The RRS Discovery was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in Britain. Her first mission was the British National Antarctic Expedition, carrying Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their first, successful journey to the Antarctic, known as the Discovery Expedition. She is now the centrepiece of visitor attraction in her home, Dundee, Scotland

Dun Carloway (in Scottish Gaelic D�n Charlabhaigh) is a broch situated in the district of Carloway, on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. It is a remarkably well preserved broch – on the east side parts of the old wall still reaches to 9 metres tall. In places there are also more modern repairs to the east wall. Dun Carloway was probably built some time in the 1st century BC, and radiocarbon dating evidence from remains found in the broch show that it was last occupied around 1300…

Hundatora is a deserted medieval village, which was excavated between 1961 and 1975. It has four Dartmoor longhouses, many with a central drainage channel, and several smaller houses and barns. The three grain storage barns appear to have been adapted to include corn dryers, indicative of the deteriorating climate which led to the abandonment of the settlement by 1350. Outlines of medieval fields can still be seen, especially from vantage points on top of the tor. The fields are bounded by…

Here are images of both ruins and restored Blackhouses to be found on the Hebridean Island of Isle of Lewis off the west coast of Scotland.

As one of the most primitive forms of the North Atlantic longhouse tradition it is very probable that the roots of the blackhouse, in which cattle and humans shared the same roof, is well over 1000 years old. The Lewis examples have clearly been modified to survive in the tough environment of the Outer Hebrides. Low rounded roofs, elaborately roped were…

I'm about to leave for a couple of months involving some serious photography. I'll be in the Canadian Rockies around Whistler, and then all over Peru, including the Inca Trail and the Amazon. I'll be posting lightboxes as soon as I'm back, so please keep checking. Hasta luego, Sue

Once upon a time, grain elevators dotted the Alberta landscape. In fact, most communities were not considered real towns until they had a train station and a grain elevator. A grain elevator meant prosperity for the town, and proudly displayed the name of the town on its side.

The classic wooden grain elevators are now almost as endangered as the steam locomotives that used to service them. In 2011, Alberta lost at least eight of these important prairie icons. Still, there is hope. Several…

I have just posted a new lightbox, Around the Kathmandu Valley rim, with photographs are less well-known and visited places just outside of Kathmandu including Balthali, Namobuddha and Shivapuri National Park.

Traveling through Germany in 2011, I returned to the Rhineland for the third time to further explore the Middle Rhine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Although the Rhine river flows through seven countries from Switzerland to the Netherlands, this section from Mainz to Koblenz (also called the Romantic Rhine) offers the greatest selection of Roman ruins, medieval castles, half-timbered houses and colorful, quaint villages and towns.

I stayed in Boppard, day-cruising on a steam paddle-wheeler…

The Santos Tour Down Under is a UCI World Tour cycling race, held in Adelaide, South Australia. The 2012 race was held from 15-22 January, 2012. This stage was run around the Streets of Adelaide's Northern Park lands. The Start and Finish was on King William Road in front of the Adelaide Festival Theatre. It was a 90 Km Race which consisted of 20 laps

The photographs in this lightbox show the scenery and some of the lifestyle of a small coastal community on the east coast of Northland, New Zealand � about three hours drive north of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city. It is situated just north of the well-known Tutukaka coastline; and a few hours' drive south of the famous Bay of Islands.
Whananaki is a coastal inlet with a short but wide estuary, and a small sandy spit on the south side, which separates the estuary from a large…