Travel Theme – Page 11

Travel Theme: Rivers

Ailsa of “Where’s My Backpack?” is up the creek without a paddle – or in other words, would like to see RIVERS this week. If you would like to join in with her challenge then please do. Everyone is welcome.

Having shown several images of my local rivers, the Teme and the Corve, this week I have a couple of shots of the River Severn in Shrewsbury, where it loops around the town almost creating an island.

Above (header) is a photo of the Boathouse. It is situated on the fringes of Frankwell and Kingsland, beside a recently refurbished foot-bridge (below) that carries walkers into Quarry Park. In mid summer the patio buzzes with joyful chatter and clinking glasses as patrons sit with a view across the Severn as it snakes its way through the town. Surprisingly there aren’t many pubs by the side of the river and this is probably the best.

The ‘Sabrina’ is available for gentle cruises along the river through Shrewsbury, a nice way to see the neighbours.

Have you taken a river cruise in England?

Travel Theme: Close-Up

Ailsa of “Where’s My Backpack?” is looking at things in detail this week. Getting CLOSE-UP. If you would like to join in with her challenge then please do. Everyone is welcome.

On a visit this week to the British Museum I was thrilled to get close up to some very interesting objects.

(click on collage to enlarge)

Hieroglyphics from the Egyptian Rooms and Enlightenment Gallery. Excessive Zimbabwean currency notes from the Money Room, an Anglo-Saxon helmet from Early Medieval Europe, a beautiful ceramic bowl from Algeria and colourful painted decoration which was once painted above the column capitals of the Parthenon.

(Above) Man’s Cloth – recycled foil bottle-neck wrappers, copper wire by El Anatsui, Ghana, 1988 – 2001 (A traditional narrow-strip woven silk kente cloth of Ghana)

(Above) A close-up of a gold cape from Mold, Wales made from a single sheet of gold (c 1900 – 1600 BC)

I can’t believe that it has taken me until now to visit this astonishing museum and can’t wait to return to London and continue exploring the range of cultures, periods and objects it contains.

Travel Theme: Glow

Ailsa of “Where’s My Backpack?” is ready to GLOW with the flow this week. If you would like to join in with her challenge then please do. Everyone is welcome.

Just back from a trip to Cornwall where I visited several of the gardens there, many of which are famous for their camellias, rhododendrons, azaleas and magnolias. But there were a lot more plants that caught my attention, including these fresh giant leaved Gunnera plants which glowed in the sunlight, and seemed an obvious choice for the challenge.

Travel Theme: Clean

Ailsa of “Where’s My Backpack?” is concerned about clean air and is choosing CLEAN for the theme this week. If you would like to join in with her challenge then please do. Everyone is welcome.

My personal bugbear is that of clean water. We take it for granted that we can turn on a tap and have water so good we can drink it, let alone wash in it or clean our clothes in it. Sadly this isn’t the case in a lot of the world.

In Slovenia in the Vintgar Gorge flows some of the clearest water I have ever seen. The 1.6 km long Vintgar gorge carves its way through the vertical rocks of the Hom and Bort hills and is graced by the Radovna with its waterfalls, pools and rapids.

Discovered in 1891 by Jakob Žumer and Benedikt Lergetporer, the gorge was soon after equipped with wooden observation walkways and bridges, and was opened to the public on August 26, 1893. Wikipedia

On a hot day there is nothing better than walking through this gorge in the shade with the sound of the water beside you.

Where is the clearest, cleanest water you have seen?

Travel Theme: Misty

Ailsa of “Where’s My Backpack?” likes to linger in the MIST this week. If you would like to join in with her challenge then please do. Everyone is welcome.

Thinking of misty times takes me back to my first visit to Canada in 2005 and more specifically to Vancouver Island. Way up north on Cormorant Island in the Queen Charlotte Strait lies the historical village of Alert Bay. Home of the ‘Namgis First Nation a former thriving fishing community and now a centre of Native art and culture as well as orca whale watching tours and fishing.

Although it was still August here the weather was distinctly autumnal with its “SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness!”

As the cloud descended over the far shore and the fog rose above the ocean that encircles the island we took to beach-combing along the shore and hiking in the ecological park, our eyes forever drawn to the grey mantle over the sea.