RT photographics: To Bollington and Beyond!

I'm loving this whole holiday thing!

I've been out and about again, travelling up to Bollington in Cheshire to stay with my sister and her family. Bollington is a great place; tucked into the edge of the Peak District, only a short drive from Manchester but seemingly a million miles away, it's a charming small town with a huge array of options for days out... not least of which is Jodrell Bank, talking of arrays!

I didn't visit the Jod on this trip, though I shall get back there soon if I can!

My nephews and niece are all real water babies and are often found in it or on it in one way or another! Luckily for them they have access to the canal... perfect for them to canoe / kayak / generally bob about on, perfect me to stroll along and take my camera for a walk! Leaving the poor guys at home to do their revision, I wandered along for a couple of hours to see what I could see.

It's such a peaceful place and was perfect for recharging my still rather worn out spirits!

Still on the lookout for a kingfisher moment, still not getting one, but I did get a quite nice encounter with the equally stunning heron!

Next on the list of things to do for the week was a fantastic day out on The Roaches with my good friend Andy.

High pressure gave us a superb day to explore the crags and high spots, but did also unfortunately make it rather hazy... not so good for interesting skies or distant views!

Still, it was a stunning place to be in and we had a fab day out... though I don't think Andy will be quite so keen to return to Lud's Church anytime soon!!! Long story, but the upshot was we saw it at least 3 times that afternoon! It's well worth a visit, but our poor old legs (ok, sorry Andy, my poor old legs!!), had really had enough after the first visit. Still, all good reason to get another ice cream from the handily placed van up at the car park!

A nice ice cream was also had at Tatton Park the next day! The sun was roasting again and the deer on the park had obviously decided that rather than join the queue for the ice cream van, they'd cool off quicker with a dip in the lake!!!

The deer are free to wander the park and munch grass wherever they like within the confines of the cattle grids.

They are lovely to see and it was even more magical to see them splashing about in the water to cool off! Lovely!!

The holiday continued with a road trip down to the Southampton area. Here we are on the road...

quite literally 'on the road'!!! Well, it was a long journey! Had to pass the time somehow!

A brief pitstop at Warwick Services and a video happy birthday sing song for Richard. Not wanting to look a complete nutter in the car park singing by myself, I tried to rope in the others. Oh well. At least Jim bravely came to help out his poor old bonkers aunty Becca!

It was appreciated Jim, thanks ;-) Richard appreciated it too, though I don't know that I can stretch it so far as to say he enjoyed it!!! Singing isn't my strong point. Hey ho.

Anyway, back on the road we went straight down to the Submarine Museum at Portsmouth. It's not a huge place but it really is worth a visit. By bizarre coincidence, my friend who had his birthday song that day was formerly a submariner and spent his training days here at HMS Dolphin! By even more coincidence, the museum has the propeller from his boat on display (HMS Resolution)!!

It's actually quite a beautiful thing when you look at it close up...

though I clearly wouldn't have wanted to see it at all had I been in the water! It is quite something to see though, even now after it had spent 30 years in the sea... very impressive!

HMS Alliance was also very, very impressive! The museum are hoping to raise enough funds to restore it, as it is really suffering with age and exposure to elements. Hopefully the fundraising will work in time and Alliance be brought back to her former glory.

It was fascinating to tour inside HMS Alliance. It has to be said, deep respect for all the chaps who ever worked on her and for all submariners worldwide!!!

Having spent a few very interesting hours at the museum, we headed back towards Southampton to pitch the tents.

It's been a LONG time since I've been camping and I was a bit dubious about it, but it was great! I'm going to buy me a tent now and do some more!! Not quite so sure I'll be singing along at the camp fire again any time soon, but it was a cracking good laugh!