Tour Of Cornwall, Summer 2012

In July 2009 we toured Cornwall for the first time, visiting many towns and beaches along the Cornish coastline. The whole experience was an eye-opener to say the least, as we covered most of the places we wanted to visit, although there were still outstanding areas that we simply didn't have time to tick off the list. The Summer of 2010 presented an opportunity for us to put that right by making another long journey south, with an overnight stay in Bath to split the journey in two - ideal for AC (Chauffeur). I know I mention the weather a lot in my blog entries, but when the game is photography the elements play a massive part in what you're hoping to achieve, and the end result is king. Of course, photographic excellence can be achieved during all types of weather, but I prefer wall to wall sun, blue sky and broken clouds for the picture-postcard landscape shots that I predominantly shoot. So, after a mixed bag of weather during our first two visits we were hoping for a much better return in 2012, and we certainly got it. For a full week we were treated to constant sunshine from the moment the sun was up, until sunset around 9.30pm. For three days we hardly saw a cloud and temperatures were up towards the 30 degrees mark, making this a holiday to remember in more ways than one. To view my 2009 slide show, click this link Cornwall. If you like what you see then you may like to view the sequel which can be viewed here - Cornwall Revisited. In the next week or so I will be adding my latest Cornwall slide show to ashleycorr.com, but until then, here is a sneak preview of what to expect, as I photographed even more Towns and Beaches along the Cornish Riviera. Highlights of the week were visits to Porthcurno, which included the Minack Theatre, which is built into the cliff face - definitely one of the jewels in the crown. Padstow, who's inhabitants include world renowned seafood chef Rick Stein, which is always a pre-planned destination of ours. Other places on the tick list were Looe, Polperro and Port Isaac (location of the BBC series Doc Martin), as well as hidden gems such as Goran Haven and Talland Bay, scene of the lone fisherman (below). Tick list complete!
As always, click an image to reveal enlarged versions.

Until the next time, thanks for visiting

Ash

Olympics 2012

Huge Olympic rings were lowered on to the Tyne Bridge recently as the North East prepared to welcome the Olympic Flame to the region. Constructed from aluminium, the massive overlapping circles measure 25m wide and 12m high, making them the largest set of metal Olympic Rings in the UK. St James’ Park, Newcastle played host to the London 2012 Olympic Football tournament where six matches were played at the stadium, including Brazil, tournament favourites to lift the gold medal in the men's football. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, I got my arse down there last week to photograph the Tyne Bridge before the Olympics finished and the rings were removed. I had hoped for a colourful sky to finish my photo's off nicely, but I wasn't in luck. After sunset, what little colour there was quickly burned out, leaving a rather flat backdrop, but what can ya do. I might persuade myself to return to the Forbidden City again, before the rings are ditched, in the hope of pulling in some better shots. I'll keep you posted on that one.

In the meantime, here are three shots for ya. There's a panoramic effort, along with a full shot of the Tyne Bride, plus a closer abstract version. Not much else to add to this swift blog entry, folks. I'm off to bed now - beauty sleep required. Without further ado...

Ash

Edinburgh & Linlithgow, Scotland

Another blog entry from across the border - this time it's Edinburgh, capital of Scotland, plus Linlithgow, a small town which lies 19 miles west of Edinburgh. Just one day after our visit to Queensferry and the sun was shining once again, although there was a definite chill on the bones. My mobile phone done the honours once again, not that there was another option available - that's what happens when you leave the big camera at home. After stuffing Haggis down the owld hatchet it was time to get out and about in Edinburgh, starting with Princes Street Gardens before heading up the hill towards the Royal Mile. The gardens were busy and it was clear the sun had a lot to do with it. Many people sitting on the lawns just watching the world go by. Princes Street was undergoing a lot of construction work, so the road was out of bounds to all vehicles. The place was upside down, to be honest - a right old mess. I heard they were installing a tram line to run the length of the street. Time to exercise the legs and burn off some of those Haggis calories, so up the hill we went. Half way up I was blowing out of me arse - paggered! Got there eventually and headed up towards Edinburgh Castle, where its car park was now a huge temporary seated area, ready for concerts and other events, including the world famous Military Tattoo. Below is a panoramic stitch of the arena. Again, this place was thriving - the queue to gain entry to the castle was huge, with many foreign tourists making up those numbers. With only a couple of hours to spare in the capital we decided not to inside, opting for a bite to eat and a look down the Royal Mile before heading out to Livingston on a family visit, before driving the 19 miles across to Linlithgow.

