Manavgat

From doing a bit of 'desktop research' I'm pretty sure this is Manavgat Waterfall, a short trip away from our conference location in Turkey in 1993.

Manavgat Waterfall

Nearly everywhere you pointed the camera around this area looked amazing, with a backdrop of mountains providing a stunning view.

Unfortunately people get in the way sometimes...

Some people, eh?

Kodachrome did the usual fantastic job of capturing the colour and beauty of the place.  It was early November and the weather was just perfect - hot enough, but not too hot.

Turkish Delight

For a fair few years I was an academic, which was a fantastic career as you got to work closely with young people, which is always rewarding.   As well as the day to day teaching (good), admin (not good) and research (good), it was always nice to go to a conference, particularly when that conference was somewhere new.  Sometime around 1993 I ended up in south-west Turkey, near Antalya.  The conference itself wasn't the highest-standing academic conference I've ever been involved with, but the upside was that we got to see a little of Turkey, and what a stunningly beautiful place it is.

Some old ruins somewhere in Turkey, 1993

Turkey is of course steeped in history and we got to see some old ruin-type places, like this one above.  Unfortunately I didn't take note of where this was, or if I did that note is long lost, but let's just say it's somewhere on the south coast of Turkey.

Beach pose

The last snap this week is of Missy posing on Portballintrae beach - the one what you seen yesterday, in common parlance.  She was sticking her face into the camera and giving a cheesy grin just for badness, so I just snapped her anyway, just for badness

Child, dog, beach, sun - what more is needed?

By chance I just caught the Dog-Hound-Thing in the background as well.  He's pretty good at clambering over rocks, what with his four-paw drive and all, but he does prefer a good ball-chasing on the sandy parts.

I have a sneaking suspicion this blog might be heading off on its hols next week - and most likely back in time as well.  Check back Monday to see what gives...

Portballintrae

Portballintrae (Port Bhaile an Tra), meaning port (landing place) at the settlement (town) of the strand (beach).   Whatever - a grand place for a day out.

This is a good time of year to go to Portballintrae (and indeed anywhere around the North Antrim coast) - before the tourists arrive in their hordes.  We were there a few weeks ago - you know the sort of thing, take a picnic, which gets devoured as soon as you arrive and the sea air hits you and then a bit of a walk.

Portballantrae

This scene greets you at the western end of the village, before you get to the harbour.  The tide was well out, as you can see, so we were able to have a decent clamber over the rocks.  Not that I'm much good at clambering, what with me dodgy hips and all - took it all very easy I did.  Still, a great place for kids - rock pools teeming with life etc etc.

In the distance you can just about make out the Skerries and beyond them lies a faint outline of Donegal.  The sun was beating down and for once there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  Perfect.

Ice cream

If you're reading this you probably already know that Portstewart is famous for many things - in addition to the general loveliness of the Prom, the bay and the views of Donegal.

Bad driving/parking is high on the agenda pretty much any time of the year on The Prom.  As is sitting in your car and either reading the paper or having your ice cream.  Ice cream works when you are strolling about the place as well, and Missy can usually be found guilty as charged.

Happiness is an ice cream

To be fair, as you can see Missy is quite happy with a little ice cream.  Not quite sure why Portstewart needs two telephone boxes on the Prom - I mean, does anyone ever use a public telephone any more?

As you can see, eating ice cream requires a degree of concentration - even from a seasoned ice cream eater like Missy...

Hmm...now how do I get that last bit out?

Portstewart Bay

This snap was a bit of an experiment to see how Leica glass coped with direct sunlight.  The answer is pretty well - no flare, although the highlights are a little blown and the whole thing is lacking in contrast.  My fault for pointing the camera thing into the sun, but sometimes you have to try.

Fantastic composition, though, wouldn't you agree?  I mean, everything just positioned nicely to lead the eye into the centre where, well, where nothing much is happening.  Ah well, you can't win 'em all.

Into the light, Portstewart Bay 2015

I think my horizon is off slightly (again)...though it's hard to tell since the natural line of the headland in the distance isn't perfectly straight anyway.  Probably I should have 'rectified' this in Photoshop, but I didn't.

Still, if you can put up with the low contrast and the wonky horizon, the snap gets across something of the light and cloud formations we get in this part of the world.  Grand wee place, isn't it?  If I get my act together and get out in the evenings a bit more then hopefully I'll get some better snaps than this one.

Deirdre May and friends

Portstewart is just down the road from us and a lovely place it is too.  On this day we were all down for an amble up and down the promenade, as one does.

Deirdre May and Lady Jade, 2015

FP4+ in DD-X did a nice job of capturing the essence of the harbour.  We'd been watching CE510 out in the bay earlier (while having a cup of tea in my fav cafe) and although the harbour looks pretty calm there was a good swell out in the bay.  Definitely you would have needed your sea legs.  I stopped the fisherman dude coming off CE510 and asked if there was any mackerel about - he told me I was about a month too early.   A couple of years ago I went out on a similar boat from Portrush and ended up with enough mackerel for a few months - a thoroughly enjoyable day it was too.  Memorable not only for the quantity of mackerel caught, but also for the gannets which were diving in to steal them off our lines.  Huge birds, gannets, when you see them up close.  Hopefully we can all get out for another day's fishing this summer.  What the fisherman dude did have in his bucket, though, was about 6 lobsters, just out of the sea.  Although I have tasted lobster (and I liked it) I don't think I could bring myself to kill one of these beautiful creatures.