Boots and Brews 1 - Knott End

 Sunday 18th August 2024

The logistics of following the Eden Way posed too many problems. I may go back and cherry pick other parts. In the meantime  I have been filling in, and in a bid to find local walks on new territory I bought Boots and Brews by Beth and Steve Pipe: "walking,  food & folklore around Morecambe Bay."

At first glance this looked good. Short walks on mainly flat terrain and mostly circular. Perfect! I looked st the first one and plotted the route onto Memory Map on my Mac then saved it as a GPX, emailed it to myself and opened it on Memory Map on my iPhone and off I went.

Steve and Beth said start at the Pilling Amenity Area car park which I identified on the map not having noticed that the good guide had provided a grid reference.

At 9:30 on Sunday morning there were several cars and three Van Lifers already parked up, the Van Lifers apparently having been there overnight. The start was obvious because it followed the embankment overlooking Morecambe Bay but I couldn't make sense of the route description I had printed from the guide, but the route was so obvious I slotted down onto the sandy turf terrain below the embankment. Entrance to the embankment from the car park was blocked. After a few hundred yards I climbed back onto the embankment and just followed the rest of the route on my OS/iPhone map and never referred again to the guide notes. 

Later, back home, I looked closer at the guide to unravel the mystery of the poorly described start. There are two Pilling amenity area car parks and I had selected the wrong one. Furthermore, the guide followed the walk anti-clockwise and I had walked it clockwise. Something must be learnt from all that.

Distant views were hazy and there was a cold wind, but elevated on the embankment with extensive views and quite a lot of bird life 'twas all quite energising and so good to be out again.

I left the embankment at the second amenity car park, the intended start from the guide, and followed the quiet road back into Pilling. After crossing Broadfleet Bridge into Pilling I found a delightful bench for my lunch snack. At the end of a cul de sac tarmac lane at Beach House footpaths only faint on the ground followed fields back to the car.

Pilling amenity csr park. Van Lifers in evidence.

Initially I was below the embankment on the right but soon climbed up there

On the embankment

This large group of birds clustered together kept moving  en-masse twenty yards one way, then back twenty yards again, all very strange. Below, close up

They look like Mallard with that blue feaather, but there is also the white one in the background

Zoom to Pilling church. Sunday morning - the bells were ringing, all a bit haunting

Zoom to Heysham power station

Crossing Broadfleet Bridge into Pilling

This boarded up building was the Golden Ball pub. In my days in Preston it was a "destination" for many from afar. A local couple told me planning permission was being sought for house building

A deluxe lunchtime stop

Back into fields after this short tarmac leading to Beech House.

This ancient tractor looked as though it had taken a bath in dirty oil. It was chugging away operating wood cutting machinery. I asked what model it was but couldn't hear properly except that it was an International. And also something to do with "76" but whether that was its date or identification number I know not.CLICK TO ENLARGE

Hard going up the edge of this wheat field

Routine, cars, sport and music.

Tuesday 13th August 2024

Son W had his bariatric operation on 9th July after waiting more than three years. It has taken until now to get back to something like normal, if there is such a condition. There have been more medical appointments both for him and me but for the moment they have become less frequent and we are back to a vague routine. Routine is strange, when it is in place there is a tendency to resent it to some extent because of its relationship to boredom. But, after a period of problematic activity, it is welcomed when it returns. 

Model making has been on hold during the period, but I have now returned and finished  the Fiat 500. It is not one of my best. During the lay off period it was left on my worktable in strong sunshine and some of the paintwork has been affected, but I have allowed it to join my little collection of what I regard as iconic cars, so it has now joined the Porsche turbo, the Lotus seven, and the Citroen 2 CV.

The next project is well well underway. The Auto Union type D from 1939 is for me one of the most exciting looking racing cars ever produced. The design was by Ferdinand Porsche, with his characteristic rear mounted V 12 supercharged engine., The Type D won over eight major events in the 1938/39 season before the outbreak of WW2. That was an era of flamboyance when drivers had little protection and could be seen leaning in their cockpits as they cornered at speed.

The Matchbox kit dates back to 1983 and from a video I have watched there are probably some fit problems but I haven't got that far yet.

The finished Fiat 500. Not one of my best. There were problems getting the body shell fitting over the chassis/engine part and a lot of handling of the body messed things up, and paintwork was damaged by long periods of strong sunlight whilst left unattended for several weeks when I was handling more pressing matters.

