If you turn left after passing through the War Memorial Arch at the entrance to Penrith’s Castle Park you can stroll up to the ruins of Penrith Castle, in the care of English Heritage. There’s not much more to say about it beyond what is on the information board.

From Penrith’ s Memorial to the two World Wars it is a very short walk to its Boer War Memorial, within Castle Park. It is in the form of an angel of victory surmounting an embossed square pillar:-

Closer view:-

Names:-

Penrith’s main War Memorial is in the form of an archway acting as a gateway to Castle Park, Penrith. (There is a Great War Memorial in the grounds of St Andrew’s Church.)

The larger Memorial above is directly across the road from Penith Railway Station which can be seen in the background in this reverse view:-

The name plaques are on the walls of the two alcoves within:-

Great War Dedication and names C J Adam – T Main:-

Great War Dedication and names T Mallinson – T Workman:-

Second World War Dedication and names:-

Just across the road from St Martin’s Kirk and towards Haddington town centre lies St Martin’s Cemetery. It had the Commonwealth War Graves sign on it.

On entering I immediately saw the Cross of Sacrifice, which means there are at least 30 war graves within. In fact there are 48.  All for the Second World War .

Flight Sergeant M J Turner, RAAF, 12/8/1944, aged 27, Flight Sergeant J H Barnes, Navigator, RAF, 15/4/1945, aged 28, Flight Sergeant R H Pye, RAAF, 12/8/1944, aged 19, Flying Officer R E Wiliams, Navigator, RCAF, 20/4/1945, aged 20.

Flying Officer H K L Rice, Pilot, RNZAF, 3/5/1945, aged 21, Sergeant W Gourlay, Rear Gunner, RAF, 20/4/1945, aged 22, Flying Officer H A Smith, U/T Pilot, RAF, 21/6/1945, aged 21.

Larger group of graves:-

Some graves were set out singly.

Gunner A Stewart, Royal Artillery, 13/1/1942, aged 37.

Private R Burgoyne, The Sherwood Foresters, 7/10/1940, aged 26.

Captain C S H Wilson, Highland Light Infantry, 13/12/1942, aged 27.

Serjeant A J Macdonald, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineeers, 23/1/0/1944, aged 30.

There were also two gravestone dedications to war dead.

Frank Turner, died on active service in Burma, 7/6/1942, aged 30.

Norman Begg Morrison, killed in action, 7/9/1941, aged 19, interred Western Cemetery, Oslo.

St Martin’s Kirk is a historic ruined church in Haddington, East Lothian. We stopped there on our way back from Dirleton, Tantallon and Hailes Castles. The kirk is in the care of Historic Environment Scotland. It stands in the middle of a field.

Reverse view:-

Interior:-

One of the walls bears a plaque detailing the kirk’s history:-

Side view:-

I was curious about this insect I spotted feeding on a flower in North Berwick. I had never seen this species before.

From this photo it looks like a moth of some sort:-

Edited to add (7/8/24): I have received a comment on my flickr account telling me it’s a hummingbird hawkmoth. Thanks, Keith.

Dirleton Castle is in the village of Dirleton in East Lothian. It was built in the thirteenth century and ha ben home to the Des Vaux, the Haliburton and the Ruthven families but is now in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.

Entrance:-

Interior:-

Fireplace:-

Courtyard:-

Dungeon within the castle:-

Tower on external wall :-

There is a visitor centre type display inside the tower which contains these two posters:-

This one is courtesy of my younger son. Kilchoan is in the Ardnamurchan peninsula. It’s the most westerly village in the UK.

I have never been there. He has though, and knowing my habit for photographing War Memorials kindly took this shot and sent it to me:-

This aspect shows names for the Great War. Names for the Second World War are on the right hand side of the Memorial.

It’s really only the doorway that is decoish.

Tyne Electrical Engineers Building, 1928:-

Frieze above door:-

From Huntingdon we travelled up to Buxton for an overnight stop.  We stayed at the Palace Hotel. My photo of the facade did not come out well.

The room they gave us was well appointed and we had a good stay. Unfortunately we returned later in the year and that room was looking extremely tired and in need of refurbishment, which kind of put us off going back.

Nevertheless, the hotel has an imposing staircase:-

And the dining room ceiling is quite fancy:-

I took another photo of the Opera House and adjacent Pavilion Gardens:-

Pagoda in Pavilion Gardens:-

Pond and bridge:-

Bridge parapet, pond and trees:-

A different bridge:-

15 goslings with parents in the Gardens:-

Incarcerated train. It was late in the evening; the miniature railway was shut for the night :-