Just occasionally, it is actually worth getting up early in the morning…

This is St Catherine’s Oratory, better known as the “Pepperpot”. It’s a medieval lighthouse first lit way back in 1328.

As for the serene part though, this was most definitely NOT. To reach said lighthouse was probably only about a mile from the car park, but the car park was at the bottom of the downs, and the pepperpot at the top of the downs. The climb must have easily been 45° !!, or at least that’s what my knees were telling me..  If that wasn’t bad enough though, this particular evening was a tad bit breezy… Breezy enough that I had to physically hang on to my tripod to prevent it blowing away whilst taking the shots.. I kid you not, and no more than a few miles from here they recorded 82mph gusts later that night.. It was so strong that my youngest WAS actually blown clean over.. Not that I laughed at all… Strangely enough though, she wasn’t too keen on my holding on the the cords of her jacket, and flying her down the hill like a kite !!.. No pleasing some kids !!.. I thought they all loved kite flying !!..

Girls in an abandoned girls school !!… Who’d-a-thought it…

This is Appley Tower on the Isle of Wight. The tower itself wasn’t lit unfortunately, so the shot itself had to be a 2 minute exposure to make best use of a few scattered street lights along the promenade behind me. Way off on the horizon you can also see another landmark from a previous vacation, which is the Spinnaker Tower with the ever so slightly impressive but disconcerting view..

Also, don’t forget to check out Stuart and Trevor’s Excellent Adventures for some more Danbo humiliation.. I mean humour… :)

A shot from a rather exceptional day out today with old friends, and also making of new friends too… such as the urbex legend that is Andre Govia… All in all a mixed day of sorts.. Always good to be out with old friends, always good to meet new friends, but sad to think that this was probably the last visit to Lillesdon School for Girls, as it has now been purchased, and its precise future is pretty much unknown, other than it’s earmarked for development of apartments… Will they try to keep the building ??… I do hope so, as it would be such a shame to see a building of such ornate architecture demolished to make way for new, but it’s already cost someone £2.1 million ($3.3 million), and would likely cost as much again to renovate… We shall see…