For newcomers

At the bottom of each post there is the word "comments". If you click on it you will see comments made by followers, and if you follow the instructions you may also comment and I always welcome that. I have found many people overlook this part of the blog which is often more interesting than the original post!

My blog nick-name is SIR HUGH. I'm not from the aristocracy - my middle name is Hugh which relates to the list of 282 hills in Scotland compiled by Sir Hugh Munro in 1891. I climbed my last one (Sgurr Mor) on 28th June 2009

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Friday 15 February 2019

OS Grid 38 (northing) SD 305 380 to TA 269 379 - Day 5

Wednesday 13th February 2019 Barrow (SD 736 378) to Nelson

Usually the number of photos I take is proportional to the ambient temperature, especially more photos taken when I don't have the faff of constantly removing gloves. Today seemed to be an exception - there was a cutting little wind most of the time, enough to make gloves desirable. But, I have now started using the TZ 40 after the recent TZ 100 debacle and find it much more friendly. It is smaller and goes into a more convenient belt pouch that has an easy to open and close Velcro lid compared with the awkward zip on the larger TZ100 pouch. All the settings are more intuitive and I have developed a fondness almost to the point of anthropomorphism. I took even more photos than shown here, although you may not think I have been selective enough.

BC takes more photos than me - my activity tends to tail off towards the end of the day as pleasant tiredness and thoughts of a forthcoming hot bath take over.

We are getting into hillier country providing more interest and contrasting views. Pendle Hill has dominated this walk for some time and continued to do so.

At a farm a tractor was hooked up to a pump and fireman's type hose pumping presumably slurry. We followed the hose becoming more and more intrigued by the distance it was covering and at one point it had sprung a leak with foul yellow liquid jetting across our path - a wide berth was taken. The hose must have covered half a kilometre until we saw it a field away from our path hooked up to another tractor. We guessed that there was an attachment to distribute the slurry as the tractor would cruise up and down the field. Despite both of us having years of experience trogging across countryside we had never seen anything like this before. Unfortunately it seemed tractor number two was still waiting for full pressure (we guessed) and we were not able to see the anticipated action.

As we came into Nelson walking through part of Lomeshaye Industrial Estate a huge factory network appeared with the name Wellock who it turns out supply a wide range of vegetables and foodstuffs to end users. I think BC may post more history, but I said to him as we walked past that I had done business over twenty years ago with a modest family firm of potato merchants with the same name running only two small lorries, and I surmised that the names were just coincidental, but BC's research tells me that they are one and the same and my modest father and son family affair has grown into this massive enterprise with huge factory space and thirty or so prestigious commercial vehicles.




Crossing the A59 - now moving into hillier country



Kemple End and Longridge Fell. Whalley (I think) in the valley

Any guesses what this contraption is (or was?)

I wonder if SkipXpress know where this one is?

There was a definite smell of gas on the bridge just beyond. We were puzzled that this had not been tackled more urgently, fortunately neither of us smoke or I might not have been typing this

We followed the hose for half a kilometre or so. It became pressurised as we walked


Slurry jetting from a leak

Zoom to hose now hooked to tractor number two. We were intrigued hoping to see it do its stuff wondering how  exactly this could work, but we reckoned full pressure had not been achieved before it was out of our range.

20 x zoom with my modest TZ40 (my new friend)

Dean Farmhouse - 1574 - the extension on the right was added in the 19th Century

More guardians a bit further on

Pendle Hill overlooking part of the wide expanse of the Sabden valley. That valley, or large flattened bowl is not so apparent on the map but its scale made a strong impression on us

BC capturing sunlight on catkins.
The sun only appeared for us during the last hour of our walk


Straight purple lines = one mile north and south of green grid line 38 we are following



   

11 comments:

  1. No one can reasonably complain that you have included too many photos. Putting them at the bottom of your post, as you do, they can be skipped, skimmed or perused without interfering with the reading of the text of the story of your walk.

    As it goes I didn't think there to be too many and (even with only my phone as a viewing device) I enjoyed seeing them.

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  2. Gayle - I much prefer to have the photos afterwards. What I often wonder is whether many viewers bother to click to enlarge enabling an easy to view slideshow with the photos hugely enhanced, but I suppose that many, like you, are viewing on a smartphone - there again one can improve the experience by opting for "view Web version" at the bottom of the post as first opened on a smartphone.

    At one time I was relying on the captions to tell parts of my story and even now that is still useful sometimes, but I see it as a bit of a cop-out. I think anything worth saying should be written in the main body with the photos providing s bit of illumination afterwards

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  3. Quite a few old relics in that post, including me.

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  4. I think your contraption is an electric bale conveyor. You wheel it into position next to the trailer and then feed them into the barn.

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  5. alanR is right - but might be shaft driven from a traction engine - hard to tell with that decrepitude ! We used a more modern version (but still ancient) to move sacks of sand and cement up to the mouth of the 1000kg grout and mortar mixer, if you recall - it was designed for hay bales so failed under the incessant loading of 50kg sacks in all weathers -
    I remember seeing on of these at work on the fieldsd behind our house in the 1940's - they have spikes to hold the bales and deter small boys from treating them as fair ground rides !
    The original Dean house is very fine - lovely windows - is it listed ? pity about the shoddy C19 extension
    With your renewed affair with your TZ40, with its GPS tagging, how about marking the location and direction of each published image on the map(s): then we vicarious walkers can really get into the scene !

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  6. BC - you've still got a bt of catching up to do.

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    Alan R - Thanks for that. The tractor in the slurry story looks like powerful lttle beast.

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    gimmer - I think use of that contraption at Taplow must have been before my toils there. All I remember is hauling those sacks about up on the gantry from the forklift. Use Dropbox link below to see the action.

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/eqkcgqd9j0ndpap/Tap4%20copy.jpg?dl=0

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  7. gimmer - I'm not sure how the GPS feature works - I suspect it will give tedious longitude and latitude coordinates, but you have given me an idea and I may make more use of OS Grid references in future. Meanwhile I will research the GPS function when I can lay aside a spare day.

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  8. gimmer - Just looked at GPS on TZ40. It seems the battery is bing drained even when the camera is tuned off when using that function, so I'm not enthusiastic. If I put a "mark" on Memory Map on my iPhone, which is my default map usage when walking, it records the OS grid ref. which I can show on the maps I post on my blog, or include it in the caption of the photo, or both. I will be experimenting with this on my next trip. I have long advocated more universal use of our excellent OS Grid Ref. system.

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  9. Ye gods - what luxury - a fine machine - but deadly !

    I think Alan R is the more correct - the drive box does look more like a motor than a power takeoff
    If it's old tractors than now excites your interest, try to look at the one 'on sale' outside the gates of the Castle Head Field Study Centre opposite Hadwins , Lindale - a sturdy ancient beast

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  10. gimmer - will have to incorporate that Lindale venue in my next Thursday walk - can't wsit!

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  11. you can do it in Photos - i took a pic of Calgary the other day (at -26C, in gloves, on my TZ70), and there it was on Apple Maps, still shivering, on the very spot we had been standing, to the yard (yes they do do them in Canada, along with Imperial pints and pounds - alongside metric - something to do with being bilingual I suppose)
    so this may be easier than one might have thought

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