My Nature Walk

Wednesday May 13, 2009 7:38 PM GMT

Ok well I didn't get pictures up last night like I wanted to but here they are with a few from today as well.  Also I've put in some links to Wikipedia so you can learn more about some of these things.

This is Scott and Zsofi's flat where I am staying, we're on the 2nd level.

Here is the famous Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge over the river Avon.

Near spot I took the last picture from there is this tower.  At the top is what they call a "camera obscura" basically it has a lens that projects an image onto a pedestal in a dark room.  You can turn the lens and then get a panoramic view.

This is what the image looked like from the "camera obscura".  From the tower you can also go down to this cave that looks out from the side of the cliff at the gorge.

Notice the lookout point in the cliff side?

the view looking up the tunnel from the lookout.  I think the called this "Pirate Cave" or something.

The Avon Gorge area is home to many rare plant species.  This is the only place in the world that some are found.  I'm not sure if this is one of those rare plants but the picture is pretty.

This dog watched me it my lunch at a bench overlooking the bridge.

The entrance to Ashton Court, a large open area.  Mom remember I said I didn't think they had open space here?  I was wrong this was a pretty cool place to walk through.

A view of my walk, on the right is a golf course.

The city of Bristol as seen from Ashton Court.

I wanted to test out my camera's ability to take flower shots in foilage mode.  Not bad eh?

A mansion in Ashton Court, not sure why they chose yellow for the outside.

On the top of his head is a plaque that points out what you are looking at.

After leaving Ashton Court I walked back towards Bristol and along the riverside.  The big ship is the SS Great Britain.  They give tours but I think I was too late that day.

Back in town this is the Bristol Cathedral.  I went inside and took some shots but they didn't turn out too good.  This was begun in the 1100's!  Though those parts are small.  Much of it has been built or rebuilt since.

This is from today.  I walked out to Blaise Castle which you see below.  On the way over I ran into this church with an old graveyard around it.  Many of the graves dated back to the 17 and 1800's.  Those ones were hard to read because they were so old.  I'm pretty sure this is not the original marker for this grave but I thought it was cool that it went all the way back to 1720.

Blaise Castle which is really a folly castle.  Meaning it was built as a summer house by some rich guy in the late 1700's.  It's about the size of a house.  There was a museum on the grounds and then you walked over to the hill that this castle was on.  It is completely surrounded by trees so you can't see it until you get right into the field it's in.  I couldn't go in but I guess there really isn't anything in there anymroe, now they only open it up on Sunday's during the summer.

To see some more pictures you can look at my web album on picasa here.