2019 on Ricky Moorhouse

2019 - Photos of the year

Tue, 31 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Gunwalloe Church Cove, Cornwall

Eiger

Oxford Canal

Coastal Scenes

Cornwall

West Wittering

Dawlish

The paths that beckon

Path up from Durdle Door

Ovington

Lauterbrunen

Plants

Water Avens (Geum rivale)

Cardoon

Echium Pininana

Birds

Blue Tit

Brown Pelicans

Alpine Chough

Allan King Way - Part 2, Ovington to Tichborne

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

3.8 miles

Today's walk was only a short section of the route as it was my birthday which meant a later start and fitting in a lunch out. The next logical section (Ovington to Cheesefoot Head) would have taken us too long so instead we opted for a cicular route, planned as a figure of eight, but private roads made it more circular and a lot more road than hoped.

Allan King Way - Part 1, Kings Worthy to Ovington

Sat, 04 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

6.8 miles

Allan King Way

Inspired by the Wildmans' Wildmen on the borders, we were encouraged to start a walking project of our own. The Allan King Way is a 45 mile path from Portchester to Winchester. As we live in Portchester and I work near Winchester it seemed an appropriate walk to set out on, although we decided we wanted to walk towards home, so made Winchester our start point.

Canal Holiday Day 4 - Stoke Bruerne to Cosgrove

Tue, 09 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

7 locks
8.6 miles

Model boat in the Canal museum

Laura and I woke up with the dawn chorus and decided to go out first thing for an exploratory walk. We headed up over the tunnel mouth where we found an air vent tower, a field with rabbits and a group of bee hives. It was lovely being the only ones about, with just the wildlife awake with us. Later the morning started properly with the only rain we had the whole week away, so we waited for it to pass before walking back into Stoke Bruerne to visit the Canal Museum.

Canal Holiday Day 3 - Weedon to Stoke Bruerne

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

No locks
10.1 miles

View through the branches

Reeds

A couple of flying ducks

This day got off to a slow start as the engine wouldn't start, although after phoning Calcutt Boats, Dad managed to get it going, so we arranged to meet the engineer at bridge 29, getting water on the way. Filling up the boat took so long with the water - they have huge tanks and the water seemed to take forever to fill so in the end the engineer met us at the next bridge after the water instead. The problem with the engine was the starter motor and the engineer had to go back and collect the part, so we were stuck in Weedon for most of the morning, but were able to have a nice walk along the towpath there.

Canal Holiday Day 2 - Braunston to Weedon

Sun, 07 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

13 locks
8 miles

Lock

Leaving Braunston tunnel

Wild Burdock

Canal Holiday Day 1 - Picking up Wild Burdock

Sat, 06 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

1 lock
6 miles

Farm buildings

We headed to Napton to meet my parents and collect the boat - on the way we saw a blackboard advertising a cider sale at the Napton Cidery as they were clearing out their stock ready for their new lines. We got to Calcutt Boats at just the right time and Wild Burdock was ready for us to load up. We unloaded the cars into the boats, got kitted out with life jackets and then had our introduction to the boat and how things worked on it.

Birds on Galveston Island

Tue, 26 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

As I hadn't adapted to Central time and still waking up close to UK time I headed out early and drove down to Galveston Island to try and see the local brown pelicans. In Galveston, they get both the brown pelicans, and the invasive white pelicans which have tried to take over.

There is a vast length of beach along the island, and it was so peaceful in the early morning, with just the birds (and the bird watchers) about! I first stopped at a beach side car park and saw the Laughing Gulls and the Willets. Then on the way back along I stopped at Galveston Fishing Pier to see what more I could see if I was a bit further out into the sea. There I was treated to a group of Pelicans flying across in front of me at the end of the pier.

Selsey Bill

Sat, 02 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This Saturday we had a lovely walk along the coast at Selsey Bill with my parents. We started off heading North up towards Pagham Harbour but made it about half way there and then headed back down to the Lifeboat Inn for lunch. After lunch we headed South round the Bill. It was striking particularly on the way back how different the sea was from the calm sheltered side to the end of the point.