favourite photos: summer 2024

Paula and I will be heading back to Hong Kong in a few days, and as I usually do, I’ve put together a collection of what I consider to be the most interesting photos that I’ve taken during the summer. I took more than 600 photos during our two trips to Toronto last month and this month, but with two exceptions (see below), I’ve not included any of these in this collection. These will be used next month to illustrate things that we did in this fascinating city during our visits.

We often go for walks (if we’re not cycling) when we’re in Penrith, and we frequently visit the Thacka Beck Nature Reserve during these walks. On one occasion, we saw a rainbow as we emerged onto Bowerbank Way, part of the Gilwilly Industrial Estate, on our way to the reserve:

The entrance to the nature reserve is marked by the litter bin on the right of the photo.

One option after we’ve exited the nature reserve on the far side is to continue along Thacka Lane in the direction of Newton Rigg Agricultural College. We frequently see horses in the fields bordering the lane, including this pair, who appear to be looking for attention:

Foxgloves are common on the fells (local name for the mountains of the Lake District), but I was surprised to see this specimen growing out of the crack between a wall and the pavement in front of Penrith Methodist Church:

I spotted this splendid example of a stile as we cycled through the village of Reagill, south of Penrith:

Notice that no mortar has been used in the construction of the wall, which is standard practice around these parts. The rock is limestone. You can also see this technique being used in a wall alongside the road leading out of Penrith towards Great Salkeld, where the principal rock is sandstone (although some boulders have also been incorporated, sourced from boulder clay, the ubiquitous glacial deposit around here):

The next photo shows a view of Blencathra, one of the few Lake District mountains with a Cumbric name (although it is often referred to by locals as ‘Saddleback’) that I took while out cycling:

This road used to be the main road to Keswick, but it was replaced by the A66 more than half a century ago, making it ideal as part of a cycling route nowadays.

‘Sunset’:

When I asked Paula which bike ride she would like to do to mark her birthday, she immediately replied: “Haweswater”. I took several photos here, but I particularly like this one, looking back towards the head of the valley:

When we flew to Toronto last month, I had a window seat, and I suddenly noticed that we must be crossing the southern tip of Greenland. I always switch my phone off when flying, and in the time it took to get it up and running again, I probably missed the best shots, but you can still see the glaciers in this photo:

On our second flight, the plane passed many miles south of Greenland, so there was no opportunity to take more photos.

The walk along the River Eamont, from Eamont Bridge to Brougham, south of Penrith, is a pleasant excursion, and we followed this route on a walk at the end of last month. The river appeared to be flowing unusually fast, but the water level didn’t appear to be higher than usual:

Notice the three ducks in the bottom left corner of the photo.

The day after our Eamont excursion, we did a bike ride north of Penrith that included a road we’d never cycled along before. At one point, I noticed an unusual plant that dominated the verges on both sides of the road:

This is Himalayan balsam, an invasive species that, in this location, was almost the only plant on both sides of the road for about two miles.

This photo shows a quaint road bridge over the River Lyvennet in Morland, southeast of Penrith:

I discovered just this summer that there’s a skate park next to Penrith Leisure Centre. I took several photos of the colourful graffiti on the sidewalls supporting the ramps, including this one:

On our second trip to Toronto, we were taken to watch a major league baseball game, and on our way to the stadium, we passed this installation, which I saw as a ‘must’ photo opportunity. Paula took this one with my phone:

Another ‘must before we go’ was a bike ride to Ullswater, which we tend to avoid at the height of summer because of the sheer volume of tourist traffic. On this occasion, we approached the lake from Matterdale End, and where to take a photo from was self-evident as we descended the hill towards the road that runs alongside the lake:

The subject of my final photo is a tiny flower that I spotted just a couple of days ago growing out of a crack in the external surface of the low wall surrounding my neighbour’s backyard:

I have no idea what kind of flower this is, so if you can enlighten me, please leave a comment below.

on the trail #1

After the first two hectic days of our trip to Toronto, we were left to our own devices on the third day. Why not explore the neighbourhood where we were staying? So that’s what we did. A quick survey of Google Maps showed that the Moccasin Trail Park was nearby. As you can see from my first photo, it appeared to be a typical park:

However, as you can also see from the photo, the path divides a short distance ahead. We decided to turn right and soon found ourselves on a road that descended a steep hill through a thickly forested area:

At the time, I had no idea what Paula was attempting to photograph, but I soon discovered the reason:

Black squirrels like this one turned out to be extremely common, and we did see quite a few during the remainder of our stay in this remarkable city, including several in the residential neighbourhood where we were staying. I even saw one as I sat in the window of our room!

