Notes

Going Electric?

Today we visited the EV Experience Centre in Milton Keynes and took a good look at Volkswagen’s new ID.4 SUV. They are so spacious inside and you can really stretch out, a bonus for tall passengers! My wife and I are of average height but the people we tend to transport are always very tall!

I can’t say (yet) how the car drives but it is certainly on our list of vehicles we are considering along with:

• Tesla
• Hyundai Ioniq 5
• Kia e-Niro
• Nissan Ariya
• Skoda Enyaq
• Jaguar i-pace

A number of companies will let you hire their vehicles for a few days, so that you can make an informed decision on which car is the best match for your needs.

Greywell Tunnel

Last weekend I explored the “last five miles” of the Basingstoke Canal, the section on the other side of the Greywell Tunnel. My aim was to walk to the western portal of the tunnel, having visited the more well known eastern side, so many times over the years, I had never found the other.

It was a lovely walk, the verdant colours of spring making their annual debut, the banks of the canal under a blanket of wild garlic, not yet in bloom. The towpath cobbled and uneven, nature winning over the old section of the canal.

The tunnel collapsed in the 1930’s, the canal had fallen into financial problems by this point and as a result it ceased commercial use. It is now home to hundreds of rare bat species and as such, it is protected.

I took a peek through the fencing and could see into the tunnel a little bit, there a couple of small rowing boats in there that I doubt have been touched in a very long time.

I’ve fallen behind a bit on my blogging and not keeping these notes recently. I hope to play catch up in the coming days!

Slades Bridge

Slade’s Bridge in Up Nately, Hampshire was originally built in 1790 it provided access to the Nateley Brickworks on the Northern side of the Basingstoke canal.

A little research into the brickworks was interesting - In 1895 after eight years in the hands of the official receiver, the canal was bought by Sir Frederick Seager Hunt, who formed the Woking, Aldershot & Basingstoke Canal & Navigation Company Ltd. Sir Fred was a Tory MP but made his living as a gin distiller.

It was when the Army camps in Aldershot, Deepcut and Pirbright were being upgraded, that large quantities of bricks were needed. Sir Frederick bought a small brickworks in Up Nateley, spent a lot of money on expanding it to create the Hampshire Brick and Tile Company.

A 100-yard arm was dug near Slades bridge to allow boats to load bricks and unload coal to fire the kilns. Around 50 tons of coal was transported here from Basingstoke every week, which ironically was delivered there by rail!

Eventually the business went into liquidation after a 14 week closure of the canal at Woking which impacted the business. It was also said that the clay was unsatisfactory and the bricks too poor for building work.

Photographed using Halide and edited in Darkroom, using my iPhone and iPad for editing. I love this modern workflow!

Does anyone know if any of the old brickworks buildings still exist?

Having fun with my iPhone photography

Sometimes photography is all about the camera you have on your person and my iPhone is that device. So when I see something like this jolly little piece of yarn bombing (I think it’s called), I just have to document it!

Walking the border of two counties

We are getting into a great habit of going for a morning walk around 7am or just before. Today we followed the river Blackwater for a stretch which also marks the boundary between Hampshire and Surrey. #write52

We walked from our house down to Farnborough North train station where I took a photo of the gates that must have been the former entrance to the station’s yard. Lovely old Victorian wrought iron work nonetheless.

The path is also very close to the A331 and it was noticeably busier this morning. Mind you the birds in the trees that lined the route were competing with the noise of the traffic. A fascinating cacophony.

The research list for my Churches project

Churches have always been a fascination and how they have become part of the British landscape. Stand on a hillside that overlooks the tapestry of fields, farms, villages and you’ll always see a church spire that punctuates that view.

I am starting small (ahem). If I were to photograph every church in the United Kingdom, I would be busy for a very long time, as there are 16,000 or so. If you take a peek at my Google map below, I have started with a more manageable area but have found hundreds of churches already!

If you have a favourite near you, I would sure like to know about it.

Google places

# Other links

https://www.listchallenges.com/countryfile-britains-most-beautiful-churches

Natural Abstract

Taken wide open at f4.0 serves as a reminder that photography isn’t all big vistas and razor sharp images. You can’t beat a nice shallow depth of field with a little sprinkle of bokeh!

The floating digger

Just before reaching the furthest point pleasure boats can travel along the Basingstoke Canal is a basin that’s recently been cleared. Just fascinated by stuff like this. I’m a geek!

The Colquhoun Family Mausoleum

Just two years ago this Mausoleum was overgrown and in need of some restoration at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey. I had no idea until I started doing some research into it’s history after our walk there earlier this month.

You can learn more about the restoration story here

https://brookwoodcemetery.com/2019/04/08/colquhoun-chapel-restoration-project-start-date-8-april-2019-for-16-weeks/

https://victorianweb.org/art/architecture/johnson/6.html - provides more information on the history of the Mausoleum and who the Colquhouns were.

Using Foresty.io

I am really impressed by Forestry.io and have installed it for use with this blog site. So here is a test post written with it.

Let’s dig into Cloudinary…