Sunny train trip

The Artists Way group I am now attending, begins with a recap of what each member has done in the way of Artist's Dates and ends with a commitment to your next one. Artist's Dates are activities you do on your own which nurture your creativity. This can be as varied as you like and as short or long as you want.

I took time for an Artist's Date yesterday when I was on a train journey up part of the east coast. Normally, I try to sit on a seat looking east over the Forth and the North Sea, in the hope of seeing seals and other wild life. A common sight when the train passes, are the rocks and seascape littered with posing seals and paddling birds. Not that I can identify the birds, having never owned a 'Girls Book of Birds/weeds/trees and other nature-ish things'. And I was never a member of the type of uniformed organisation which taught girls such knowledge.

On this journey I sat looking west for a change. Holding my rather untrusty camera in my hand ready for action, I began with some photos as the train crossed the Forth on the old rail bridge.

North Queensferry

The sun brightened up as the train carried on northwards and I hoped for some good pictures of snowy hills, but there wasn't a great deal of snow even on distant hills. By the time the train was travelling through Angus, the weather on the Grampians had closed in so there was nothing to be seen except very low snow clouds in the distance. Things brightened to a uniform dullness in Aberdeen. Before that, though, the sun glinted off the hills in the far distance as we crossed the Tay Bridge. And the sky was a glorious blue reflecting off the water in the Montrose Basin.

By the time I returned, the sun had set and there was no more opportunity to take photos from the train.