of the day we've walked 6.60 miles and the circuit is only 1.8 miles around.
Shows how many times we walked around the paddock (plus the walk to and from the car park).
3:45-ish:
M5 Gloucester Services.
All motorway services should be like these - and not a KFC or burger joint in sight.
Gloucestershire from the services.
Following the 'nature trail' around the services.
Looking forward to getting home so we can start to wind down.
We're not as young as we were!


Thursday, 6 July 2017

A walk on the wild side, Worcester: Wednesday, July 5th, 2017.

It's hot and humid today.
These horses have found some shade.
I wish I had.
A tranquil scene.
And another one.
At last, I'm under some shade.
I think I'll stay here for a while.

Tuesday, 4 July 2017

A Bug's Life, Pitchcroft, Worcester: Tuesday, 4th July, 2017.

11:30-ish.
A Cockchafer, or May Bug to its friends, out on a Tuesday constitutional.

Monday, 3 July 2017

Into town along the river (yet again), Worcester: Monday, 3rd July, 2017.

Vicky watches the fishies as three boats full of noisy excited school kids approach.
There'll be no kingfishers today then.
The view up river.
Not one we take very often for some reason.

Sunday, 2 July 2017

Walk along the river, Worcester: Sunday, 2nd July.

A walk along the river is just the job today.
Plenty of shade.
Trouble is the racecourse is made of grass which, in turn, means pollen.
And we both know what that means.