Tag Archives: runway

The Rock, from the runway

Saturday 15th March 2025, 2.45pm (day 4,951)

Rock of Gibraltar, 15/3/25

Gibraltar is my home for the next few days. I have been here once before, in 1991 — my “Inter-Rail Summer”, aged 21. Then, one could only enter the territory by walking across the airport runway, and this is still the case, as seen here. Presumably one gets a decent amount of notice before they close it, but let’s hope that one’s electric vehicle doesn’t run out of juice halfway across. The huge lump of limestone that is The Rock has always been a landmark, and a fortress, and the peninsula on which it and the city stands is now one of Britain’s last remaining outposts of Empire: an Overseas Territory that is sort of still part of Europe, only not. A gatepost to the Mediterranean beyond.

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View from Istanbul airport

Saturday 25th July 2015, 8.00pm (day 1,430)

Minarets at sunset, 25/7/15

We flew to Tanzania on Turkish Airlines so changed planes in Istanbul, allowing this city to get onto the blog a second time following my trip to Beirut two years ago. Who knows, one day I might even leave the airport here — it’s a city I’ve never properly visited. This was taken from the plane as we taxied to the second take-off of the day.

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Foggy morning, Manchester airport

Wednesday 18th March 2015, 9.50am (day 1,301)

Foggy airport, 18/3/15

I don’t feel my photos on here have been that great lately, and one reason has been a decided lack of light. Except for last Tuesday (10th), which wasn’t bad, we pretty much haven’t seen the sun in March. Cold, grey, flat light throughout. This morning was little different. The fog was clearing as I boarded my plane to Bergen, via Copenhagen — the usual Long Commute — earlier flights this morning were disrupted by it but though I had a short delay it wasn’t so bad. I doubt the weather will change much in Bergen however, which is after all The City of Perpetual Rain, so no immediate prospect of a change to sunnier scenes…

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