Ok, I’ve sorted out all the pictures from the past couple of weeks into a collection on Flickr which you can see here. Alternatively you can view my favourites in the slideshow below (Flash)

would appreciate some feedback – as always good or bad…

What seems to be a reoccurring trend it was a beautiful day when it was time to end my holiday.

It was the last day, and I thought I’d take one of the MP3 walking tours that you can download from the Visit Bristol website, which started at Temple Meads Station.

… a short walking to St. Mary Redcliffe

… from there, a walk back to the docks for an ice cream outside Arnolfini it boasts “In a fantastic waterside location at the heart of Bristol’s harbourside, Arnolfini is one of Europe’s leading centres for the contemporary arts.“

Walking along the harbour, you get at great view of Cabot Tower.

… another short walk through Underfall Yard a historic boatyard on Spike Island serving Bristol Harbour.

The Cumberland Basin – “The River Avon never flowed through the Cumberland Basin. Before the 19th century improvements and the construction of the non-tidal Floating Harbour, the Avon flowed through the tidal harbour and out through the future location of the basin.”

… a nice shot of the Clifton Suspension Bridge…

… it was a hot day, so rather than walking back I took a river taxi – glad I did the views were great.

… and then off home, would I visit again? I would! amazing place.

Returned to SS Great Britain today, just to get some pictures with the camera (I’ll put them on Flickr when I return), but I’ll post a couple here for now..

… the renovation of the interior is amazing considering when it was returned to Bristol it was just an empty shell.

The replica of the 1,000HP engine was very realistic and I wondered how they got the huge gear in the ship!

… from Brunel’s SS Great Britain it was off to the Clifton Suspension Bridge another truly amazing feat of Victorian engineering; first of its kind in the world!

… from the bridge it was just a quick trip to Bristol City Zoo…

.. yes, its the ass of the very rare red panda…

… awww, little baby Meercats, they were tiny.

… view from the pub… nice eh?

… finally a view from the hotel room; end of a perfect day.

Firstly I’m really annoyed at myself – I forgot to charge my camera last night and the battery ran out when I got to the SS Great Britain, so all the remaining pictures were taken with the trusty iPhone.

Breakfast at dawn? hardly! I got an ‘urgent’ update from one of my clients so the working was taken up looking after that!

Arrived at the restaurant at about 10am this morning, as you can see the weather wasn’t great!

The weather forced me inside for the morning and to get away from all the rain – you guessed it, I went to the Aquarium?! If you’re in Bristol I recommend the Blue Reef Aquarium and iMAX Theatre (included in the price), its one of the best exhibits I’ve seen!

… I think that’s a very pregnant Sea Horse!

From the Aquarium, I walked along the floating harbour wall to the amazing SS Great Britain, one of Isambard Kingdom Brunel greatest creations.

Arrived in Bristol about 2pm for a 4 day break. I’m staying at ‘The Bristol’ hotel, although the staff are very helpful the rooms are not designed for a long stay; there are no chest of draws for clothes just a small closet. Needless to say I’ve progressed from living out of my suitcase and have now stuffed my clothes into the draws of the desk.

Decided to take a MP3 tour from the Visit Bristol website, first one was; The Bristol Quayside Adventure.

Discover Bristol’s pirate past with a tour around the city’s ancient harbour. Discover Bristol’s famous people, places and buildings which are said to have inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to pen his classic tale Treasure Island.

Here are some pictures from the tour;

… were some great pubs on route, it was all very social and you can tell the roots of the city lay in the sea and trading.

Many of the quayside warehouses have been converted into offices and apartments.

Queen’s Square just across from the hotel seemed a local social area for football and picnic’s. The square was flanked on each side by what was originally merchant’s housing.

Along the quayside by the Industrial Museum were some impressive cranes.

To transport goods in the 1800’s was the job of the Harbour Railway, still in use as the weekends and Bank holidays but only for moving around tourists now.

This is the planetarium, can you see me in the reflection?

Well, been off sick for the past couple of days so I’ve gone through the 3,000 pictures I took (yes I found the “burst” mode on the camera) and here are the best, 64 in fact.

.. you can see the best of the rest (not all 3,000) at Flickr here..

Typical! best day weather wise and it’s my last day!

Wasn’t sure what to do today, so coming out of the hotel car park I decided to turn left (I always turn right). Followed the road and ended up at Alum Bay, home of the coloured sands.

It’s true it’s not the first (or second) time I’ve been there, but its a very beautiful place looking down to The Needles.

… I walked down to the beach…

… but decided to take the chairlift back…

… but for the first time I went further up the cliff’s to the Old/New Battery, amazing place…

… fantastic views back to Alum Bay…

… in the middle of the parade ground, there is a spiral staircase which goes down deep into the chalk cliffs. Follow the 400m tunnel, and you find the searchlight, and possibly the best views of the Needles…

… hidden cove, looks amazing…

… back at Freshwater Bay for some ‘arty’ shots…

Weather looked a bit dodgy today, the forecast was poor so I thought I’d go somewhere relatively protected from the elements, Ventnor Botanic Gardens in you guessed it… Ventnor.

I’d been here before, but later in the year. It was obvious that the gardens were hit hard during the winter, a lot of the tropical plants outside looked as if they had suffered the most. Needless to say heartier plants had only just started to begin to raise their heads.

Spent the day practicing some shots, distance, arty, macro – you know what I mean, as always I would like some comments/suggestions on my work..

… toffee popcorn tree??

… love the colours of the seaside…

… let me know what you think…

… forgot, also got a credit on the BBC News website for a picture I sent in…

Today I bit the bullet and decided to visit the Islands 1st Theme Park; Blackgang Chine – well sort of.

The group has opened a new attraction for the more mature visitors, which of course I appreciated.

The attraction “The Disappearing Village” describes local history around the Chine the tourist information tells us;

From 2010, for the first time there will be a new way to explore the mysterious past of this beautiful coastline. Come & visit our fascinating exhibitions, inspiring cinema, quality shops & nostalgic tearooms and at the same time enjoy spectacular views down the south west coast to the Needles.

I left the village before it disappeared completely and headed for Seaview to visit “Flamingo Park”.

Its a huge area, with gentle slope down to a large lake at the bottom, the park not only has Flamingo’s but all manner of birds, reptiles and cuddly mammals.

… “I say Reginald is that the new Lumix Micro Four Thirds system..?”, “Nah, that’s last years model…”

… “Ohh… do come in and join us the waters luvely…”

… “ahhhhhhhh…”

… “Its not easy being this cute you know…”

… “Make sure you get my best side d’arlink…”

… love is in the air…

… “meh…”

… sitting in the poo cleaning?

… “Hey! you lookin’ at me?”

… leaving the love birds at Seaview, I returned to Freshwater Bay for a relaxing evening…

The plan was simple check out the weather, visit the bay and go to the zoo in Sandown; strangely there were a few distractions along the way…

Going past Brook Bay something caught my eye, there were a couple of guys Kite Surfing, it was amazing to watch – the wind was strong and they must have been getting a good 8 feet into the air at times.

.. from Brook Bay I went onto the Sandown and visited the Isle of Wight Zoo. Its undergoing some major refurbishment at the moment, so quite a few big cat enclosures were closed which was a shame, but there was still plenty to see and do.

… is that monkey giving me the bird?

… I’m wondering if the “petting zoo” really has a dual function (it’s right next door to the Lion’s and Tigers)…

… I said goodbye to the zoo, and walked along the beach to Sandown Pier, got some nice shots of Shanklin, Sandown beach and Yaverland past the zoo…

… after a quick energy shot of a hot chocolate ice-cream it was back along the beach to the car.