Posted in Art, Sculpture, Trips at 12:00 on 3 September 2026
There are several Damien Hirst pieces at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
“Virgin Mother” here seen beyond a lovely bridge over the River Dearne:-

“Virgin Mother” is a giant anatomical model (such as the ones I once used to demonstrate to pupils when teaching the Biology aspect of the First Year Science course – though ours did not display pregnancy):-


“Virgin Mother” in panoramic view (Bretton Lakes, part of the Park, in background):-

“The Hat Misses the Man” for some reason reminded me of 1960s children’s cartoons on TV:-

“Charity” deliberately recalls the charity boxes which used to stand outside High Street shops:-

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Posted in Bridges, Trips at 12:00 on 10 June 2026
This carries the main line north/south to/from Inverness over the River Nairn. Another of those magnificent Victorian engineering achievements, the longest masonry viaduct in Scotland. I can count at least seventeen arches, but apparently there are 29.
It seems to be called the Nairn, Clava or Culloden Moor Viaduct.
I photographed it from the road leading to Clava Cairns:-

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Posted in Bridges, Scenery at 12:00 on 5 May 2026
Pitlochry Festival Theatre from across River Tummel:-

Footbridge just to south of above:-



Approach to footbridge:-

Footway:-

Pitlochry Festival Theatre, River Tummel, Pitlochry Dam, (theatre to left background):-

River Tummel with Pitlochry Dam in distance:-

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Posted in Architecture, Bridges at 12:00 on 1 April 2026
Apart from Edinburgh, Alfred Buckham also photographed from the air other British cities and landmarks.
Durham:-

Lincoln:-

Oxford:-

Forth Bridge:-

Windsor Castle:-

His work is also a chronicle of early aviation (see R101 and R100 in the link above.)
This one’s a Fairey Napier in flight:-

Buckham’s Camera. It was specially constructed to be easier to use than ground based ones:-

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Posted in Art, Bridges at 12:00 on 28 March 2026
More from the Alfred Buckham exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
I just love photos of Great War era battleships. This is USS Wyoming with the Forth Bridge behind. Buckham added colour to this by hand:-

Christ Statue, Rio de Janeiro. Buckham enhanced the photo to highlight the figure:-

Botafogo Bay:-

Buenos Aires City Hall:-

Teotihuacan Pyramids:-

Pre-Inca irrigation ditches, Peru:-

Caldera of Popocatépetl:-


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Posted in Bridges, Trips at 12:00 on 27 September 2025
The village of Crathie lies just by Balmoral Estate which is separated from Crathie car park by a bridge over the River Dee designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. I couldn’t get to a vantage point to photograph the bridge itself but it has fine views of the River Dee.
Looking west:-

Looking east:-

Crathie Kirk – which is where the royal family attend church when at Balmoral:-

Church door:-

Stone by Crathie Kirk’s Door. Preserved from a former Church at Crathie:-

Side of kirk:-

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Posted in Bridges at 12:00 on 6 September 2025
We’d bypassed Craigellachie itself on our trip north in 2023, though I did photograph Thomas Telford’s bridge there.
On our way back down last July I actually stopped in the village to photograph its War Memorial which is a tapering pillar on a square plinth with rounded pediment; the whole surmounted by a cross. It’s beside the main A 95 road through Craigellachie village. The pillar seems a tiny bit squint in this view.

Great War dedication and names:-

Second World War dedication and names:-

A supplementary stone on the ground by the mian memorial is dedicated to Lance Corporal Norman J Duncan, Royal Corps of Transport, 22/2/1989, Northern Ireland:-

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Posted in Bridges, Trips at 12:00 on 5 July 2025
Arbirlot is a village in Angus, about two miles west of Arbroath. We stopped there on a trip north as we had read about the scenic waterfall on the burn there, the Elliot Water:-

The waterfall lies just below the road bridge over the burn:-

We weren’t the only ones there. A couple of people had picked their way across the burn and a family was having a good time by the waterside:-

I made two videos of the waterfall:-
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Posted in Bridges, Trips, War Memorials at 20:00 on 24 June 2025
Alyth is a town in Perth and Kinross which we went on to visit after we had left Meigle.
It’s a lovely wee place with a burn running through the town centre with several bridges over it, of which the one in this photo is the most scenic:-

I found two minor Art Deco buildings.
The Scotmid Coop:-

And this one, a hair salon:-

Right by the town square is a Boer War Memorial:-

Its dedication plaque commemorates three individuals. David Stanley Williams, ninth Earl of Airlie, Noel Neils Ramsay and Charles James Wedderburn Ogilvy:-

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Posted in Bridges, Curiosities, Museums, Trips at 12:00 on 3 May 2025
The Spitkeet (see previous post) acreage is centred round a collapsed pingo, a depression formed after ice age permafrost melted. They are usually filled with water. The landscape of Friesland and parts of Groningen Province contains quite a few pingos.
Pingo and bridge:-

The bridge:-

The pingo from the bridge. The Mallemolen (see previous post, is to the left in the middle distance):-

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