BRIAN REID PHOTOGRAPHER
Autumn is definitely here
I am shaking off a cold and enjoyed some fresh air at the Lodge yesterday surrounded by autumn colour. I was not alone. I cannot remember when the main and overspill car park were so full. Good news for the RSPB. I don’t know where the people went as I hardly saw anyone on my walk along the turbine trail.
Back to Routine
There is always a fair amount of housekeeping to do after a long trip and that will be finalised with a proper grocery shop today. Yesterday I took a run down to Old Warden to see what was new in the collection and in the, ever changing, Swiss Garden. There was plenty of activity as they were moving aircraft around with the Edwardians moving to Hanger 1. It is like three dimensional chess with very...
Bremen to Hook of Holland
Gosh, what can I say. Talk about lucky with the weather. If today’s weather had been anywhere important to the trip it would have been a wash out. I think we are getting a taste of Amy! It started very, very wet from Bremen to the Dutch border and from there two things changed. We got occasional sunny periods and the wind built and built until I nearly got blown over in Noordwyk. It was just under...
Aalborg to Bremen
No sightseeing today just a steady autobahn drive from Aalborg in Denmark to Bremen in Germany. Apart fro serious roadworks near Aarhus and causing a major hold up around Hamburg it was a pretty easy run, but windy in places. The only place that I would like to have stopped for a photo op was at the Kiel Canal which allows shipping to go from the Baltic to the Atlantic. I assumed there would be a...
Kristiansand to Aalborg in Denmark
I am back in the European Union in Aalborg after a long day but with little driving. Checking out late morning from the hotel, 20 minutes charging the car, sitting for about 2 hours to board the ferry from Kristiansand to Hirtshals and then resting for 3 3/4 hours in a comfy chair before the final 50 minute run to Aalborg. In other words a lot of sitting around. Not a lot to photograph today but...
Kristiansand
Kristiansand has a compact city centre based on a grid of streets, including those with old buildings. It is contained by water on three sides and a hill to the north. You could easily cover the key places in a morning but I was in no hurry. The hotel is by the ocean side and its name, Bystranda, refers to a beach close by. The receptionist kindly gave me simple map with suggested walking route which...
Stavanger to Kristiansand
It felt a bit like winding down today with the relatively short run south from Stavanger to Kristiansand, my last port of call for this trip in Norway. The majority of the drive was along the main highway E39, which even became a dual carriageway for a couple of short stretches including to the outskirts of Kristiansand. I did not start on E39 as I returned through the Ryfylke tunnel which is how...
Stavanger - cruising the Lysefjord
I had an imagined day climbing the Pulpit Rock over the Lysefjord but over the past few weeks it has been clear that I would not manage a 4 hour hike, climbing 1500 feet both from energy levels and leg fitness but also going 4 hours without a comfort stop. I chose to do the next best thing which was to take a boat to the Lysefjord and see the Pulpit Rock from 2000 feet below. The additional benefit...
On the road again, Bergen to Stavanger the long way!
I’m here in Stavanger on a grey and very quiet Sunday evening. As I am finding is typical, most restaurants are closed on a Sunday evening, very French. The good news is there is a local burger joint in a garage along the street. Imagine a shambolic McDonalds but with proper fresh hand made and good sized burgers, excellent fries and diet coke. I won’t tell you how much it cost as you may be eating...
Bergen on a sunny Saturday in September!
So here I am in Bergen on a beautiful Saturday with no signs of a cruise ship giving me hope I might find somewhere to eat. More of that later. Bergen is another Norwegian City that has a view point over the city, this time reached by funicular railway, the Floibanen. So I decided to go there first and was pleasantly surprised that there was no crush, just a medium sized Japanese tour group and a...