Ross Fullerton: Tales From A Journey

A few links

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 20:27:03 +0000

Just a quick entry - I've put various sets of photos up recently, but not posted links to them. I'll start with some pictures taken today whilst out with Tim, Gareth & Fin. They all made the start of the London to Brighton bike ride and took some shots there. I made it for breakfast afterwards...

Next up, our recent trip to Istanbul. More about this very soon.

Some photos of Sophie and a few other bits & bobs from a BBQ at Joan & Lütfü's.

I spent a weekend in Chicago in April between some meetings. On the Saturday I ventured out, somewhat hungover after an evening in a comedy club followed by some strong lager, and shot some pictures around downtown and the edge of Lake Michigan.

And finally, we had Matt & Rachel visit London on one of the sunniest days of Spring. Whilst the girls headed off to find bridesmaids dresses, Matt & I walked from along the Thames from Chiswick to Richmond and found a nice spot to have a few drinks.

Skiing across the pond

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 17:21:13 +0000

It was with quite a bit of persuasion that Feyzan convinced me Canada was worth the extra 7 hour flight and 3 days leave when we were trying to sort out our winter holiday. After only a couple of days on the slopes and in the hot tub and I was more than ready to admit she got it right!

We've just returned from 10 days with Feyzan's best friend from Uni, Rachel, and her husband Matt, and are pleased to say that despite the many zambuka shots we all made it back home without any broken bones-just!

We stayed in Banff which is situated in Banff National Park and is the highest elevated town in Canada at 1463m. Within 45 minutes drive it has a whole heap of slopes; Sunshine Village, Lake Louise and Mount Norquay are where we spent our days skiing. Not only is the scenery of the vast Rockie mountains breathtaking but the slopes are fantastic; wide, empty, full of powdery snow, and excellent instructors that quite frankly put Europe to shame. Topped with the usual North American hospitality, plenty of blueberry pancakes and a good exchange rate, it's going to be hard to turn our back and return to France.

Check out some photos or some video of the action in Banff.

Getting hitched

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 17:38:37 +0000

We're getting married! I proposed to Feyzan at Amberley Castle in Sussex and, after checking whether to see if I was serious, she agreed!

We haven't set any dates or anything like that yet but we're both delighted.

¡no más fotos!

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 20:04:54 +0000

Flights booked to Malaga had Feyzan panicking that we were staying in Torremolinos for the weekend. Giving in I confessed a few weeks in advance that we were actually staying at a B&B in the old town of Marbella. Swayed by the tremendous ratings on TripAdvisor, we had high hopes for our short break.

As it turned out, Marcos, our Brazilian host, runs a luxury B&B nestled in amongst the narrow twisty streets of Marbella. Our room, one of only eight, had been in use for six weeks and we relished the prospect of spending a relaxing few days there. Feyzan was happy having plenty of time to spend on the beach, meanwhile I had plenty to point my camera towards.

Beaches on the Costa del Sol were pretty disappointing though: dirty yet packed with holidaymakers from across Europe, and surprisingly cold water to plunge yourself into when it all gets too much. The food more than compensated however, sumptous salads and desserts abounded as did the tapas and wood fired sardines at lunch. Much better than any weekend in London.

Tying the knot

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 11:11:02 +0000

Hotels, churches and registry offices are busier than ever this summer with Wedding season in full swing. Last Saturday Lesley became Mrs Hastings, which has to be a result for a couple who first kissed at a Shabba Ranks concert in Botswana at the tender age of 14.

Several years apart after moving away from Africa clearly hasn't deterred these two. I hope they are having a fantastic time honeymooning together in the Maldives. Take a look at my photos, and then see how they should really have been taken at Gary's site.

Desert Island Dives

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 11:58:33 +0000

Getting away from it all was the name of this game. Spending two weeks on a tiny island in the middle of the Indian Ocean with nothing to do except sunbathe, sail or explore the sea sounded like bliss so we headed to Olhuveli in South Male Atoll in the Maldives.

Walking from one end of the island to the other takes around 5 minutes, across the island only 30 seconds. Reef sharks escort you down the pier on arrival, an indication of the plethora of fish and other sea life that lies beneath. My highlight of the trip was learning to Scuba Dive in such a fantastic tropical location.