At the bottom of the hill, we found the start of a trail into the forest:

It isn’t obvious from the photo, but you can just see a small lake through the trees on the right. This lake doesn’t appear to have any amenities, but it’s certainly scenic:

The trail quickly contracted to a mere footpath:

I took several photos of wildflowers as we followed the path:

I’m still trying to see whether I can identify any of these flowers, although the white flowers in the first two photos do resemble cow parsley. And the yellow flowers alongside the path in the next photo look like golden rod:

Shortly after I took the last photo, Paula said that she wasn’t feeling well, so we turned back. But we did see another squirrel before leaving the area:

This was our first experience of a forest trail in Toronto, but we walked two more during our visit, which I will be describing in due course.

falls guide

On the second day of our recent trip to Toronto, we travelled to Niagara Falls, which was a breathtaking experience! We were driven there by Paula’s nephew Eugene, who grew up in Hong Kong but who now lives in Canada. And we were accompanied by Eugene’s younger brother Eric and their mother Christina, Paula’s sister, who had also travelled to Toronto for the wedding. This was my first sight of the falls:

Niagara Falls is actually two separate waterfalls, and the previous photo is a view of the American Falls, separated by Goat Island from the Canadian Falls, also known as the Horseshoe Falls because of their distinctive curved shape:

In fact, if you look closely at the first photo above, you will notice a small separate waterfall on the right. This is the Bridal Veil Falls, separated from the American Falls by Luna Island. Both Goat Island and Luna Island are part of the US state of New York, so effectively the Horseshoe Falls straddles the international border between the USA and Canada.

There is a promenade along the top of the gorge on the Canadian side of the river, which we walked along and then returned to where we started. This is a different view of the American Falls that I took as we walked back:

You will probably have noticed boats in each of the last three photos, and that would be our next objective. As we made our way slowly down to the water level I spotted a notice that read “Ponchos will be distributed after ticket verification”. My initial thought was that I wouldn’t bother, because there would only be some spray, but in the end I’m glad I ignored my first reaction to the notice:

In fact, there wasn’t much spray as we passed the American Falls, but it certainly got a lot wetter as we approached the Horseshoe Falls:

After taking the previous photo, I decided to put my phone away, because we were no longer dealing with spray. It was like torrential rain as we ventured within 15 metres of the base of the waterfall.

After our boat ride, Eugene planned to cross to the US side of the river with his mother and brother and spend the night there, so Paula and I would catch a bus back to Toronto. But first, we would venture into the city of Niagara Falls to see whether there was anything interesting to see. We immediately found ourselves in ‘Strange Street’. To understand why I gave this thoroughfare such a name, check out the next two photos:

We turned left where I took the second photo and immediately found ourselves walking past a small park filled with life-size models of dinosaurs. I identified a brontosaurus and a stegosaurus, and this terrifying rendition of Tyrannosaurus rex:

After passing the park, we cut back down towards the river, because we’d been told that the bus terminus was located just upstream from the Horseshoe Falls. Of course, I took a few more photos, including this one of the American Falls:

The final four photos are all closer views of the Horseshoe Falls, although the third photo also shows the American Falls in the distance and therefore provides some measure of the relative positions of the two waterfalls:

The last photo is a view from the top of the waterfall.

And that was our visit to Niagara Falls. My next report will describe the first of three days walking forest trails.

the magic roundabout

Paula and I have just returned from a memorable trip to Toronto. The reason for the trip had been to attend the wedding celebrations of Paula’s brother’s daughter, but we decided to extend our stay so that we could also fit in some sightseeing. Paula had mentioned visiting a tower in the city centre on our first day, but I didn’t really think about it, even when I heard Paula’s nephew Eugene booking a table for lunch in the tower’s restaurant.

However, as we approached the city centre, the penny finally dropped. The CN Tower is unmistakeable:

And it is obvious where the tower’s restaurant is located.

We were early, so we took a short walk around the immediate area. Directly across the street from the tower is what would once have been a railway locomotive depot in the form of a roundhouse, where spur lines radiate out in all directions from a central turntable. It now appears to be a kind of railway museum, and I took the next two photos here:

And then it was time for lunch. Although our table was next to the window, and I was sitting nearest to the window, it took me several minutes to notice that we were actually moving relative to the outside world. From that point, I stood up every five–ten minutes to take a photo of the ground below:

The water in the distance in the first two photos is Lake Ontario, one of North America’s five Great Lakes. Incidentally, one rotation of the restaurant took about 75 minutes.

After lunch, we took a ferry to Centre Island, the largest of a group of islands off the city’s waterfront that are known collectively as the Toronto Islands. Although ferries are frequent, they do appear to be always crowded. I took this photo from the ferry as we crossed to the island:

The terrain of Centre Island can best be described as parkland:

We saw quite a lot of wild geese on the island, including this small gaggle:

Smaller islands are connected to the main island by bridges:

I took the previous photo, and also the next photo, while waiting in the long queue for the ferry back to the city:

And that was our first day in Toronto. We went to Niagara Falls the following day.