Today's pictures were taken early in 2014 at Chirk Castle. If you search through past posts you will find a number of photos of the castle and grounds. As you approach the castle you pass through a cobbled courtyard and some farm buildings and that is where I got these shots which I hope you will like.
As with all of my posts from the past few days it is the striking colours which are the stand out feature. The flowers themselves are beautiful but close up when you see the intricate elements that they are made up of you can really appreciate the different shapes and textures. The smooth petals, with their crinkled ends, the fleshy stamen and the granular pollen.
Just wonderful.
Yellow is my favourite colour, it is so warm, vibrant and uplifting. Obviously there are many different shades of yellow from pale creamy yellow to bright golden sunlight and perhaps that is why on a grey wet day like today I have picked these shots for my blog.
I have an old yellow cardigan that I put on every now and then. It's hard to put into words but I will sometimes say to my kids "you know what, I think today is a yellow cardigan day" and they will know exactly what I mean. Today is one of those days but instead of putting on the cardigan I am lifting my spirits with these beautiful images.
I hope they lift your spirits in just the same way.
A few more close ups from the beautiful bunch of flowers from yesterday's blog. These are macro shots of a lily, I really love the deep colours but more importantly I love the textures of the different components of this flower.
Everybody likes to receive flowers don't they and who wouldn't when they look like this.
Over the next few days I will deconstruct the beautiful bunch in the final picture and show close up shots of some of the individual blooms.
Today it is the rose which is the central feature of the arrangement. It is a beautiful peachy pink with luscious petals which you can see in these pictures, what you can't get from the picture is the beautiful scent.
Here is another selection of shots from the wonderful medieval city of Carcassonne.
Within the extensive outer walls is a small town built around a central citadel (see pictures 1 & 2) this is the only part of the city that has an entrance fee and was the only part of the city we didn't visit because when we arrived it was only twenty minutes til closing time and although my son could get in for free they wanted to charge me full price even though there was no way of seeing everything. So that's something for the next time I guess.
Around the walls of this citadel there was a nicely laid out vegetable garden and then there is a network of narrow cobbled streets and beautiful buildings. One benefit of arriving late in the day was that the streets were largely deserted and so very few people to clutter up the shots.
Just a few shots of the ramparts of Carcassonne, from the ramparts at Carcassonne.
I remember staying here because we arrived in the rain to find that our hotel was a bit shabby but driving up to the old city and seeing the magnificent crenelated walls and turrets made up for it.
A few more shots from Le Verdon following on from yesterday's shots. I like the random shapes and patterns created after the rock hit the water
Back in March on my road trip around Europe with my eldest son we took a drive along Route Napoleon north of Grasse. The road winds and climbs through the Alpes Maritime and passes through the impressive Gorge Du Verdon.
We took a small detour and had a short break on the shore of Le Verdon a little way up from the barrage and hydro-electric station. We spent a little while throwing rocks into the water and I tried to get some pictures of the water splashing as the rocks hit the water. Getting the timing right was a real challenge as was framing the shots because I was relying on my son to throw the rocks at the point I was focusing on. As you can imagine there were lots of missed shots but I managed to get a few that I am pleased with.
The forecast tells me that there will be snow across high ground in the UK this weekend but its an absolute certainty it wont be anything like this. These pictures were taken in March in Austria en route from Salzburg to Venice
It's cold outside and snow is promised for parts of the UK this coming weekend so I thought I would post something bright and colourful.
All of the above pictures were taken in the gardens at Powis Castle in April
I decided to take a break from rallying today, if you didn't see them go back over the past three posts to see some great shots from WRC at Chirk.
Today's pictures are from another Welsh castle, Powis to be precise and that's not the only connection with the past three posts, when traveling to Powis we arrived at Welshpool and my sat nav directed me around a housing estate into a cul de sac and then said "navigate off road". We could see the castle in the distance across a field but there was no route to it except of course for a rally car.
I chose these images today is because although the castle and gardens are quite spectacular the accessories and architectural features like benches, staircases and gates can be easily overlooked but they too are really worth a second look...
So its another testosterone fueled car fest for today and possibly again tomorrow depending on how I feel.
The title of today's blog is reference to the first driver on display in these pictures, Robert Kubica who made the transition from Formula 1 to World Rally Championship. He drove in F1 from 2006 to 2010 but his F1 career ended, ironically because of serious injuries sustained in a crash in the Andora rally in February 2011.
He was one of my youngest sons favourite F1 drivers of that era and so watching him race on Saturday was certainly one of the highlights for him and so I had to include the pictures in my blog.
