Adios 2008!

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This is the last post of the year. Hopefully there will be more photo opportunities in the coming year.

Thanks to my colleague, I don't have to resort to taking self portraits.

They should have mentioned the word 'ruins'. I was expecting big castles which were mostly intact, not just broken walls...

Anyway it turned out to be a good getaway, a relaxing outing.

Happy New Year to all!!!

Castle? Which one? Where?

See, I wasn't making up the part about Tintagel Castle being the birthplace of King Arthur. See that building behind me, far away in the horizon? That's not the castle though. I wonder what that is, might be a church. It was only when we reach the island where the castle was located that I realized that I was expecting the wrong thing.

It should be named 'Tintagel Castle Ruins' ! What we saw on that island were only ruins of the castle that once overlooked the Atlantic. One part of the castle garden which was too near to the cliffs was claimed by the sea. What was left was the bottom part of the walls, an old well, an old storage tunnel and an old chapel altar rock.

This is Camelot. Camelot Hotel. Don't think that any of the Knights used to spend their nights here though. This is a modern hotel with a name from the past.

The wind at the top of the hill was extremely strong, with the temperature slightly above freezing temperature, I was only able to take a few shots before putting my hands back into the warmth of my jacket.

Talk about living on the edge... My friend has a strong appetite for stunning views and locations for photo shoots.

In Search of Arthur's Castle

I was invited by a colleague and his wife to visit the legendary birthplace of King Arthur - Tintagel Castle. I'd always thought it to be Camelot or Avalon. Setting out early in the morning, we arrived there just before noon. This was the first time I see a GPS unit in action, leading us to our destination.

This is the traditional afternoon snack called the Cornish Cream Tea. Anything from the county Cornwall, neighboring Plymouth, Devon, is hence named Cornish. The two muffin-like servings are known as scones, to be served with clotted cream and strawberry jam, spread across the scones. One then has to wash the devilishly delicious combination down with a cup of English tea, I however, broke the taboo and went ahead with coffee instead.

Apparently after looking at the whole album for that journey, this was the only one photo with all three of us in a photo.

The path to the castle wasn't accessible with vehicles, hence, we had to cross streams, walk downhill thread past some lightly frozen paths to the castle entrance.

My camera took the faster way down, however, using the same stream... whee..... swish swosh.... ARGH!!