Shot for the Day (07 July 2018)


Walking through the streets of London a few years ago armed with my compact camera, I saw this picturesque scene of shafts of light emerging between the trees of Bedford Square Garden, close to Tottenham Court Road.

Shot for the Day (18 June 2017)


Taken a few years ago on a Noblex 612 panoramic camera, this is a shot of a fishing boat on the beach of north western Zanzibar. The fishermen had finished for the day and there was a significant rainstorm on the horizon.

Shot for the Day (23 February 2017)

shot_of_the_day_23feb17

Walking along the beach in Exmouth last week, the clouds took on a pattern similar to the sand bumps on the shore.  My new Formatt-Hitech filter gave a warm purple tone instead of the customary cold blue of the Lee filters, lifting the colour of the scene. I was so pre-occupied with the scene that I did not notice the progressive surf.  Moments later, a wave washed in from my left and soaked me to the knee.  Worth it though.

Day 5: Yatton to Ewyas Harold

Total mileage: 72
Terrain: Hills – challenging with some really tough moments

After the pleasure and comfort afforded us by Andrew, we headed off, through the increasingly complex urban streets and cul-de-sacs of Yatton on a glorious sunny morn.  Although we got underway in the rush hour, we soon left the slow moving traffic behind by taking smaller, less obvious routes.

Within half an hour, we crossed the M5 and then headed up towards Avonmouth, via Clevedon and Portishead.  Much of the route was along intense A roads but fortunately the West Country drivers were courteous enough to pass us at a sensible distance.

Avonmouth is an absolute hole of a place where we unfortunately were stuck for an hour or so as the signs were nonsensical.  After talking to a teacher manning the gates of a local school, we found our way onto the cycle path and over to Seven Beach, where we jumped onto the Severn Bridge and crossed our first border.

Wales much not surprisingly much the same as England, save for the broken glass on the cycle track.  We headed towards Chepstow for lunch and found a small grassy knoll.

After filling our bellies up, we took the A466 on one of the best rides of the trip, through the Welsh valleys up to Monmouth.  The mountainous landscape covered in green trees was much like Scandinavia.  We all pelted around the roads at great speed, enjoying the relatively traffic-free roads.

After getting lost in Monmouth, we escaped, taking another very pleasant road, the B4347, north west towards Pontrilas.  We were all pretty knackered as the terrain was very hilly.  All of us were on heavy steal bikes, weighed down by our luggage.  Although we had anticipated that the toughest parts were in Devon and Cornwall, Wales offered equally challenging roads.

We passed through Ewyas Harold ending up in Abbey Dore.  Unfortunately, due to a completely random choir singing contest, we were unable to find anywhere to stay.  We were lucky enough to befriend a local publican who called a few B&Bs in the area, and ended up finding us a lovely room back in Ewyas Harold.

We were greeted by the landlord, Mark, who turned out to be a lovely guy.  He and his daughter invited us in with a very cheery demeanour and cooked us a sumptuous meal, much needed after the long day’s ride.