Monday 31 December 2018

Review of 2018 : December

And so the final month of 2018, and amid all of the usual Christmas activities plenty of travels too. A trip to Gerrards Cross began the month followed by Northampton, including the canal and rivers of the county town. Later came a trip to see Bromsgrove's new station.

Just before Christmas was a long walk along the Cromford canal from Cromford to Ambergate. After Christmas was a trip to Nuneaton and then Narborough. That completed 2018's travels, a map of which can be seen here. A new map will be created for 2019 of course.

Song of the month was "Strange in L.A." by Leitbur. That was 2018, tomorrow the new year and new adventures begin.





Sunday 30 December 2018

Narborough

Yesterday I visited Narborough in Leicestershire, a nice little village which ticked the boxes for a decent trip: a station, an old church and a waterway (the river Soar, though its a fairly young river in Narborough). You can see my photos here.




Saturday 29 December 2018

Review of 2018 : November

Another busy month with the North was the focus of much of November's travelling. First I headed up to Wigan and walked some of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. The week after was another visit to Merseyside, including the excellent Museum of Liverpool. I also visited Wirral Transport Museum and travelled on a street tram.

Mid-month was a Midlands interlude as I walked some more of the Stratford Canal in Shirley. Finally I headed back up North to Shropshire and RAF Cosford Museum.

Song of the month was "faded memory" by Jessie Frye featuring Timecop1983.





Friday 28 December 2018

Nuneaton and the changing of focus

Today I went to Nuneaton station to take some railway photographs. Now nothing unusual in that of course but ultimately I felt it was a bit... dull. I think my focus has changed this year and what I want from my trips has too. I want to see stuff that is new and unusual and also see as much as possible in a locality (churches, landmarks et cetera). So I guess that going to a station I've seen before and see trains I've seen before isn't going to cut the mustard anymore? However it was useful to update my images from the station which I will use to update my station blog about Nuneaton at some stage and some of the photos were pretty decent.

Anyway you can see the photos I took here. The station looks nice with it's new LNWR paint.



Review of 2018 : October

October was a month of new places but first of all the familiar, I went to the Severn Valley Railway again to attend the Class 50 gala. Next was a trip to Rickmansworth including the Grand Union Canal.

Highlight of the month was no doubt my first ever trip to Manchester, and what a great city it is too. I visited the science museum, walked the Rochdale Canal, the Bridgewater Canal and also plenty of local rail and trams too. Finally a return to the familiar, Derby station which I hadn't been to for a few months.

Song of the month was "golden age" by Let Em Riot.





Wednesday 26 December 2018

Review of 2018 : September

As the Summer ended and Autumn approached the travels continued of course. At the start of the moment I visited the brilliant RAF Museum in London, and did plenty of rail travel in the capital of course. After a trip to Evesham I also did a canal walk in Warwick, and visited both of the town's railway stations.

Finally at the end of the month was a trip to Bedford, this time venturing outside of the station and travelling along the Great Ouse.

Song of the month was "never stop" by FM-84 featuring Ollie Wride.





Tuesday 25 December 2018

Seasons greetings

I present this lego sculpture of Noddy Holder at Birmingham New Street. My warmest memories of Christmas are from the 1970s, before everything went a bit dark. I still have the tree we used to use in the 1970s, bought from Woolworths in about 1974 I believe. The tinsel will never go off.

Sunday 23 December 2018

Review of 2018 : August

August began with the longest single day trip of the year, all the way over to Southend-on-Sea! The pier railway was my main focus and very interesting it is too especially the dedicated train. Mid-month were two trips to Merseyside on consecutive weekends which included some travels around the Wirral, Crosby and also visiting the newest railway station on the network Maghull North (which I believe it still is at the moment).

At the end of the month I went to Beaconsfield which has a marvellous model village.

Song of the month was "days of thunder" by The Midnight.






Saturday 22 December 2018

Cromford to Ambergate

With work done for the year I needed a long canal walk to clear my head so I headed up to Derbyshire and walked the Cromford Canal from Cromford itself through to Ambergate, this is pretty much all of the extant canal (apart from a short stub in Langley Mill). The walk includes a tunnel, several aqueducts and some remarkable scenery. You can see my canal photos here.





Thursday 20 December 2018

Review of 2018 : Music A-Z

Traditionally (or over the last few years anyway) I've created an A-Z playlist of some of the artists I have listened to this year. As usual some letters are missed out (I still haven't listened to anyone that starts with Q!) The A-Z is below, plus a few extra favourite songs from the year added to the end.

Wednesday 19 December 2018

Gerrards Cross cyphers

When I visited Gerrards Cross a few weeks ago I found some more postboxes with the King George V royal cypher, as I've seen before in Four Oaks and Erdington.


Tuesday 18 December 2018

Review of 2018 : July

The blazing Summer continued. July began with my friend's wedding at a hotel in Warwickshire called Ettington Park which included a rather loverly former church in the grounds. I headed up to Wendover in Buckinghamshire and walked the canal there, an arm of the Grand Union. Then I visited the Severn Valley Railway again, this time spending some time in Bridgnorth.

Finally at the end of the month came a long walk along the Grand Union Canal in Tring, including the connecting arms of Aylesbury and Wendover (again).

Song of the month was "goodbye" by FM-84 featuring Clive Farrington.





Monday 17 December 2018

The rise of the microcomputer

An interesting video from the Open University discussing the rise of the microcomputer in the 1980s. It highlights the great variety of machines which were released as computers became democratised and were within the aim of normal people and not just corporations and universities.

Sunday 16 December 2018

Review of 2018 : June

As the Summer raged on as did the travels. June began with a trip to Stamford, a lovely market town full of old churches. Next came a trip to Little Kimble and a walk through some of the beautiful Buckinghamshire countryside to Monks Risborough.

Mid-month I walked the Grand Union Canal from Lapworth to Hatton, also taking some photos at Hatton station. Later on in the month was a trip to the delightful Leighton Buzzard Light Railway and finally at the end of the month the Stratford River Festival - something I like to attend every year.

Song of the month was "all night" by Trevor Something.




Saturday 15 December 2018

Bromsgrove

Just time for a short railway adventure today, i headed to Bromsgrove which has recently been rebuilt along with the line from Barnt Green being electrified. A grey morning and not very warm but most of the trains were orange which brightened things up a bit! You can see my photos from the station here.