ast night I was listening Tom Ravenscroft on BBC6 radio and the following happend. It was most enjoyable.

In C on BBC6 music.

‘ve just spent a very enjoyable evening driving the moonlit backroads and highways of Herefordshire.

It wasn’t exactly the evening I had planned, ‘BAFTA Presents: Bruce Robinson in Conversation with Francine Stock’, which was a part of the Borderlines Film Festival, was the planned entertainment for the evening.

I’d printed out some directions from google and also had had a look online. I don’t have any of this modern sat-nav type technology and my phone is too archaic for the internet but with a map and a couple of AtoZ’s in the car I tend to get on just fine, we live in a country thats pretty good on signposts as it goes.  I’d picked a route taking me through Leominster as it looked the simplest way to get to the venue whilst bypassing the Worcester to Hereford road and the ring road of Hereford. I thought this would be a simpler journey. Well, my plan went fine, the clouds looked a little biblical as I approached Tenbury, seeing signs mentioning the bridge through the town was still closed, I’d passed it the day before it was closed off in January so I really should’ve thought of this. Luckily it was the road after I needed.

Things did start to go wrong just after my directions read ‘Contune on to…’ Continue Reading »

umber 17 (Seventeen now!) in the ongoing series of roadside photos which at least begins to hint at a possible pattern, that of photographs taken opposite public houses.

A slice of Americana viewed following a most enjoyable pint of Shropshire ale at the The Pheasant Inn, Britons Lane, Bridgnorth.

n December we took the questionable task of staying at Butlins Minehead in December and at a different weekend to the ATP festival. This was in part due the ever increasing cost of the festival and in part due to the venue itself and line ups of the last couple of years.

We paid less than a quarter what we would have for the ATP event, which was half the standard price for the room apparently, though even at that half price said accommodation was questionable value given both the cleanliness of the room and the tissue thin adjoining door seperating us from the rambunctious Welsh family next door(thats being polite.)

However accommodation aside I think I had the most fun I’ve had on a Minehead weekend. One of the adventures we undertook was the nine mile walk from Minehead to Porlock, and then on to Porlock Weir. We could have planned it better and we could have not lost the path a couple of times but even with a few mishaps it was a thoroughly enjoyable walk. It took us just over 4 hours in all and we were rewarded with both beer and food at the friendly and quite fantastic Bottom Ship pub at Porlock Weir(and I’m not just saying that because we came second from last in the pub quiz but still won a bottle of wine in the raffle.)

Anyway, here are a couple of photos from the walk…

Photos taken December 2011 in Somerset. For more on the South West Coast Path try this link.

s in my experience such things are only really made to fill the place of the ‘Going anywhere nice on your holidays?’ conversational starter for the month of January.

That said, I am aiming to get a painting of some kind done every week in 2012. That and to finsih some of the draft posts I have backed up from last September to fill the big posting gap. Oh, and Merry Christmas.

umber 16 in the ongoing series of roadside photos which serve little discernible point or purpose.

The M42 as viewed from the rather badly planned car park at Hopwood Park Services.