Travel: Uig, Isle of Skye

From the recent trip to Scottish Highlands, the one sleepy place I really liked is Uig in Isle of Skye. Uig is another harbor town and connects to Tarbert in Isle of Harris with ferry.

'Uig Pier' as seen from 'The Cowshed' 

'The Fairy Glen' 

Uig behind... from ferry, on the way to Tarbert.

Places to Stay: Uig has some really good options to stay at. Uig Hotel, The CowShed and there are few B&Bs can be seen and found. We had a booking for two beds in 'The Cowshed', it is a boutique bunkhouse looking at the Uig Pier. Really a beautiful place to stay at and enjoy. But they don't serve food, so get food along. It is a good place for a bunch of bachelors to party and enjoy.

Address: The Cowshed Boutique Bunkhouse, Uig, Isle of Skye, IV51 9YD
Phone: 07917 536 820
Email: bookings@skyecowshed.co.uk

Travel: The Temple Cafe, Isle of Harris (United Kingdom)

Isle of Harris is a fantastic place to roam around to enjoy the beauty of Scottish highlands. But when it comes to food, it really don't offer many options in and around outer Hebrides. Tarbert has two good places to eat. We did see many road signs in outer Hebrides showing directions to 'Temple Cafe' and we got to see this small yet beautiful structure near Northton beach and stopped over for a quick bite on our way back.

The best thing for me at 'Temple Cafe' was its architecture and the beautiful surrounding. Food was really good, we had some home-made pizza and it was just excellent. For us, this location was an unexpected stop-over for food. Being a scheduled dinner for some fresh lobsters that evening we did not try much of the things.
(If you are a sea-food lover and looking for something good to eat in Isle of Harries, then you should try out 'The Hebrides' just at the pier and in front of the tourist information center. I believe, they serve sea food for dinner only.)

Travel: Roadtrip to Scottish Highlands

Last July, while in London for few days this quick 1500+ miles road trip did happen... and what an amazing trip it was as most of the time was spent in driving. Nothing is pleasure but being on road. Beautiful lake district, open highways, historical cities, drive thru forests, some beautiful lakes, ferries, Scottish highlands, view of Glenfinnan Viaduct (Harry Potter Bridge), staying in some beautiful 'Bread & Breakfast' and 'Bunk Houses'... And many other stuff. Did I forget to mention about the food! And many stunning images... Stay tuned :)

Travel: Land's End, UK

Since I was a kid, travel was somehow always was on cards and mostly by road. Probably that made me a wanderer who always loved to travel with a set of wheels, it never mattered whether I crawled in between traffic for 2 hours to cross 20 kilometers to reach office or converted a 2 hour flight to a 2 day drive for a meeting..... Anyways.
Among many memorable road-trips across United Kingdom the Cornwall trip was exceptional and memorable, a 750 mile road-trip in winter for 3 days with white motorways, which also included an insane non-stop night ride of 250 miles. Absolute Fun and the best ever place I personally experienced in UK, somehow I could not manage to see Scotland or else the opinion might be different ;)
The extreme western point on mainland of England is well known as Land's End... Pretty close to Penzance.

Travel: Sandown, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom

On South-East coast of Isle-of-Weight and pretty close to Shanklin is this small town on bay. Popular among tourists as a sea side resort and one among the 7 beaches to fly 'Seaside Award Flag' for clean sandy stretched beach and quality of water.









In one of the previous post I mentioned about 'Isle of Weight'. As it is a small place, you have the flexibility to choose a place to stay, either country side or close to the sea. where ever you are, it hardly takes 10-15 minutes to reach sea shore.

Travel: Brighton (London on Sea), United Kingdom

If I remember correctly, some 4+ hours and we were back to Slough at my sister's place from a 150 mile ride and having lunch at Brighton. This particular place is called 'London on Sea', as it resembles the feel and culture of capital city. Brighton was never in my place-to-travel list, but on a lazy day when we were getting bored, then just decided to go out for lunch and ended in Brighton.



