Summer Cove

The day of travelling when we arrived here in West Cork was quite beautiful. This afternoon, just as we were getting ready to leave, the skies finally cleared after four days of wall to wall greyness and lots of lots of rain. Such is life. TJ and I at least managed to grab an hour at Summer Cove to enjoy a little bit of warm sunshine and some spectacular skies before a rendezvous with Freespiral and Himself to pick up Blip Bear and then the drive to the airport. I'm blipping earlier than expected because our flight has been delayed by an hour and a half. We miss our train connection back to Ilkley, which will mean a very late return home.

The Sheep's Head was utterly transformed by the sunshine this afternoon. After another wild night of very heavy rain the air was incredibly clear and the colours were as vivid as I've ever seen them here. I've chosen this shot because it's one of TJ's most favourite places, and now also one of mine. An almost secret little sheltered cove which reveals itself to be a beachcomber's paradise. There are countless rockpools and ledges and a tiny stretch of sand which is a magnet for shells and other flotsam and jetsam. To the left of the shot you can see the Mizen Peninsular reaching out into the Atlantic. To the right of the shot are the hills of the Sheep's Head Peninsular. This shot is looking west down the length of Dunmanus Bay.

There is still a lot of activity on the forum around the changes made to blipfoto. From the inside nothing has changed, so many people would not have noticed a difference, but from the outside the site presents itself in a very different way indeed. I think it's a massive change - and it amazes me that this has been done without any kind of word from blipcentral. It's as if you leave your little home on the internet to find that your colourful fence has been painted grey, the pretty flowers lining the path have been replaced with barbed wire and the welcoming open gate secured with a padlock. If, like me, you do not approve of this change then please take a moment to register your disapproval here.

I think I've got quite upset by this, like so many others, because I regard this as my home on the internet. I love this place. It's the presence that I point people towards. I don't own it but I do pay rent, and I feel that gives me certain rights. I don't like it that my house has been given this huge makeover - for the worse - without any consultation. How do you feel? And that strap line of "Save Your Life" is really beginning to annoy me now. It's just, I guess, a little too pretentious for my liking.