Black Combe Walk

After a week of rain Sunday arrived with clear blue skies. We toddled out to take a walk to the top of Black Combe. The bracken is now all golden brown
and Moorgill Beck bubbled and gurgled in the lower reaches. A couple of raptors glided in the sky while nervous stonechats called 'tscak tscak'.
There were lots of wax-caps at our feet. I think these yellow ones are the Golden Wax-cap
and this is the Slimy Wax-cap. These particular fungi are an indicator of ancient grasslands and like moss and short grass. The sheep have been on these uplands for many centuries keeping the grass nice and short.
The trig point on the top had been newly painted a brilliant white. The Remembrance Day crosses had been placed at the bottom and a couple of poppies on the top in memory of those who no longer walk the Lakeland hills.

The breeze on the top was chilly but the sea below was still and the views were clear. The mountain ranges to the north, the Isle of Man and the Calf of Man to the west and Blackpool tower to the south. Looking towards the tower with binoculars The Man Who Knows said he could see the Big Dipper as well. Perhaps he could.

Path down from Black Combe foreground; In the sea - Barrow and end of Walney Island, top, with Hodbarrow Lagoon, lower left.

Returning on the lane down towards Whicham church here on this November day was a Foxglove. The hedge and all around was bare but this was budding and flowering. The Autumn days have been warm, almost spring like, so perhaps this mysterious flower had been enticed into life by the temperature.
Further along the lane the hedge's tops had been cut but a few branches were budding and also appearing, new leaves.

So perhaps the end of Thomas Hood's poem 'No' is not quite true for this month.

"...No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds
November"

ABC Wednesday - J

I loved the lettering on this sign, and the blue shutter. I think Jerzual is part of the river port area outside Dinan, which does not quite explain the drawing. It is also the name of a hotel, so is it a glass, are they straws, or am I just clutching at them. Whats that hand, has someone fallen under the table. What do you think?

Hotels and ports are places to go to when taking a Journey
and this HGV may be heading for one at some point. How lucky to have a name that so lends itself to this graphic design. I passed it parked in a sleepy French village on a Sunday, around lunch time, so perhaps Monsieur or Madam Hautiere was taking a rest from international journeys.
Then of course there are sea journeys. The Walther Herwig III leaving the port of Ijmuiden in Holland. It is a German fishery research vessel operating in the North Atlantic and North Sea. At the moment it is somewhere off South Ronaldsway in the Orkneys. What a pity it is not sailing near somewhere that starts with a J.
I love train journeys. Here is a small modern train crossing the Ribblehead Viaduct which was built in 1875 and has a total of 24 arches This is part of the Settle Carlisle route which crossing some beautiful countryside, and is not only a marvel of engineering, but also a marvel that it still exists and has survived all the rail closures in past years. You can see the mist rolling down Whernside in the background.
So what else could take you on a journey. Oh yes, as the song says 'trains, and boats and planes'. This seems to be the only digital photo I have of a plane. You will have to squint, its on the runway on Walney Airport. I think this is one of the two Beechcraft King Airs small twin turbo owned by BAE. Apart from the gliding club there is not a lot of traffic in here.

Always good to land well in a plane, this is a pilot you would want when things go wrong in your King Air so there would be a happy ending to your journey. Was it John Steinbeck that said - a journey is like a marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.




Jump over to ABC Wednesday for lots more Js

ABC Wednesday - J

J is for Jubilee

The first Jubilee is Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee of 1898. Above is my grandmother's medal which has the national anthem on the back. It did have pin and red ribbon attached but this has deteriorated over the last hundred plus years.

The second Jubilee is the story of a bridge that was needed to link the town of Barrow to the island of Walney. In 1897 a public meeting was held to discuss a possible bridge being constructed and mark it as a suitable way to commemorate the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria. It did not happen and the ferry continued to carry people across.

The town and the population of Walney was growing but the Furness Railway Company were against any form of bridging Walney Channel , probably because they were the operators of the steam ferry service although their public objection was focused on navigation of the channel to shipping, hence why to this day there is an opening span to the bridge centre.

Eventually Walney Bridge was built at a cost of £175,000 and opened officially in July 1908 but to pay for this it operated as a toll bridge.

When the bridge was released from charge and handed over to the townspeople in 1935 a ceremony was carried out by the Duchess of York (mother of the current Queen Elizabeth). The bridge was officially renamed Jubilee Bridge.Above is the medal struck to commemorate the event with the mayor's name on it.

To bring us up to date here is the bridge today taken with the tide out. It was refurbished for its Centenary Year and its electric blue paint (which I rather liked) has been put back to the original black and grey.


The view from the other side with daffodils
Below you can see the control houses in the middle which operate the rack and pinion system used to swing the bridge open. The large grey building in the background is is Devonshire Dock Hall where the Trident Submarines are constructed. In the past boats would be launched into Walney Channel,which had to be dredged regularly, but these vessels are much too big and are ship lifted by a syncrolift with a lifting capacity of 24,000 tonnes into the dock.
Jubilee Bridge carries a lot of traffic as it is the only link to the island from the mainland unless you want to brave the slippy steps on foot at low tide. I think these are only for true Walneyites because as you see it is a very muddy channel with a tide which runs with great force. There is now a pressure group that wants to build a second bridge but whether that will ever happen who knows.

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