High tide at Arnside

Thursday 9th April 2020

A high tide (10.4 metres) was scheduled today at around 2:00pm.

This is not  unusual. We often have a flooded road between Arnside and Milnthorpe at Storth when there is a full moon high tide.

A few years ago our local authority tried to remove our fire engine and share with Milnthorpe - fortunately the potentially flooded road was a factor in saving the day. Today a fire engine would have had little problem, but I have seen times when it may have been a different story.

I did drive about a mile from home and parked on a quiet lane near Storth to walk about another mile to the flood area. I think that is permissible under the current advice and as the car has been stood for over two weeks it needed an airing, but I will not use the car again other than to drive it round the block every couple of weeks. So far since lockdown my only excursions from home have been my daily 1.5 mile walks.

There was noticeably much more traffic on the roads even from yesterday and many cyclists - one gets the feeling that people are erroneously sensing some relaxation of restrictions. That seems to be fuelled by media saying that it is doubtful if that will happen within the next two weeks, whereas it is my perception that there is no likelihood whatsoever of that happening so soon and it shouldn't even be speculated about at the moment.

CLICK FIRST PHOTO TO ENLARGE FOR SLIDESHOW

From Dallam Bridge looking towards the Lake District Kentmere hills. I had meant to get photos of  our Kent estuary with the backdrop of other hills, but it was too hazy to do that justice. I had walked up here from the parked car then walked back down to Storth to see the floods

The road is under water. The ramp to the left goes up to a house

It only occurred to me afterwards that I had PHOTOGRAPHED CHILDREN! 

Oh how I wanted him to fall off in the middle, well, not really?

Different styles - this one was gung-ho, others took the gentle approach - everybody I saw got through okay and only one turned back at the beginning

That is the road up to Storth, the main road alongside the water is off to the right. The kids were having a ball

That is a waterside footpath

I have never taken well to manipulating my iPhone for taking photos but my son W. took this dawn break a couple of mornings ago with his iPhone. Ok, it's not professional but the iPhone has handled this difficult lighting scene remarkably well. It puts to shame my dismal attempts to photograph the pink moon last night with my Panasonic. W. said that he waited for the sun to appear and almost instantaneously the dawn chorus began.

Stay at home at Easter

Thursday 9th April 2020


Please follow the link below asking all to stay at home this Easter.

I know most people who read my blog will understand all this and are already complying but just to emphasise that calling out the Mountain Rescue is a multi no-no.

1. They may be needed elsewhere.

2. They may get infected by the people who call them out who themselves are not aware that they are carrying the virus. That  is totally unfair.

3. They may infect the people they attend to.

We who walk often, long and far can be in denial about our likelihood of having an accident. That is plain stupid - it can happen to anybody.

https://walkingtheoldways.wordpress.com/2020/04/09/stay-home-for-easter-say-mountain-rescue-england-and-wales/

Thankyou

Monday 6th April 2020

My daughter is Assistant Head Teaching and Learning at her school in Barrow. She is currently working from home. The Art teacher has put out an on-line competition to produce a copy  of a famous painting. I jibbed at that but came up with this instead:

Circular from home 2

Saturday 4th April 2020 - Arnside

The map below shows the route in red (clockwise) for my post a few days ago (Arnside Circular 1) 

The green (anticlockwise) is my route today.

The start/finish is the approximate location of my house.

A click on the map will enlarge the map and the other photos for a slideshow, but it may be best to view and read the captions first.

My idea here as in the previous circular is to give a more or less continuous photographic record of the walk to try and give a more joined up impression of a circular walk from my house and add comments which describe my own connection with what is seen.

I have ended the green route today at my convenience store in Silverdale Road where we coincide with the earlier walk to get back to my start by common ground.

Having turned left out of Hollins Lane we turn left again just past the cars to go steeply down Swinnate Road.

The Post Office van is one of the few vehicles on the move during this Coronavirus lockdown - it seemed to be dodging about all over the village.

Descending steeply down Swinnate. The upper Kent estuary with the Lake District hills behind - it is a splendid view from here.

Bottom of Swinnate, turning left into Black Dyke Road. A few hundred yards to the right is the level crossing over the railway.

Along Black Dyke Road. Briery Bank off to the left beyond the Post Office van which seems to be following me.

Briery Bank up left, but we carry straight on. Note the post box. I have two posting options, this and the other I mentioned in the previous walk in the other direction from my house.

Just opposite Briery Bank. The road to the right goes down to the railway in about 100yds and then becomes The Limestone Link footpath to Kirkby Lonsdale. We continue straight along Black Dyke road.

Further along Black Dyke - a rare cyclist - our village is usually teeming with them especially at the weekend and this is Saturday.

And more of Black Dyke - the walk to the station from my house always seems longer than expected.

The shrubs and garden opposite the road junction to Milnthorpe are well maintained on a regular basis by village volunteers. See next photo to look down that road to the right.

Right turn off black Dyke - the road to Milnthorpe. When you drive up there and see a high lorry coming the other way you know there's going to be a problem, but we carry on left out of the picture.

