A bit longer walk from home

Sunday 27th November 2022 

I have been more than concerned about the breathlessness mentioned in my last post. Since that post the antibiotics eight day course finished and they have had a marked effect. I have walked steeply over Arnside Knott and a couple of other circuits each day of around two miles. I still feel increased breathing on the slightest gradient. On the steeper climbs I can keep going at a steady plod without stopping, but it is hard work. It was only a couple of weeks or so ago that I was completely breathless walking downhill to the local shop and stopping for rests every so often. At the moment I don't see me setting off on the seven to eight milers I have been doing over the last twelve months and I do not know whether permanent lung damage will have been caused or if I may get more improvement with regular exercise. I intend to have another conversation with the doc. about all this before the second x-ray he has scheduled for me between Christmas and New Year.

Yesterday my walk had a second objective. Derek,  a fiend of Pete,  who I also know on a less personal basis, recently lost his wife and obtained permission from National Trust to place a memorial bench on Arnside Knott, and I decided to have a look. As a skilled and qualified carpenter Derek made the bench himself (National Trust veto any written dedications on these benches.) The location was close to another bench that I have had earmarked as one of the three best viewpoints in my area. One doesn't see my bench until almost on top of it and many is the time I have approached hoping that nobody is sitting there on my bench. I found Derek's bench just round the corner giving just as good a view as its companion.

Typical Knott scenery catching a modest ray of sunshine

Derek's bench. The photo majors on the bench and gives almost no indication of the splendid view which would not have been possible to give justice to anyway in these murky conditions.

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Lysander update.

The photo below shows the model completed but I am now embarked on creating a diorama with the plane having landed on a remote field in France to drop off an agent and pick up a rescued RAF pilot. The lights on the Lysander's wheel spats work and there will be a wooden hut with lighting inside and a floodlight on a pole on the outside so all this can be hopefully photographed in semi-darkness, so better photos will follow - you may see more detail if you click to enlarge.

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Katie's art update

I say, a strikingly powerful image. I have not been informed of the raison d'être

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A short walk from home

 16th November 2022 - Arnside

It seems a long time since I last posted. It has all been a bit fraught.

The pain which started in my upper back then migrated to my lower back, then to my upper left leg has now more or less subsided and I can walk normally for that part of it. When that was nearly better I went for a cataract operation which has turned out ok, except until I see the optician on 25th November. I can't make up my mind to use my old varifocals or nothing and keep switching and changing while reading, watching tv, or computing but I can tell all will be sorted and a general improvement will have been achieved when I get updated specs.

Of late I have noticed an increased breathlessness and have seen the doc. with a thorough examination and an x-ray (I can't praise our local surgery and its GPs enough.) It seems there is some indication of small infection and I am on antibiotics and booked for a further x-ray in six weeks. All that could have a been a lot worse so fingers crossed.

I have not walked any meaningful distance since 27th September at which time the problem had not been apparent. Today I walked from home tentatively down to the local shop and then back over High Knott Road and Redhills Wood, a distance of 1.3miles and that was enough. What all that means for future walking I do not know.

The model of the Lysander aircraft is now nearly complete and I will do an update shortly. I have an idea for creating a modest diorama. 

Just down from my house. That tree has been a source of pleasure for many years

A glimpse of Whitbarrow across the bay

Looking north up the bay to the Kentmere and High Street hills.

Children's playground and our cricket field. When Katie was at Arnside junior school I would pick her up and come back here with her friends to spend an hour. The school is amongst the buildings in the background

Our local shop. It had a first class comprehensive refurbishment a month or two ago and it is now much more frequented. The owner also has another store and post office down on the front - all great assets to our village

High Knott Road. It is lined with large Victorian mansions on the right with views across the bay. It terminates and continues as a woodland path through Redhills Woods.

The Arnside viaduct and Whitbarrow beyond

Into Redhills Wood

Out at the other end of Redhills Wood to Silverdale Road and Arnside Cemetery. The building is used for parish council meetings.

Work in progress on the Lysander. I am fitting LED lights to the landing gear