Tuesday, 4 January 2011

The Move

Only we could pick the week of the worst snow in 50 years!
Thankfully its all over and we are now settled in Burntisland.


Spott before we left.  This is the path that all our belonging came out to the van over.

We planned to park the van round the back and load up there but the 2 feet of snow put pay to that.


Mulder deciding not to venture out. And he didn't for the next 5 weeks!

 There was just us moving all our things so we hired a van, little did we expect a diesel shortage due to the weather.


Rutted ice on the motorway at Edinburgh.

John - still smiling even though a 1 hour journey took 4 hours!

We had to do multiple journeys in the van but heavy snow, ice, temperatures of minus 9 and massive jams slowed us down a bit.


Congestion and snow on the journey between Spott and Burntisland.

Plenty of time to take photographs.


Aberdour - en route to Burntisland.

Burntisland - heading down to our road.

Our road - it would be unadopted and ungritted wouldn't it!


We couldn't get up the drive so everything  had to come up this slope.

Home sweet home.

 We planned to stash boxes in the garage but the previous owners had to leave their furniture there as the removal firm wouldn't collect it in the snow.  So everything had to go upstairs.


But it was worth it for the view.

The view across to Arthur's Seat.

 You can expect more pictures of the view to come!

Sunday, 14 November 2010

Celebrating my 40th Year on a trip to Marrakech

We decided to celebrate my birthday with a trip to Marrakech. 

Djemaa El-Fna
This plaza is the centre of activity in Masrrakech, filled with fruit juice stalls, story tellers,snake charmers and food stalls.
It was once used for executions and its name literally translates to 'assembly of the dead'.
Unescco declared Djemaa el-Fna a masterpiece of World Heritage.

Koutoubia Minaret
The 12th Century, 70 foot high tower for the mosque from which locals are called for prayer 5 times a day.


A square of shops and stalls close to the Souqs.

Looking across the Djemaa el-Fna towards the Souqs.
Check out the number of satellite discs.

The chaos around the Djemaa el-Fna

A water seller.


Ali Ben Youssef Medersa.
(Quranic School)

John reading up on the architecture.



Musee de Marrakrch.

The Souqs.


The Kasbah.

Jardin Majorelle.

Yves Saint Laurent gave the gardens to Marrakech.

;The garden contains rare Cacti.

It's famous for its vivid colours.








Saadian Tombs.
Belonging to Sultan Ahmed el-Mansour el Dahbi.





The flora outside the Bahia Palace.

Inside the Bahia Palace.







The contrasting transportation operating in Marrakech.


A herbal stall.

The Badi Palace.

A view across to the Atlas Mountains.

Some of the storks who live on the ramparts of the Badi Palace.

The Kasbah, just outside our hotel.
Le Jardin de la Medina, our hotel.


The roof terrace of our hotel, a little oasis.


The shower on our private roof terrace.

Wednesday, 3 November 2010

Holy Island


Last weekend the tides were right for a visit to Lindisfarne, so off we headed.

A refuge just in case we misjudged the tides.

The Abbey


One of the locals.


The Castle, now owned by the National Trust but previously holiday home to the founder of Country Life and refurbished by  Lutyens
.

A view over the village from the Castle.

Us, just a little windswept. 

A rare shot of the photographer.

Upturned boats form storage sheds - a local tradition.

The shed in the walled garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll


A view of the Castle from the garden.