The Rock Face
Inspired by John’s image here with a bit of Photoshop skullduggery added in…

Inspired by John’s image here with a bit of Photoshop skullduggery added in…
A gathering of chickens on a Scottish island
Looking down from the mountains in Crete towards the southern shore of this wonderful island.
Playing around with Photoshop’s new Neural Filter…
The Neural Filter – Richard Broom Photography
More images of Portsoy here.
If you look carefully, you can see, on the horizon, the mountains on the other side of the Moray Firth – and the odd boat! Read about Portsoy here.
Houses in Scotland….built to last. The Romans couldn’t take on Scotland and win and nor, it seems, can the weather. This house as solid as a rock (well, more than a few rocks in fact).
Bounding up this street in Banff with vigour is out of the question these days. A slow, up-hill crawl, in low gear, with frequent rest stops is a better strategy and the ‘slo-mo’ approach is easier on the creaky old knees! Going ‘down the way’ (as they say here in Scotland) is much easier.
We’ve noticed quite a few trees up here in the Cairngorms that appear to be dying. Disease? Polution? We’re not sure but a pity to see trees dying off…
Grantown-on-Spey in the Cairngorms.
Until Dr Beeching came along, Banff was connected to the rest of the United Kingdom by a railway line. The railway line to Banff finally closed in 1968. A pity. Given the general state of the roads in the UK (overcrowded and often in disrepair) and the need for us to reach climate targets, perhaps greater use of modern railway trains might have helped us in the longer term. But then, UK governments (especially the so-called Government we have in place now), can’t seem to plan beyond the end of the next week, let alone a year or more’s time. Long term planning? Forget it!!!
Where there were once railway tracks, there are now walking/jogging paths. Every cloud has a silver lining…
Twice a day the sea rolls in and covers these rocks which, it turns out, are high-rise blocks for marine wildlife. Also, something of a smorgasbord for the local sea birds when the tide rolls out…
It takes more a little more than a King Canute type approach to hold back the tides and the sometime furious seas here in Banff, Scotland. Ironically, we have a number of politicians about us these days who think they have supernatural powers – but, it turns out, like Canute – they do not!! It is quiet clear (especially from the image below) that, thankfully, our coastal defences are more effective and in much better shape than the grubby crop of duplicitous politicians we have to put up with these days…
We have arrived at our new home in Banff, Scotland and I am back in business!!
The Valley
The Hillside
The Marina Sunset
The Windmill
The Backwater
The Boat House
The Walk on the Frozen Markermeer
The Railway Line
The Blue Hour
The Street
A walk towards the darkness…..
The Night Walk
The Smoke Stack
The Boat
The Lonely Girl
The Storm Clouds Gathering
The Field
The Dales
Amsterdam; the city of canals and bridges…
The Bridges in Amsterdam
The Little Bit of the Netherlands
The Stormy Skies Over Paris
The Amsterdam Street Scene
On a warm summer’s day, the Hortus Botanicus (Botanical Gardens) Amsterdam is such an oasis of peace and tranquility. Somewhere to catch your breath…
The Botanical Gardens Amsterdam
The Ship Heading North
The Long Road With No Turning
The Sea Far Below and the Sky High Above…
Just caught the sun as it was going down…
The Sunset Over the Marina Tonight
Eagle-eyed readers will spot something strange here…
The Brown Boat
The Markermeer
The big house where most of us don’t live. Most of us live up the hill a bit!
The Stately Home
The Sunrise
The Truly Classy Tour Guide Agency
The Big Sky Over The Netherlands
The Love Me Graffiti
A little bit more of Derbyshire, a few more dry stone walls and the rolling countryside…
The Landscape
A little bit of Derbyshire
The Dry Stone Wall
The Wharf
Plenty of these in Amsterdam and the Netherlands…
The Bridge
They don’t, sadly, make lampposts like they used to…
The Lampost
Amsterdam is not the largest city in the world but it is forever explorable. There always seems to be an undiscovered and enchanting backstreet somewhere…..
The Back Streets
What better way to see Amsterdam…
The Ride With A View
The Trees
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Freetown, Sierra Leone
The Mill
Ps: look out for the cable car…
The Village in the Hills
The Hill Farm
The Night Scene
The Islands
The Hillside
The Sunrise
The Lock
Oh dear….wet feet…..
The Wet Feet Shot
The Big Sky Over Holland
The City
The Vapour Trails
The Rails
The Cathedral
The Arches
The Long Road
The Island
The Post Horn Hotel in Monnickendam. Â As Dutch and as charming as a hotel in the Netherlands can get. Food excellent. Michelin star restaurant. More on TripAdvisor here.
hyThe Post Horn
Monnickendam (one of the best kept secrets in the Netherlands).
The Street
Monnickendam street market (every Saturday)
The Street Market
The Old Hollow Tree
Here is a very rare site in Holland, a marina without any boats.
The reason is the marina here at Hemmeland (Monnickendam) is being dredged to make the water deeper for the boats that are normally here. Â All the boats that are normally parked here have been moved out of the way so the dredger can do its work.
The Empty Harbour
The Yang Ming
The quayside in Monnickendam town harbour is being extended. Â This means that more people will be able to sit and enjoy food, drink and ice cream during the summer.
The Harbour Extension
The winter sunset over the Netherlands today. Â For some reason the image came out a bit like a J M W Turner painting. Â A hint of The Fighting Temaraire (minus a boat or two!).
The Winter Sunset
The Sunset Over the Ice
The Woods at Hemmeland
Another image of the lighthouse at Jachthaven Hemmeland.
The Lighthouse
This is Marken which used to be an island but it is now connected to the Dutch mainland by a causeway. Â A beautiful place to visit.
Marken
The Lighthouse
The lighthouse at Jachthaven Hemmeland
The Lighthouse
The Wind Turbines
The Late Arrival