The engine turned out  well. Its door can be left open so it can be seen

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Work in progress. The 3 litre V 12 supercharged engine for the Auto Union  Type D.

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Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen

I am one of a six person book reading group. We meet in rotation, monthly, at each-other's houses. Last week Tony was sat next to my CD shelving. He pulled out a CD from the hundred or so. Why I don't know, but I said to his wife Mary I bet that is Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, and so it was. Tony then  mentioned that Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony 1946/48 had been performed a few days ago at the Proms and I remembered I had recorded it. I was not aware of this monumental work, and when something is discovered anew like that it has added value on that first acquaintance Goodness knows what are the logistics of putting on this extravagant performance with its variety of obscure and conventional instruments and several specialist soloists, but it is all worth the BBC licence fee in one hit.

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Our return to routine was also  progressed be the finalising of the Olympics.

Impressions:

I have much respect for the two BBC teams headed by Clare Balding and Hazel Irvine and their well informed ex Olympian colleagues. However, they were far too often left for long periods to fill in and chatter away so that even their broadcasting expertise was stretched to the point of frequent repetition and less meaningful comment - I did feel for them at times, but they battled on.

No comment about the boxing gender thing. Far too contentious.

The Olympics overall as always for me were compelling and accentuated by only coming round every four years.

Two clichés stick in my my mind:

Not really a cliché, but used perhaps first by Michael Johnson and then picked up by many others - the word "jeopardy."

And, "He/she left it all on the track/in the pool"

And, when some unfortunate performer is miles behind with no hope: "He/she's got s lot of work to do."

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Circuit of Arnside.

 Saturday 3rd. August 2024

This is  a five mile walk I have often done and yet again this last Saturday;  it encircles my domain and this time I decided to produce a slideshow to showcase some aspects of our Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

As this is predominantly a photo exercise it is worth clicking the first photo to enlarge for a slideshow after reading the captions

Just down the lane from home.
 The next zoom shot is taken from the furthest point where the road disappears

Zoom right across the bay to the limestone cliffs of Whitbarrow

The somewhat neglected telephone exchange at the end of Briery Bank,  and round the corner into Silverdale Road...

...Our Lady of Lourdes, Catholic church, also the next photo. I've never been inside

Children's playground, Arnside Cricket Club, Arnside Football Club, Arnside bowling, and tennis courts.
 Distant Kentmere and Shap fells

Dentist in Silverdale Road

Our lifeline. Same owner, (Ian Bullough) of similar convenience store down on the Front

Ash Meadow woods. A delightful network of paths leading down to the shore at the Beach Café. This is part of an endowment left to the village including our fabulous Arnside Educational Institute:
https://www.arnsideeducationalinstitute.org/

From Ash Meadow Woods looking across the bay to the Lake District hills

The Beach Café

Arnside Coastguard station

Arnside Sailing club - there is only a short window at high tide when water is deep enough. Here the tide has just arrived and boats are being launched

Looking back up the Kent estuary with the railway viaduct crossing in the distance

New Barnes static caravan site with children's playground and the Bob In Café

Frith Wood - footpath from New Barnes through to Far Arnside. An alternative follows a more adventurous route on the shoreline with steep thirty foot drops down to the shore 

Looking out to Morecambe Bay proper

Looking back up the Kent estuary, Arnside tucked in round to the right

Holgates static caravan site, Far Arnside.
Perhaps the most prestigious of its kind in the country, and below...

Sea views from these, and with facing west incomparable sunsets. My walking friend Pete and his wife Elizabeth had one of these before they moved to Arnside permanently, around fifteen years ago.

From the bottom of Heathwaite's, the climb up to the Knott from Far Arnside. The Knott is  out of shot to the right. The skyline is the wild flower meadow,  a continuation of the Knott ridge where orchids and other flowers can be seen

This and below. The climb up Heathwaite's, an epic ascent now with my breathlessness affliction. 

Now approaching The Knott summit. The lover's entwined tree to the left. I am always surprised to see this still standing after more than twenty years of my sojourn in Arnside. Here's hoping it doesn't suffer the fate of that tree on Hadrian's Wall

Across the bay to Lindale from Arnside Knott summit.
Trivia answer: Arnside Knott at  159m is the lowest of the Marilyns, a list of the 1551 hills in England Scotland and Wales  with a  drop of 500ft  on all sides. See my statistics on the sidebar of this blog