Linlithgow is a historic Royal Burgh located in the central lowlands of Scotland - about 20 miles from Edinburgh and under an hour from Glasgow by train or car. It was the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots and the preserved ruins of the Royal Palace can be visited in a picturesque setting next to Linlithgow Loch. It was here that we killed time, under the sun that had shone all day up to this point. The palace was one of the principal residences of the monarchs of Scotland in the 15th and 16th centuries. Although maintained after Scotland's monarchs left for England in 1603, the palace was little used, and was burned out in 1746. It is now a visitor attraction in the care of Historic Scotland. A Strathspey for bagpipes was composed in honour of Linlithgow Palace. The Palace, is said to be haunted by the spectre of Mary of Guise, mother to Mary Queen of Scots. The Palace was closed by the time we arrived, which must have been around 6pm. I entered the archway to the entrance, which was locked, and heard some strange noises all of a sudden. Could it be the ghost of Mary, or just bowel noises from the fettled haggis that was necked earlier in the day!

And on that little note I shall depart to watch some Olympic Games on the Beeb. I will be back soon with a good selection of photo's from our recent holiday in Cornwall, where the weather was perfect all week - 7 days of it. Until then... ta ta.

AC

South Queensferry, Scotland

It's not very often that I cross the border into Scotland and fine bright sunshine. More often than not I'm met with dull skies and more than a fair share of rain and wind, but not today, as conditions were ideal as we arrived in South Queensferry, which is 11 miles north-west of Edinburgh. This was our second stop-off en route to Livingston - our first being a lunch break in Eyemouth, slightly north of Berwick-Upon-Tweed. South Queensferry isn't a place I'm very familiar with, although I have visited this small town once before, a couple of years back, to meet up with Derek Forbes, former bass player with Simple Minds. A drum kit and money exchanged hands on that day - not bought by myself though, I was merely along for the ride. On that day the weather was miserable, which wasn't that important as we were only in South Queensferry for a matter of minutes before we headed south, back down the A1(M).  South Queensferry, sometimes also called Queensferry, sits on the south shore of the narrowest part of the Forth Estuary east of Grangemouth, looking across to North Queensferry, its twin on the Fife shore. As an obvious place to cross the river when heading into Fife from Edinburgh it is likely that settlements either side of the river here, and ferries between them, date back to ancient times. Queensferry is defined by the road and rail bridges that lie either side of it. But it is so much more as well. At times it has been an important trading and fishing port in its own right and the town still offers an environment that can transport you back to an earlier time more readily than most places in Scotland. If, that is, you can catch it in a rare traffic-free moment: cars are constrained by the narrowness and twisting of Queensferry's High Street, and as a result intrude far more than elsewhere.

Strangely enough, despite the nice weather, which is always a plus when photographing the landscape, I left my Canon 7D at home, which was not a good idea at all. The weather forecast on the previous day was nowt to get excited about so I took a risk by leaving the camera behind - something I'd probably regret further down the line. The photo's shown here were taken on my smart phone, which has a nice little panoramic facility on it, allowing stitches of over 6 images at a time. A couple of 'Stitches' are shown here, just for the record. There's a very small beach at Queensferry, which is accessible at low tide and is a great vantage point when looking north. If you ever find yourself in this part of the world, check out the restaurants along the main street - one in particular offers excellent panoramic views across the river through its huge windows, although its name escapes me right now.

Next stop Linlithgow...
Ash

Houghton Albion FC - Presentation Night

Rainton Arena, Houghton Le Spring - Sunday 8th July, 2012

The annual Presentation was our first, after Christopher's debut season for Houghton Albion. His registration will continue next season, which begins in September, so we look forward to plenty more football and more great goals from all of our squad. I intend to get permission to photograph as many of these games as possible after my first and only attempt to date of photographing a football match (see photo's on my previous blog entry).

Well done to Dave & Judith Smurthwaite (manager and secretary of Houghton Albion) for all their efforts during the 2011-12 season. Also to all the parents for their commitment, and most of all to the players themselves - a great bunch of kids who give 100%.

To wrap up the season, until the next one, here are a few photographs from the Presentation Night. Christopher collected two awards in his first season. He is shown on stage alongside other aged players who collected their individual 'Sportsman Of The Season' award. Also shown below is a shot of the Houghton Albion squad with their trophies.

