Sorry for the latest hiatus in blogging. This one’s been due to scribbling for a living as I needed to complete round Britain trilogy for RAIL magazine. The last one was finished today so now I’m free to concentrate on other matters, such as writing for pleasure and travelling. I’ve various project in the pipeline for November which should keep you entertained as there’ll be plenty to write about, starting tomorrow. It’s our wedding anniversary on Saturday so I’ve booked us a couple of nights away in Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast. It’s relatively easy to get to from West Yorkshire, which is an advantage. Plus, the weather’s meant to be good, continuing the run of unseasonably mild weather we’ve been having throughout the month. Our plan is to spend our time walking and exploring the coast as well as indulging in some of the local seafood. I’m not a great fan of fish and chips but I may have to indulge as they’re one of the things Whitby’s famous for, so it would be rude not to! I’m sure all the walking we’re planning will work off any calorific excesses!

I’ve enjoyed writing up my trip for RAIL (the first part of which is in newsagents now) but it’s always a bit of a struggle fitting seven days into 12,000 words spread over three articles. It’s not that it’s difficult to write – far from it – it’s choosing what to mention and what to leave out. Truth be told, after a week travelling around the UK by rail I always have enough material to write a book. I always end up with bulging notebooks. Maybe, one day, when I ‘retire’ (ha!) I’ll have time to expand on the original articles using all the material I never had space for. They’d certainly make for some interesting blogs as I’ve been travelling the network ever since 2004, so you can imagine the changes I’ve seen. Sadly, I suspect that will never happen. I’ve enough to try and write about with the present day, but we’ll see…

Right now it’s time to come back to the present and leave you with a picture of the day. My ambition was to get all my old slides scanned by the end of this year, but that’s turned out to be a forlorn hope. I’ve still a couple of 1000 left to do, along with many scans that I haven’t yet edited. Here’s one. This was taken in Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu, Southern India in February 1998. The village is an amazing place as its full of stonemasons who make the most amazing statues. Carving has a long history here, and the 5 Rathas are a testament to that. Cut out of solid granite, these figurines and temples were made between 690–725 CE. This one’s the Bhima Ratha.

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