British Scrap Book

[AsSeenOnTV]

I think yer all a bunch of 'girlie men'!

If 2 halflings from the shire can go into Mordor and destroy the ruling ring, then one of should be able to go into Birmingham and take a pic for poor lil' ol' me.

Points are now doubled for the first bike in Birmingham posted picture.

[steelworker]

In the continuing absence of pictures from our second city , here are a few of the capital...

Looking along Victoria Street, the dome of the Methodist Central Hall just right of centre. Far right is the London eye; and just to the left of it, in the distance, the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral.


The pair of towers to the right of the London Eye are Westminster Abbey; the brown towers to the right of that, the Houses of Parliament (the pointy one is "Big Ben"; and, in the distance between them, the Shard of Glass, the latest skyscraper to rise into the London skyline - not quite completed yet.



Pink Floyd fans may recognise Battersea Power Station in the background.


Zoomed in. No flying pig, though.


The stone and green-coloured ziggurat is MI5 headquarters. Hard to see in this slightly blurry pic, but that's James Bond standing on the balcony.

[steelworker]

I just got back from a trip to UKBEG's Deliverance party on the Welsh border, and to get there I had to ride past... you guessed it, B-I-R-M-I-N-G-H-A-M.

This time, the weather was fine enough (at least on the way there, but definitely not on the return journey) to briefly leave the motorway to snap a few pictures.

Fort Dunlop, their original tyre factory. Now part hotel and part offices.


Dunop still have a presence next door to the old site...


And just down the road is Jaguar cars' Castle Bromwich factory...


Picturesque, eh?

Soon after we arrived at Deliverance, we were hit by an epic storm. This went on for over an hour, including about 15-20 minutes of hail - the ground was white!


After the storm, those who'd pitched their tents at the bottom of the hill wished they hadn't. One guy found his shoes, which he'd left outside his tent, two fields way. The horse in the next field had moved up this end to get away from the rapidly growing expanse of water. It got worse than this... much worse.

[AsSeenOnTV]

Mordor, I mean Birmingham doesn't look so bad Myles. Looks like those photos could have been taken in Detroit or some other fine US city. Looks like you win this round.

[steelworker]

I just got back from a four day trip with some friends to the Isle of Wight. We were camping atop the cliffs at Atherfield, on the SW facing side of the island. Apologies for some hazy pictures - the battery on my camera crapped out, and my phone doesn't do scenery that well.








It's pretty exposed here, and it was blowing hard when we arrived.


Alongside the campsite are the ruins of an old holiday camp, which was originally a concentration camp for Italian PoW's during WWII.





The coastline of the Isle of Wight is cut with "chines" - small valleys worn by freshwater runoff through the cliffs.





Over the centuries, the prevailing southwesterly winds and strong currents have made this stretch of coastline a graveyard for shipping - sometimes with the assistance of wreckers on the shoreline with lamps to tempt shipping in during storms. These are old coastguards' cottages, and the foundations of a lookout tower.





On the western end of the island is Fort Victoria, a gun battery which, together with Hurst Castle across the water, was built to defend the Solent (entrance point to the major naval base at Portsmouth) against a French threat that had already evaporated by the time they were completed.









At Compton Bay, the wreck of one of the victims of the local wind and tides...


A continuation of the Dorset coastline on the mainland (the "Big Island" as it's known locally ), this area is beloved of geologists and fossil hunters, the rock layers having been folded and bent over the millennia.


In this rock, you can see the tide marks in the sand it used to be...


Compton Bay is littered with rocks that have fallen from eroding cliffs, and everywhere you look are similarly shaped "three-toed" rocks, believed to be formed from the footprints of iguanodons.






Away from the coast, we visited a big country fair at Wolverton Manor, Shorwell. Plenty to see, including a vintage vehicle display.





















Leaving the island, on the ferry from Fishbourne to Portsmouth.




Forts built in the Solent / Spithead.


Old and new. The Spinnaker Tower behind old defences for the Portsmouth naval base.

[Ireeman]

Was the Cannon in the 16 pounder range?

[shotgun46]

wow very nice scenery !

[steelworker]

I have no idea, Ireeman - I'm no expert on naval armaments. Some of them were embossed with VR (Victoria Regina), and some with GR (George Rex) - presumably the same George who tried to tax your tea, with disastrous consequences.

[AsSeenOnTV]

Very nice pictures Myles.

But why was the cannon jacked up and put on blocks, do people over there steal the tires off of vehicles like they do over here?

And keep them coming. Beautiful countryside.

[AsSeenOnTV]

Originally Posted by steelworker

I have no idea, Ireeman - I'm no expert on naval armaments. Some of them were embossed with VR (Victoria Regina), and some with GR (George Rex) - presumably the same George who tried to tax your tea, with disastrous consequences.

Over here we call King George Tyrantosaurus Rex