One of many bridges crossing one of the many canals in Amsterdam!
An ornate lamp surrounded by golden autumn leaves
White bike on a bridge
Bicycles on a bridge
Faces adorn the Huis Met De Hoofden
Windmills on the river Zaan
Restaurant next to De Oude Kerk
Coffee in the red light district
Girls walk down Herenmarkt
Windmill on the river Zaan
Windmills along the river Zaan
Our family summer holiday was a trip to South Devon. Just like last year (post here), we stayed in a caravan park which offered lots of activities for the kids, as well as being close to beaches. The weather on the first day was wet, however, we didn’t let that stop us from having a picnic whilst watching steam trains pass-by. Fortunately, the weather picked up quite considerably and by the middle of the week we had been swimming in the River Teign and the English Channel!
The week was dominated by the National Trust with us visiting a number of local houses, gardens and castles. As luck would have it each place we visited had a cafe and offered cream tea – which of course we duly obliged in purchasing!!
The photos posted here are only a snapshot with the aim of giving you a taste of what we got up to and what the South Devon area has to offer. The full set are posted on my flickr site.
A few photos taken recently from the Wirral side of the River Mersey looking across to the beautiful skyline of Liverpool.
Normally during half-term holiday we end up working or splitting our days off to look after the kids. This time we decided, back in August(!), to go away to Scotland and to enjoy a proper half-term holiday away from the normality of home. As it is with looking and booking holiday homes on-line there is always a little trepidation when you finally arrive at the front door, fingers crossed, that it lives up to the expectation that the pictures generated. Fortunately, the place we booked turned out to be amazing and a million times better than the pictures suggested. Whilst it was relatively close to a busy main road this was more than compensated for by having a river at the bottom of the garden and a view out across the beginning of the Grampian Mountains. The cottage was on the opposite side of the river to the closest town, but fortunately also at the bottom of the garden was a bridge. How handy!
Joining us for the first 4 days was Mr & Mrs Cakes who were also looking forward to chilling out and forgetting about the daily grind. In fact, the visitors didn’t stop there as one of Mr & Mrs Cakes good friends, a certain lead singer from the group Ladytron and her hubby also came up for a day – although to be fair they didn’t have as long a journey as they now live back north of the border. Us men went for a short bike ride on the Sunday following the Etape Caledonia route, meeting the rest of the gang in a lovely country hotel for what turned out to be a rather late lunch.
Following what turned out to be quite a hectic weekend, we spent the rest of the week enjoying the fantastic Scottish sun and blue sky, and visited a number of woodland walks and spectacular waterfalls in and around Pitlochry. The autumn colours were absolutely stunning and reminded me of my travels around New England each fall when I lived in New York. In fact, I would go as far to say that this Scottish autumn did enough
to rival the New England fall!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures and maybe if you haven’t been to Scotland in the autumn/fall they might inspire you to book a trip in the future. These pictures are only a select few, if you would like to see the rest of the set click the following link.
Dave Johnson's Photography 