Thursday 7th March 2013
Would you set off if:
1. It was raining?
2. You thought you may be nuked?
Would you set off if:
1. It was raining?
2. You thought you may be nuked?
It was raining. I rang Pete at 9:00 am, (arranged departure was 10:00). I was sure he would concur with a trip to Ambleside to buy new approach shoes.
Pete studies the forecast on tele and identifies precisely where those lava lamp expanding, contracting and moving blobs of approximate rain location occur, and unquestioningly accepts their accuracy. Although rain was generally forecast, as my trip to the garage freezer had dampeningly confirmed, Pete’s analysis told him it would de rainless in Preston - I was thwarted after concocting my ingenious excuse for spending money.
At Carnforth rain had ceased. Sky was bright and remained so for the rest of our day.
Our initial attempt at finding our previous final bridge failed. Having found the correct one we chatted with a guy arriving to fish for pike in the canal. He showed us a picture of one he caught a few days ago - over 7 pounds, “...and it’s only three feet deep”, he said.
Having previously lived in Preston, or closer study of the map, should have made me more cautious. At the Salwick Hall bridge a large noticeboard told people to get into their boats if they heard a siren, batten everything down, turn on the radio, and listen for further instructions. We were in the vicinity of the benignly named Springfields, a nuclear fuel manufacturing plant.
On the bridge we found another notice for pedestrians advising them to flee the area as quickly as possible if the siren sounded, but no advice on which direction to take!
Further on our proposed route was diverted twice. A white road on the OS map turned out to be private, and a farmer had allowed his disgusting slurry pit to overflow necessitating a footpath closure. Our 6 mile walk became 7.2 miles.
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| The red dots show the white road which was private and the closed footpath |
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| You never know what may be round the next corner |
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| Click to enlarge |
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| Add caption |
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| Springfields - sounds like a middle class residence |
Perhaps you'd prefer:
ReplyDeleteThis is not Three Mile Island,
Or Chernobyl,
Or Fukushima,
Yet...
Or:
Every afternoon, 3 pm, Parish Church of Saint Mary, Seascale, petitionary prayers funded by RICS against a sudden (and permanent) drop in property values.
Curiously, i have a friend whose parents owned a large 'upper middle' class house named Springfields whose value exploded (as it were) on receipt of planning permission for a middle-market housing development in the grounds: there is a moral somewhere there for BNFL, perhaps.
ReplyDeleteWe punctilious followers assume you will return to do that short section between the bridges at Swillbrook - and don't worry about which way to run when the siren blows: the neutrons will get you well before you get to Bridge 19 - most aptly named 'Quaker's Bridge', it would seem!
Hope you did your duty and reported the footpath blockage. Use www.mario.lancashire.gov.uk to do so easily.
ReplyDeleteOr are you feeling low with all that radiation, Rod worked there for years and you can see what that has done to him!
RR - the subject is a blogger's gift. Many variations could have been used, but I was trying to keep within an acceptable number of words target. The whole post could have used my permissible number of words expanding on that subject, but I preferred to use a variety of anecdotal stuff. I enjoyed your variations.
ReplyDelete___________________________________
gimmer - maybe BNFL Springfield could use some of their back yard in which to bury some of their/our nuclear waste?
No inch of the canal path has been left without our footprints - we did walk that small section on the previous sortie finishing at SD 481 348. We were certain of this because we identified the parking place for this present trip before leaving the canal to walk back on the roads.
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bowlandclimber - Hi John. The footpath had been closed officially with statuary notices and hazard tape affixed, but now I know who to appeal to I will try and be dutiful in future.
I hear what you say about about Springfield and am now a bit concerned about a developing predilection for apples (especially eaten after a strenuous outing).
There are many types of siren. Even canal boats have them. I assume everyone in the area has been trained to pick out which siren is the nasty one.
ReplyDeleteAlan R - what about the female kind?
ReplyDeleteNow do i want to be shipwrecked in Silverdale? I can think of worse places.
ReplyDelete