OS Grid 38 (northing) SD 305 380 to TA 269 379 - Day 4

Saturday 2nd February 2019 - Longridge to Barrow

Camera update

I took the TZ100 to Wilkinson's Cameras. They spent quarter of an hour cleaning out the remaining mud and we thought it was sorted, but back home "Zoom error" came up on the screen. I went back and Wilkinson's told me emphatically that Panasonic would not honour the guarantee which I can understand, so Wilkinson's offered to send the camera to their own repairer for an estimate without charge. That came back at £250 compared with a current new cost of approximately £500. I declined for the moment. I have now resurrected a Panasonic TZ40 that I used a few years ago and today's photos have been taken with it and I am reasonably satisfied - it has the advantage of a 20 x zoom and fits into a smaller belt pouch, and all the controls are much more user friendly. When I get the TZ100 back I will probably offer it for sale at some price more than the £250, but sufficiently less than the cost of a new camera at £500 - somebody may be interested - the repair would include a brand new lens snd telephoto unit.
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More of BC's inventive logistics were needed today. We set off from BC's house with the intention of walking to Barrow where there is a bus service to Whalley then back to Preston and Longridge, I have a pessimistic attitude to buses, but BC is much more experienced and has more faith.  Also, BC uses Google Maps which shows bus stop locations which when selected put up  the bus times at that stop. My iPhone is refusing to show the maps at the moment without a WiFi signal; it should work with 4g - something I need to sort.

We climbed out of residential Longridge to extensive views in all directions enhanced by snow on the hills. Winter Hill, Boulsworth Hill. and closer, Pendle Hill were prominent viewed across the numerous Longridge reservoirs. We passed the old quarries, now a huge static caravan site. Stone from those quarries was used for many of the prestigious buildings in the North West. Before the caravan site was established there had been a motor bike racing circuit which my son W had talked about.

The scenery on this walk and the associated countryside were of a far higher order than our journey so far from the sea at Blackpool making for a splendid trek through landscape seen from new aspects for me.

BC showed me Crag y Longridge, a quarried, overhanging face that he has had much involvement with and its development as a now celebrated climbing venue, bought and maintained by the BMC.

Many of the paths had ice and snow, and care was needed.

We passed at one point through a run down farm and spent quarter of an hour chatting with the farmer - he would have been a gift for a tv documentary as an archetypal countryside character; I was particularly amused by his use as a belt of that horrible farmer's orange string tied round his prodigious waistline,  I very much wanted to get a photo of him but didn't dare, but BC employed subtle means. The farmer had a pristinely presented black and white cat. BC admired that cat and took photos, thus indirectly flattering the farmer. We were told the cat was a good mole catcher. As we were talking over the gate the cat jumped up and asked to be petted by the farmer. BC was in like a shot. "can I take a photo of you and the cat" he asked and with no more ado did just that. I was sloughed at my own lack of subterfuge but admiring BC's technique, and amidst the commotion I managed to get a quick clandestine shot.

The approaches to Hurst Green took us downhill through old established beech wood with a glowing warm atmosphere - dappled sunshine and golden brown russet leaves underfoot and a stream tumbling over mini waterfalls and large slabs of worn smooth bedrock. This was a secret little valley of unique charm and magical mystery.

Stonyhurst and its famous public school and the associated village of Hurst Green provided further attractions before crossing the River Hodder and then over the Ribble with Cromwell's old bridge a little further downstream from the modern crossing.

Within a couple of hundred yards of the road at Barrow and the bus stop on its other side BC told me we had three minutes before the next bus. As we stepped out onto the road the bus appeared and BC flagged it down - many bus drivers would have ignored us but our guy kindly stopped and waited for us to get across and board. We then found that this bus could take us all the way to Preston from where  a regular service runs to Longridge, so BC's prowess with public transport logistics scored another victory.

Our grid line 38 project is now coming into its own with much improved scenery, and from the next section less familiar territory for both of us which will bring more sense of adventure, and probably more nail biting bus rendezvous.

CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTOS FOR SLIDESHOW. FOR SOME REASON, FOR ME, IT ONLY SEEMS TO WORK FROM SECOND PHOTO ONWARDS - I WOULD BE INTERESTED TO HEAR IF THIS IS JUST FOR ME

Entrance to the caravan site on the location of the old massive Longridge quarry

Site of the old quarry - it is huge - everything you can see here and much more

The Longridge reservoirs

Craig y Longridge

BC sits on this ingeniously converted farm machinery looking at...

...the ducks (ice skating)

Marked on the OS map as "Written Stone"

The inscription reads:

RAVFFE: RADCLIFFE: LAID: THIS STONE TO LYE: FOR: EVER: A.D. 1655
For detsiled history got to:
http://northernantiquarian.forumotion.net/t307-the-written-stone-near-longridge

Early spring lambs.

The TZ40's limits were tested here with all that contrast of light - I have tweeked it s bit

I took this quick photo after the cat had jumped down and attention was diverted.

BC had been much more adept at getting a proper shot

For me this modern design didn't seem to work too well, somehow it just doesn't look like a  house, more something industrial

Pendle Hill

Long zoom - perhaps over a mile away

The stream in the magic dell tumbling over polished bedrock slabs

You were supposed to ring the bell warning shooters of your approach. There were no shooters but BC couldn't resist

Stonyhurst school

The Three Fishes - my Thursday walking friend Pete and Liz eat here from time to time

Mitton Hall...

...and its guardians