A heritage day out

Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:51:07 +0000

Bath is one of England's most popular tourist destinations and has, along with the Tower of London, Denmark's Ilulissat Icefjord, and 809 other locations around the world, been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

David lives in nearby Swindon, which most definitely won't be added to that list in the near future, and Kay is working in nearby Wells so we decided Bath made the ideal destination for a sunny trip. The day turned out to be fairly random, ranging from sitting in the park watching a nearby performance of A Midsummer Nights Dream, through Kay buying an eclectic second hand Leica camera, to my purchase of a £10 Ukulele which I'll no doubt be annoying everyone with very soon.

Have I Got News For You?

Sun, 04 Jun 2006 09:24:44 +0000

My flatmate from university, Paul, had tickets for the filming of this week's epsiode of Have I Got News For You, and I was lucky enough to get a spare ticket. As with most tv show filmings in London the tickets were free, however to ensure that the seats are filled the tv company oversells tickets. Turn up when the doors open and you probably won't get in. In true British tradition, we turned up 1 hour early to and patiently queued behind 90 others. Unfortunately, our seats were to the left of stage, with a spectacular view of some scaffolding directly in front of us. A few tv screens made sure we kept up with jokes when Hislop was talking, and the view of Merton was spot on.

Alongside regulars Ian Hislop and Paul Merton was guest presenter Jeremy Clarkson. Clarkson lived up to his car loving reputation "Global warming? Bollocks", and was spectacularly poor at reading the autocue: "We don't use these on Top Gear, I'm rubbish". Two and a half hours of filming covered everything from John Prescott's croquet game on the lawn of his Dorney Wood mansion to Peter Crouch's robot dance. It's a shame you don't get to see the whole thing on tv, but someone managed to edit out the swearing and rather less funny bits down to the 30 minute slot the show gets on a Friday night. If you can make it, get down there.

Searching for the big 5

Sat, 27 May 2006 21:55:49 +0000

In November I had a week free from work and headed to Kenya to see hunt some big game (with a lens, not a gun) and to get a bit of a rest too. My guide, David, met with me on the first morning in his battle-scarred Land Cruiser. Followers of Top Gear will know that these things are pretty indestructable, and his was no exception. On it's 3rd time around the clock and still going strong - unless you stopped the engine that is. It does start again, eventually, but needs rather a lot of encouragement.

My first two nights were spent at the Flamingo Camp, on the banks of Lake Elmenteita, a shallow soda lake surround by thousands and thousands loveley pink and white Flamingo.

Turning the pages

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 10:50:45 +0000

Turning the pages
Originally uploaded by RossF.

Last weekend a few of us took some photos around and about in London. In between rain showers, lunch in a very touristy Wetherspoons, and a visit to the Sports Cafe on Haymarket to watch the boat race we all took some mighty fine shots and the odd blurry one too! I've only got two that I'm reasonably proud of, so have posted them onto a flickr group. Watch for more photos appearing in the group in the coming weeks.

First steps at DIY

Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:49:18 +0000

When Mum & Dad came down in January I decided it was time to put Dad's endless ScrewFix purchases & tinkering around their house to good use. The bathroom in my flat was being let down by some finishing touches that were in danger of allowing the wood to rot. With some spare tiles I found in the back of a cupboard we sealed over the offending bits of bathroom resulting in a much cleaner and better looking bathroom. Thanks Dad! Closer detail can be found here and here.

A wintry weekend away

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 12:03:41 +0000

Feyzan & I took a trip to Prague for the weekend. It was pretty chilly, but we managed to stay warm with the help of typical czech good such as pizza - I've never seen as many Italian restaurants outside of New York! I've put a couple of my photos online.

Skiing in Meribel

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 08:45:16 +0000

Back at New Year Catherine managed to arrange for 28 of us to get from various parts of the UK to the French Alps for a week. We spent the week skiing/boarding/in crutches depending on who you were, and some of my photos are on here. You can also find Tim's photos on flickr.

A new beginning

Fri, 10 Mar 2006 14:46:30 +0000

After a year or so of a text-laden homepage I've decided to move to Movable Type for updating the content on this site. It'll take a week or two to sort out, but in the meantime you can find all the old content here.