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A Back Wall

When you walk down the lane at the back of some houses in Ayrshire, you don’t expect to see something like this. And it’s a lane for general access with garages, some in poor condition, and those walls of the back gardens of the houses. And then this mural appears and certainly raises the spirits. I walk this way with my daughter’s dog on Thursdays and rain or shine, it’s a lovely thing to see.

Same reason I post these photos on this blog, just on the off-chance that they will be spotted by some passer-by who might receive a little enlightenment.

Click on following for larger image

Posted for this week’s Monochrome-Madness Challenge titled ‘Walls’ and hosted by Margaret of the ‘From Pyrenees tp Pennines’ blog

Irvine Cyclo-cross …. Jan 2026

I was lucky to be able to attend the final event for the Lloyds Cyclo-cross National Trophy Series of 2025-26.

Cyclo-cross is cycle racing over rough terrain with steep hills, twisting tracks and tough sections where the riders must dismount and carry their bikes. In this particular event there was even a section that required riders to cross a section of sand on the beach. Races are held for different classes for men, women, kids, with different age ranges.

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A Walk near Home

Living near the edge of town, I can walk into town or walk out to the countryside. In this case, a walk down to the river. These are converted mobile phone shots.

Includes the route down to the river. the river itself, the old bridge collecting branches blown down by the storm, the withered Japanese Knotweed stalks, the lodge at the bridge, and the river beyond. All in these wet winter conditions. It’s easy access to nature – always enjoyed.

That’s a regular walk.

Images below

Glasgow Murals

This week’s Lens-Artists Challenge hosted by Patti at pilotfishblog.com is to present images that show the “Power of Juxtaposition”. i.e. where you have two elements in a photograph which when shown together add up to more than the sum of their parts.

Scratching my head, I recalled a tour with some friends of Glasgow’s mural art. And my approach that day had been to show the art in juxtaposition to people – people walking by or the life going on around those paintings large and small.

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Shapes on Clydeside

In Lens-Artists Challenge #385, Ritva asks us to submit images with Unusual Crops. It’s a great creative exercise to deliberately do these odd shots. But I have to say that I’ve let that part of creativity slip recently. So for this week I’m falling back on an old post from 2020 which I don’t think many Lens-Artists have seen. I took the images on a trip early one Sunday morning back in 2014 . I do hope you appreciate these shots with most these shots cropped in-camera. It was an exercise for me on unusual cropping.

Read on

Coloured Railway

I don’t usually do this kind of thing, because I don’t think of it as photography …. but more of just messing around on a wet day. I took some photographs I taken at a railway museum and played around with them with my Affinity software.

When I clicked some buttons, it was just a Wow! Really not quite sure what to make of them.

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Spinning Wheels

in one frame #7

Nikon D7500 + Sigma 17-50mm @50mm ; f13 ; 1/80 sec; ISO100 – taken 2 January 2026.

Taken at the final races of the Lloyds Cyclo-cross National Trophy Series of 2025-26 – Organised event was very impressive. There will be more images of the cyclo-cross riders soon on this blog.

I’m submitting this image as part of the Monochrome-Madness Challenge with this week’s topic of ‘Circles, hosted by Dawn. For more info about Monochrome Madness visit Leanne’s blog.

Newark Castle

in one frame #6

Nikon D7500 + Sigma 17-50mm @ 17mm ; f7.1 ; 1/200 sec; ISO100 – taken 1 September 2025.

Ancient castle on a dreary day. Dark clouds forming to rain down on the 16th century walls, soaking the cute little turrets with their outlook over the river estuary.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness” for this week.