Exploring The Area

[DaveR]

Hmm...

[DaveR]

Visited Caernarfon today. With such clear light and wonderful sunshine, the clouds appeared like cotton wool:


Y Maes & Caernarfon Castle by [davidrobertsphotography], on Flickr


Caernarfon by [davidrobertsphotography], on Flickr


Caernarfon Castle by [davidrobertsphotography], on Flickr


Caernarfon Castle by [davidrobertsphotography], on Flickr


Caernarfon by [davidrobertsphotography], on Flickr

[hollins]

What beautiful clear photos. I'm sure the tourist office would be interested in them although I was hearing on the news that we don't have a "tourist board" anymore. I think it is "Visit Wales" now, but that was being partly blamed on the drop of income from tourism.
Hope you had a lovely day.

[DaveR]

Thanks, H. Yesterday was a perfect day for taking touristy photos that make Wales look its best. I've sold photos to VisitWales in the past.

[TheMedz]

Free visit to majority of National Trust sites this weekend with this voucher.https://join.nationaltrust.org.uk/voucher/register

[DaveR]

A visit at weekend to the abandoned quarry of Maenofferen, which is a very large slate quarry above Blaenau Ffestiniog. It closed in 1998 and was left pretty much intact, even down to all the equipment. Fascinating place for a wander around. It should be noted that it is private property and parts of it are still an operational quarry.


Maenofferen by [davidrobertsphotography], on Flickr


Maenofferen by [davidrobertsphotography], on Flickr


Maenofferen by [davidrobertsphotography], on Flickr


Maenofferen by [davidrobertsphotography], on Flickr

[Fester]

That first picture at the disused quarry is pretty stark and very atmospheric. I like it!

For my part, I realised that on a nice evening like today, it was pointless me sitting in a kiosk on a deserted, rusting Victorian relic, and I decided to set off with Mrs Fester to Conwy.
Firstly we did my favourite thing, which is to walk the entire town / castle walls.
I took a couple of hazy pictures, and one of them is of that bombed-out boat.  The Grey Lady?
To be honest, as appalling as the wreck looks, it is not much worse than some of the terrible looking hulks tied up at the quayside, and are still inhabited!   
From there, we headed off to the Groes Inn for a beer,  but en-route decided to go a little further and have a nice cold beer in the Ty Gwyn in Rowen.  A very quaint little village pub that I have often fancied popping in.
I need to have more evenings like this, and waste less time at work!

[Nemesis]

I like your theory Fester-- this thought hit us a couple of years back when we lost a very long-standing friend. Make time for yourselves.

[DaveR]

No-one ever lay on their deathbed wishing they'd done a bit more work.... 

[Merddin Emrys]

I fully agree, we worked for years and having seen various friends die at relatively young ages we vowed to retire as soon as we could and we have, with thanks to someone for some excellent stock market advice

[DaveR]

Life's to be enjoyed, not endured...as another of my favourite phrases goes.   

[DaveR]

A visit today (in appalling weather) to the former RAF Bomb Store in Llanberis.

In 1939, The Air Ministry took over the former Slate Quarry at Glyn Rhonwy for use as an Ammunition Store. They built a two storey concrete building within the former quarry and piled 40 feet of slate waste on top to disguise it. Unfortunately, a poor design meant that a large section of the building collapsed, burying thousands of tonnes of ammunition and an entire train. As 20% of the entire RAF ammunition supply was stored here, this was a major calamity. The collapsed section was cleared but not rebuilt. The site continued in use until the 1950s. Then it was discovered that hundreds of tonnes of faulty explosives etc had been simply dumped in the lakes by the sides of the quarry. This resulted in a major clean up operation which lasted until 1976. The site is now awaiting development.


Glyn Rhonwy by [davidrobertsphotography], on Flickr


Glyn Rhonwy by [davidrobertsphotography], on Flickr


Glyn Rhonwy by [davidrobertsphotography], on Flickr


Glyn Rhonwy by [davidrobertsphotography], on Flickr


Glyn Rhonwy by [davidrobertsphotography], on Flickr


Glyn Rhonwy by [davidrobertsphotography], on Flickr


Glyn Rhonwy by [davidrobertsphotography], on Flickr

[Merddin Emrys]

Very interesting, standard and narrow gauge railways were in to that place too, nice pics again and the first one reminds me of the pier pavilion site only there is no junk visible at Glyn Rhonwy. Another place that I must visit! Have you been to the Dorothea slate quarry yet?

[DaveR]

Yes, there was a connection to the main Llanberis-Caernarfon line for incoming bomb deliveries. Excellent website about it here:
http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/l/llanberis/index.shtml

Haven't been to Dorothea yet, my fellow photographer (and driver) decides where we are going!

[hollins]

I am very fond of Manchester. I love the way they have developed the old buildings and combined them with the new.
I recently stayed at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel. This new ultra modern building was built behind the facade of the Free Trade Hall.
The first photo is the view from my room at the back of the hotel. The huge arched roofed building is the original Central station which closed in 1969. In 1986 it opened as the GMEX exhibition centre. It is now called Manchester Central.
I had lunch at the new Jamie's Italian restaurant. This is another magnificent building which has been given a new life. It was built in the 1930's and was designed by Edwin Lutyens and was the Midland Bank.
The lunch was excellent. It was the same menu as other branches. I had the crispy squid and truffle risotto. There was a board announcing a new menu starting on May 15.
Here are two of my photos of it but I found this article which has some much better ones.
http://www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk/Food-and-Drink/Italian/Exclusive-Jamies-Italian-King-Street-Preview-Pictures