Looking very forward to Season 2012-13...Ash

Houghton Albion FC - End Of Season 2011-12

More exploits from Houghton Albion FC.
Half way through the season we lost some players to other teams and as a result we struggled to field a full team of players for quite a few games. More often than not we were playing against eleven players, with only eight or nine of our own, and this led to some heavy defeats, both home and away. The morale took a hit on the remaining players, although they gave 100% as always. In some of these games we were lucky to get over the half-way line during the entire sixty minutes, but what can ya do when you're at such a disadvantage. Before one particular game, at Ryhope, an opposing player asked his manager before kick-off if they could even the game by only using nine players, against our nine, effectively leaving two on the touchline. The young lad was promptly told to shut his mouth and then reminded WHO was the manager! Well hey, there was a queue of parents ready to pounce on the 'Unsporting Gentleman' (look that up in the Houghton dictionary and it is also known as CHEATING B*STARD, he he). Anyway, they played the game 11 versus 9 and we got kicked off the park as well as slaughtered. I lost count of how many times James (our keeper) bent down to pick the ball out his net, around 12 times. I think the poor bairn knocked his back out after the last goal!!!


Anyway, that was the last straw for Dave (team manager). After weeks of playing with only eight or nine players he thought it best that we dropped into the 9-a-side league, mid-season. Within a couple of weeks we had done just that, and were now playing all our games at the Russell Foster HQ at nearby Newbottle. The site has numerous pitches and is packed every Saturday with teams of all ages, including parents and other spectators. The burger vans come in handy too! We had much better luck in this league, playing on our own pitch, week in week out. No more early morning starts, travelling to the likes of Ferryhill, Consett, Gateshead and Durham. A couple of new players arrived and competition for strating places hotted up. We put some great performances in, during what was left of a difficult season up to now. Goals were flying in and the kids were well and truly back on the up. Here are a few photo's from our last game of the season, against Boldon Cobra's. We were 2-0 up at half time, but after 60 minutes we lost the game 4-2. Two goals from Houghton's Jamie Fenton gave him the leading goalscorer of the season award, which was a three way tie going into this last game - Shane Smurthwaite and Christopher Corr being the other two players vying for the bragging rights.

The first shot (above) shows Christopher launching an attack down the left wing, watched by some of the parents. The second shot shows another attack that ended in Brennan Robinson having a shot that scraped Boldon's goalpost before going behind for a goal kick. I was situated behind Boldon's goal, using a Canon 70-300mm lens (all singing-all dancing, BTW). The photo's below show a free kick that was awarded to Boldon Cobra's. This became their fourth goal - an outstanding effort that cleared the defencive wall and ended up in the top corner, after a fingertip attempt to keep it out by our keeper (Ross Walton). I fired off quick burst frames that captured the free kick, from the second the ball left Number 14's boot, to the point where it hit the net.

Houghton Albion FC (Under 11's)

Houghton Albion FC (Under 11's) brought the curtain down on another season recently, with a few new players on board, including my son Christopher, who registered with them one-third into the season. It was completely new territory for him - the only football he'd played previously was in the school yard and with his old man round Houghton Park! He said he was ready to join a team, so where better to look than a team from 'on the doorstep'. After a couple of Thursday night training sessions with his new team-mates, and a short wait for his registration to be accepted, he was thrown into his first competitive match against Durham Juventus Soccarena. This was an away game, just a couple of miles up the road at nearby Belmont. It was a miserable Sunday morning as me and the Mrs accompanied the next Wayne Rooney (he he) to the venue.

The game was fast and furious, end to end, but with few scoring chances. Christopher's school-mate Jael Anderson (the only female player on the pitch) scored from the penalty spot to fire Soccerena ahead. Albion kicked off from the centre-spot and formed an attack which eventually led to a corner. From the resulting corner kick there was a scramble and a defencive miss kick from the goal line saw the ball in the air. It was met on the way down by the debutant Christopher Corr who was first to react. Rising like the proverbial salmon (he he), he headed the ball into the net for a deserved equaliser. What a way to to begin your life as a footballer - virtually he first real touch of the ball! I think from this moment on he was hooked. Me and the Mrs were over the moon. The half-time whistle blew and it was all even, one goal each. The second half was much the same as the first - end to end, but not many shots on goal. One shot did find the net however, but unfortunately it was Durham Soccerena who took the glory. The game ended in a 2-1 defeat for Houghton Albion, but all the kids played out of their skin and were commended by all the parents and management after the post-match handshakes. A match to remember!

Ash