Wendy Pilmer

🙌 to the RNLI lifeboat station at Flamborough, with their miraculous “weather forecasting stone”

Happy birthday Mike’s mum 🥳xx

Good read on the likely attempts to influence this year’s parliamentary elections in Moldova

Very well Melvyn - thank you. I will give you a shout when we hit Lincolnshire!! 🥾📻

I have fond BBC memories of Boulby, having once earwigged at an editorial meeting. After much discussion, everyone agreed that night’s lead was the possible closure of Boulby. After which the Editor asked, “What exactly is potash anyway?” Blank faces all round.
Well done everyone 👏🥂
3/3

The coastline at Boulby with its distinctive grey sands - also the site of alum pits

A beautiful sculpture on the cliffs, celebrating the work of Boulby’s miners who work underneath walkers’ feet

… it used to be a potash mine; now it produces polyhalite which is used in fertilisers and rock salt. Half of Britain’s winter gritting salt comes from here 2/3

Staithes, on the Redcar & Cleveland coast, photographed from the south, with the Boulby plant visible behind to the left

Boulby mine

Day 17 of my England Coast Path walk brings me to Britain’s deepest mine (and Europe’s 2nd deepest): 4,600ft! Boulby’s hundreds of miles of tunnels extend below the idyllic coastal village of Staithes - and under the sea. However, it’s not a coal mine…. 1/3

Exactly

Saltburn beach, looking north

Saltburn pier

Saltburn “tram”, a lift to the upper town

Saltburn beach looking south

Day 16 of my England Coastal Path walk brings me to Saltburn-by-the-Sea. Blimey, the beaches are sensational. And a proper pier, and a lift to bring me to the tea-shops up above! One of those un-talked-about gems of the English coast.
PS For the uninitiated - it’s just south of Redcar

Finally spotted some news coverage of the Co-op supply chain issues today. Up till now, M&S has dominated headlines but the impact on customers - especially rural (and less posh!) ones - is arguably greater with the Co-op. Check out the shelves in Whitby just now 👀

Most independent media organisations in Georgia rely on grant funding. They’re mostly digital - the big broadcasters are all politically aligned. It’s another depressing day for Georgian journalism.

And here it is: Nesterovschi has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. He didn't show up to court and police are looking for him. So now there's an added difficulty for authorities in Chișinău: an M.P. with Russian citizenship is due to be arrested (www.zdg.md/stiri/stiri-...)

Just arrived in Tbilisi. Bitterly cold and raining but at the end of my street, there they are…

Thank you. A day of surprises!

Plus these wooden posts by the Tees Estuary - all that remains of the old houseboat community from a century ago.

Other gems from an eventful day included: passing the former home of John Darwin in Seaton Carew (aka Canoe) - the man who faked his own death and hid next door for five years

Walked the #EnglandCoastPath from Hartlepool to Middlesbrough yesterday and couldn’t believe my eyes when this rose on the skyline… It turns out this is the Brent Charlie platform, now decommissioned and being recycled on Teesside - the largest rig ever to be towed to land

Agreed! Delighted to see you quoted in The Guardian this morning Alina 😊

Hope I haven’t picked the wrong day to start reading this 🧐

«Блокировать переговоры не получится»: коллегия МИДа «Блокировать переговоры не получится ни у кого». Это слова министра иностранных дел Виталия Игнатьева с сегодняшней коллегии ведомства. В ней принял участие Президент Красносельский. Говорили о геопол...

Another group excited about the U.S.'s new pro-Kremlin foreign policy: separatist leaders in Transnistria. The region's foreign affairs minister, Vitali Ignatiev, expressed support for Washington's "new approach" to international affairs (tv.pgtrk.com/ru/news/2025...), ...

Walking the #EnglandCoastPath, day 13: from Horden to Hartlepool. Great to arrive at the mouth of the mighty Tees where, among other things, we spotted a Carnegie library with fine inscriptions to remind us of the days when US oligarchs weren’t entirely a blight on the world 🧐

Walking the #EnglandCoastPath, day 12: Sunderland to Horden, aka the Coal Coast. Remarkable to think how it’s changed in my lifetime…

Trump’s aid cuts will lead to a surge of propaganda, say press freedom groups Loss of USAid funds will sow ‘chaos and confusion’ and force independent media outlets to shut down, says RSF

USAID cuts likely to “cause a surge in misinformation”
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Yes! I went a couple of weeks ago and got somewhat obsessed at the way Tiraspol and Chisinau feature in every map - eg Tiraspol in the Devonian Era!

A visit to #Speyer cathedral. Romanesque architecture, burial site of Hapsburg and other emperors, and a memorial to Edith Stein (the Carmelite St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross), who worshipped there and was murdered in Birkenau. A remarkable place.

I’ve never come across anything like this and of this scale in the 5 years I’ve been doing this.

These are the remains of Alnwick Abbey from the 12th century. Every wall, chamber, room and corridor visible in this shot I took 5 minutes ago.

Great - and agreed!

You can donate here - worth every penny! zdg.one/en/donatii/

Mount Ararat pictured, above a sea of cloud, snapped from a departing plane

Heading home from a few days working in #Yerevan. What a treat to see Ararat sitting proud above the clouds as we took off. Farewell #Armenia