Sunny scenes at the seaside

Hello All…or should I say “is anyone out there?”!

Seems the poll I posted recently fell on stony ground so I might have to consider whether I should continue to post and maybe just pop my photos into the odd competition as I do anyhow. I had processed these pictures anyway so I shall post this entry and see how may visitors I get in the next week or so. Come on guys and gals!

This set was from a few trips back when I go for a trip along the coast. Some of you may know that I do a bit of sailing with a couple of friends out of Neyland marina during the Summer (as it is of late) and in the Winter (quite why I don’t know). My skipper won’t dare go under the road bridge just outside the marina as he says the winds and tide are way too risky. Didn’t stop this guy……

Heading into troubled waters….

Taken from the same vantage point (about 120 feet up) a view towards Pembroke Dock yacht club and the plethora of yachts and varied craft moored in the little bay just along the way. I like this picture because you can clearly see the tide running against all the ropes and it made for a good effect I thought.

Moored craft outside Pembroke Dock at sunset

Now we head North to take some pictures from Goodwick. This is the harbour arm where, off to the left and out of view, the Stena ferry berths and heads off to Ireland every afternoon. In the future there are plans to make this enclosure which is pretty empty now, into a very fancy marina to attract visitors from Ireland and further afield. I did once see a boat from Canada moored in Neyland as we left on a jolly…now that’s a journey I’d shy away from!

The view from Goodwick towards North Pembrokeshire

Rust. Universally hated the world over if you own a car or any type of machinery (in this case, the bottom of the lighthouse). Kept at bay by oodles of WD40 if you are lucky but eventually the car gets to the stage where it has to be ground out to pass its road-worthiness test! However, I don’t think for a moment that it would get anywhere near as bad as this. Whilst it is a scourge, I thought it looked quite pretty…colourful to the extreme.

I think we are going to need a bigger wire brush…

A portrait view of the previous portion of rustiness. Judging by the fist size holes in the metal further down there’s a bit of work to do here. However, having seen the winter storms that this area takes the brunt of, I am not surprised it looks a teeny bit shabby. After all, why would you spend months repairing it when there is another storm a few weeks away?

A very colourful repair job!

Yes, I’m sorry. A sunset. This one was taken from the bridge in Neyland at the same time as the images further up. I don’t often include coastal scenes so it is a little out of the ordinary, honest. As you can see, this looks towards the refinery that is still going after all the news stories that it was being closed/sold/dismantled and such. In addition there are a number of wind turbines that have popped up in the foreground since I took this picture….a nod towards a greener refinery per chance?

Sunset over Neyland….time to ride home!

Well, that is the lot for this post. Please, please keep visiting. I like showing you the local area (although you get a slightly limited and bias view!). If anything, the poll has made me realise I should make decisions like that myself!

Thanks for your visit, see you soon.

A zip along to Fishguard in the new car!

Hello All!

How are we? Enjoying the warm weather? This only really applies in the area I live and to a couple of followers, so sorry about that. Hope everything is well where you are based.

Been another busy couple of weeks here but I have a day off today and decided to sit with a cuppa and post another blog for y’all. This time, I decided that the legs of the new turbocharged pocket rocket (it is a bit frightening still but I am now a little more confident) I call my car a stretch to Fishguard and Goodwick. On a nice sunny day, it is a very pleasant place to sit, have a coffee and watch the people go by from or to the Rosslare ferry or the kids play on the big slides (dare I suggest such a thing in this day and age?!).

Luckily, I had my camera with me and the light was very good..quite low and pretty orange so everything around was bathed in very nice light. First was a wander along the breakwater where the visibilty afforded a pleasant view across the water towards Dinas Head and one of my favourite spots (my secret waterfall).

View from Goodwick towards Old Town and Dinas (North Pembrokeshire)

From here, it is possible to spot a myriad of birds when the feeding situation is right for them. On this occasion as I walked along, I got buzzed by a Curlew. I know because I looked it up on the RSPB website in the cafe! It was way to fast for me to get a snap of it, so I am afraid that you will have to settle for this long view of the breakwater once I had returned to the car park.

A longer view of the Goodwick Breakwater

On the beach, the light was even better. I had a gent walk up to me (cameras are great icebreakers it appears) and just launched into a conversation about what I took photos of and the equipment I used. He was very nice though, although his son was less patient than most. I got a nice sun bathed picture of a groyne and the rocks beside following that chat…another nice view towards the Old Harbour and Dinas from there.

Pretty much anything will look better once it has the sun on it…

As an explanation for not being on the blog all that often of late, I am now going to post a picture and a couple of videos of the sheer toil I have been undertaking crewing the boat owned by my friend, John. Oh the stress!!

A quick snap of the racing yacht (Ellloco) taken when we made a toilet stop in Milford

Mind you, he let me steer the other evening and that was frightening.. it’s not althogether a natural feeling steering a something side on when the seat you are sat on is leaning at 45 degrees. That may take a bit of getting used to.

Anyway, a couple of videos here http://youtu.be/vDiJWWl-5n8 and here http://youtu.be/eGFT_LigO-g of a level jaunt we took out yesterday down towards Angle and Dale. A few ham rolls, a touch of coffee and some strawberries and a maximum speed of 5 knots made it a very pleasant day all in. However, it’s not all like this, during a race we do have to work, I assure you, I still have the bruises, rope burns and cuts to prove it.

Thanks for stopping by…see you soon!