The terror of the deep, Predator, rises fast and flipperous from the ocean’s depths. His razor-sharp fin slices the surface, as his eyes lock on the target. Disguised as a shark and just as deadly, watch your toes when taking a dip.
51. Wednesday
Re-imagined in collaboration with Netflix from the smash-hit series, Wednesday is mysterious with a calculated flair. Smart and sinister, Wednesday joins the trail bringing her signature deadpan look to the streets of Bristol.
47. Treasured Island
Inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, our globe-trotting Gromit will help you discover world heritage sites and rare wildlife. Perhaps the real treasures are the Gromits you find along the way…
1. Aladdin
Inspired by the classic tale from Arabian Nights, Aladdin twinkles at every turn with jewels, gold and riches, inspiring magic and joy through the realms of his wondrous adventures.
Gromit Unleashed 3
So, 2025 sees another trail featuring Aardman’s characters from Wallace and Gromit.
Back in 2015 I attempted to see and photograph all 70 Shaun the Sheep sculptures I managed to get 62. In 2018 I was aiming to get all 67 sculptures and was successful.
This year there are 53 sculptures across Bristol. The plan is to visit and photograph all of them between now and the end of August.
Nottingham #50places2025
I was attending a conference at Nottingham Trent University. I did have a chance to explore some of Nottingham while I was there.
My first visit to Nottingham was as a child visiting my aunt and uncle. My main memory was thinking how small Sherwood Forest was and how on earth did Robin Hood hide from the Sheriff of Nottingham when the forest was so small… Of course what I didn’t realise was back then the forest was huge in comparison to the size of the forest today.
Over the last twenty five years I have made quite a few visits to Nottingham, for events, conferences, and sometimes staying there when travelling further north. I’ve also had some nice meals there too.
Exploring the city now I realise I still don’t really know the place and found it hard to get my bearings. I would walk up one street and find myself somewhere completely different to where I expected to be.
As we approach the half way point in the year, I planned to visit fifty different places and so far I have done thirty six, so well on target.
Plymouth #50places2025
I have been visiting various universities across the South West with my daughter for their open days. I’ve not been posting those visits here as most times we have just been visiting the university campus, so didn’t really consider it being a place for my #50places2025 posts. However when we went to Plymouth we arrived early, so after visiting the university we had some time, we went to explore Plymouth. We visited the city centre, Plymouth Hoe, the quayside and the old town. The sun was shining and it was a lovely walk around the city.
My first visit to Plymouth was back in the 1980s on a school trip, well not quite a visit but was departing from there to Roscoff in France. It was quite a hike in the coach as at that time I was living in Cambridge.
In the early 2000s I would visit Plymouth quite often for meetings and attending conferences at the University of Plymouth. With changes in my job, I no longer needed to visit Plymouth. We did stop off there once in 2016 when we were travelling down to Cornwall, that was the last time I had been there until now.
Plymouth is an interesting city in many ways, the historic naval connections and the destruction during the second world war has influence how the city has grown and changed over the years.
The city centre is being redeveloped when we were there and you could see that the sea of concrete needed some much greenery and trees.
Plymouth Hoe is so different to the concrete of the centre. The green grass, Smeaton’s lighthouse, and the lido.
I do like the dockside and I remember going to bars there when I was attending conferences at the University of Plymouth.
Then and Now Take Two, still with scaffolding – Bristol Airport
This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. The first of the posts in this series was of a council building in Manchester. I always thought I should give then and now photographs a go. However what I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view o ar perspective years apart. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.
Over the years I have taken this view at Bristol Airport quite a few times, both unintentionally and now intentionally.
I was flying to Belfast in June 2025, so I took my usual photograph, with an iPhone 13, the building work was continuing.
I was flying to Dublin in October 2024, so I took my usual photograph.
Not quite the same view as there was scaffolding in the way and it was raining.
I was flying to Glasgow in November 2023, so I took my usual photograph.
I was flying to Amsterdam in October 2023 so I took a photograph from the window next to the balcony at the departures lounge. The balcony itself was closed, it was rather foggy.
When travelling from Bristol Airport in August 2023 I took this photograph from the balcony at the departures lounge.
When I was at Bristol Airport on the 14th November 2022, I intentionally took a photograph from the same vantage point.
I had taken a similar picture in February 2017.
I took this view of Bristol Airport from the departures lounge on an early morning in August 2016.
Brighton #50places2025
I first visited Brighton in the 1980s when as a family we would sail over to France. Sometimes we would sail from Ramsgate to Calais (or Boulgone), but if we were on our way to Normandy, we would sail from Brighton, arriving in Dieppe, Fecamp, or Le Harve.
I also made a trip there for a JISC programmes meeting in July 2004. Then I had stayed at The Grand Hotel. I remember thinking it was a little too posh for me. I headed out for dinner finding a nice French place in The Lanes.
I also visited Brighton in June 2005 when I was on holiday in Bognor Regis. Then we stayed mainly on the seafront, visiting the Pier and the Doctor Who Exhibition there.
I had planned to stop there last year on my way to Newhaven on a driving holiday to the continent, but ran out of time and stopped at Horsham instead for something to eat.
This time I was attending a conference all week and it was nice to see Brighton once more.
We had a fun conference dinner on the Brighton Palace Pier and I had some nice meals in some of the restaurants in the Lanes. The conference kept me busy so I didn’t have much time to do too much exploring, but did manage to see the Pavilions, a building I hadn’t got around to seeing on previous visits to Brighton. The conference itself was in the of the Pavilions buildings, The Dome.
Then and Now Take Two Again – Grand Hotel, Brighton
This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. The first of the posts in this series was of a council building in Manchester. I always thought I should give then and now photographs a go. However what I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.
I first visited Brighton in the 1980s when as a family we would sail over to France. Sometimes we would sail from Ramsgate to Calais (or Boulgone), but if we were on our way to Normandy, we would sail from Brighton, arriving in Dieppe, Fecamp, or Le Harve.
I also made a trip there for a JISC programmes meeting in July 2004. Then I had stayed at The Grand Hotel.
This photograph from July 2004 was taken with a Sony Cybershot digital camera.
So, over twenty years later, I took a new photograph with an iPhone 13 in June 2025.
I didn’t quite catch the same perspective.