This particular place emerged as a health resort in 18th century and became a popular tourist destination with a densified population along with the coast. Being only 50+ miles down South from London, it has the advantage to be on the sea.



The sea-front is definitely a place to be enjoyed. Unlike some other sea fronts in the country, Brighton is quite wide with proper public amenities. If you want to see a sea-front development then this seems to be the place. I personally have not explored the place, neither do have many clicks as I was there for an hour or two.


The pebble beach is the most unique feature of the place and it is natural.


Here is Brighton Pier, originally built in 1823 for easy landing of passengers from ships and later converted to a commercial entertainment hub.

Did you know, Brighton is the nudist beach of United Kingdom ;)

Hay on Wye: The city of Books

Hay is a small town on the border of England and Wales, popularly known as 'Town of Books'. This is the city where number of books per square mile is more than any other part of the world. And it is the largest second hand book market all around the globe. So it is practically paradise for book lovers. The 'Hay Castle' is also the birth place of 'Honesty Bookshop', a bookshop where you need to put money in the honesty box for every book bought... Sounding strange!!! You have to be there to believe it.... Even the narrow lanes in the city are no less interesting than the narrow lanes in the shops through the book shelves.....

Few hours under the Sun!

Finally Sun started to show his face regularly. A constant daytime temperature of 16-20 degrees is so pleasant these days. And not to mention the days are also getting longer and longer, it was even quite bright outside today when my watch was showing 8.00 pm.

Actually today we had a small group meeting in the Studio and the Sunny day outside was so tempting that we decided to come out and use the lush green lawn beside instead of our cagey work place... Damn nice it was, means this Easter Study Vacation is going to be pleasant and FUN. For me the best part is, I don't need to wear layers and layers of clothing to go out :D









P.S. This time the trusty Canon SX 100 came handy.... means none of the images are from dslr :p

Double Rainbow

Author 'Sylvia Voirol' once said, 'Rainbows apologize for the angry skies'.

Experienced a double and bright rainbow few days back. And it was my first experience to see such a sight and the rainbow was a real bright one and it was also touching the horizon. What a sight it was!!!







 P.S. Sorry for the bad quality of images, as I could not go out with the cam because of Rain and the window of my room is a real crappy one, even you cant take the face of lens out :(
Time to get some rain gear for Canon, it's a long time due.

Blossom

Spring is almost here. With the temperature level at 15, 12 hours of daylight, regular peeps of the Sun in-between and with leafless trees loaded with these Cherry Blossoms are just ringing the bell of it's presence.

How do you ENTER your house!

Doors and Windows are like face and it's different elements of a residential house. Like human breed it also varies from region to region showcasing the variety and vibrancy of different cultural practice. So, Architecture is just an integrated part of culture and society of any place...

And here is my attempt to frame few of these expressions of a particular region in United Kingdom.

London Architecture: High Rise

The city of London is one among few heritage cities around the globe which respects it's arcitecture. The skyline of the city clearly describes that Londoners are not a big fan of high rise structures. The tall buildings in the city can be counted with finger tips and not to mention most them are commercial towers. Less than 1% of British population do live in high rise apartments and that to either they are singles or newly married. Britishers do have a weakness on independent houses and country sides, that is actually the way they prefer to live. Typical country houses are like essence of British housing culture. And not to mention, the approval process for the high rise is quite a process as the council always tried to maintain few heritage visual axises through-out the city, so one should not be surprised to hear that the tall building approval process in London may take a decade over numerous changes...

So few high-rises from the Capital City...

Heron Tower... One of the recent sustainable development in the city with PV claddings on facade.


The Shard by Renzo Piano... Once completed, it will be the tallest in the city as well as in Western Europe with a height of 310 meters (1,016 feet).


Lloyds by Richard Rogers... A master piece itself.


St Mary Axe (Gherkin) by Foster & Partners... The most impressive landmark and another sustainable high-rise.


Broadgate Towers... A structural marvel.



P.S. The true essence of London is yet to be captured, the heritage... Hopefully someday ;)