Strategically placed outlet for mobility scooters to service the less agile population of Arnside, and by contrast next door a well established garage specialising exclusively in rally car preparation.

A bit further on opposite the station - our jazz café. In normal times they will play jazz requests from Spotify while you drink excellent coffee and munch their cakes.

Arnside station. There is a temporary footbridge in operation whilst repairs are done to the nearer original.

This road is usually lined on the left with cars using the station - not today!

The famous Arnside fish and chip shop - café at front and take-away up the side. It  is much more impressive when you get in there - their website is worth a browse - http://www.arnsidechipshop.co.uk
and next door...

...Phil Fallows, hairdresser, part of the Arnside Establishment and Hackney and Leigh  estate agents, and further on...

... Bulloughs convenience store and post office. Ian B is a legend in the village and this is perhaps the best stocked convenience store in Cumbria, a great asset to our village.

The Fighting Cocks pub - unfortunately closed during the virus lockdown. They do accommodation normally.

Our posh public conveniences - not a bad view.

Antique and bric-a-brac shop and next door Arnside Sailing Club, function room and bar  - occasional entertainment evenings.

We are now about two hundred yards up from Bullough's shop - this being the main row of shops along the seafront opposite our mini pier.

Home interior shop,  The Posh Sardine - coffee and gifts (anagram on Arnside Shop), The Coast Office - sells the most tasteless stock of gifts but seems to thrive.

The old bank building now selling antiques and curios, and in blue, good friends of ours, Arnside House  - they sell a huge range of quality gifts, greeting cards and are renowned for their many varieties of locally made quality ice cream.

Just a long shot of the front. The Albion pub is the cream building at the end going round the corner.

She Sells - ladies clothing, Wagtail - café, Gado Gado - restaurant, The Country Shop - high class clothing, chemist and bakery out of shot.

Kent estuary going out into Morecambe Bay.

The Albion looking back down the front and shops. Very popular but expensive. Normally many people sat at the outside tables here.

Railway viaduct. A recent high tide was not far off the top.

Looking up Silverdale Road on the way to my convenience store met on the previous Circular tour, but we branch off to the left on...

...Orchard Road to pass...

...the Women's Institute and loop back to Silverdale Road and...

...rejoining my convenience store in Silverdale Road to follow by same route as before back to home.

Camus - The Plague - translation

Here is a translation of the piece I wrote in French as an exercise for my French lesson with my local French teacher. Please bear in mind this would have been written rather differently if I had been writing just in English. The reference to Foot and Mouth Disease at the end pins this right back to 2001 !

Also note that this was before I later read the novel in French.

I note also my prolific use of the word "very" which nowadays is almost absent from my vocabulary  but I felt obliged to leave it as is here.


Yesterday I finished reading La Peste by Albert Camus.

It is certainly a profound book.

First all it seemed to be a simple story but little by little I recognised its analogy to the occupation of France during the Second World War.

Halfway through the writing becomes more philosophical with characters asking metaphysical questions.

There is a description of the death of the son of M. Othon the magistrate. I suppose it is the most memorable scene in the book for most readers. The description is very moving, but Camus conveys it without sentimentality, and with much humanity.

The most heartbreaking description for me was that of M. Tarrou’s death, the friend of Dr. Rieux who is the narrator. After seeing the long drawn out death of my own wife I didn’t think I would be able to read these words.

That description is so true in every small detail, and I think it would have been impossible for Camus to have written this without having witnessed the death of a friend himself. Camus describes and interprets each movement of the eyes after Tarrou can no longer speak, and each little smile which only has meaning between the two friends. I think that perhaps this was the most striking passage that I read.

The study of the curé, M Paneloux with his beliefs snd convictions and his doubts is very penetrating, particularly because he has an effect on the other characters when he questions the existence of a god who permits the suffering of innocent children.

At the beginning of the fourth section Camus describes how everybody has become tired with the endless work, and they no longer have interest in the news or the pursuit of their employment. Camus compares them to soldiers in a war tired out by incessant stress and only having the motivation for routine daily functions, and which prevents any hope of the end of the battle or the declaration of an armistice.

I think that I would like to read this book again.

Whichever page you would open this book at you would find serious and meaningful words.

——————————

I hope that we will not see poorly rats in Hollins Lane - we have enough problems with Foot and Mouth Disease.

LA Peste - Camus - review

Thursday 2nd. April 2020

For anybody interested and able to read some French here is a scan of a review I wrote of La Peste as an exercise for my French Lesson years ago. That was before I re-read the book in French.

I could have laboriously re-typed this making the corrections applied by my French teacher and omitting my notes but that would have been too onerous, and as it stands the meaning is clear enough. I am a bit ashamed of some of the basic mistakes I made but that is how we learn. The errors are compunded by my abysmal ability for proof reading - a fact many readers here will be aware of.

If you click on the first scan you should get an enlargement big enough to read on most computer screens and/or there are other ways of enlarging if you are sufficiently interested.