Images from our latest travels

       Tuesday 4th Oct 2011

                 We've just arrived back from another trip in our motor home. We've covered a various range of subjects so here's just a small selection of the interesting places  we've discovered on our travels.

Unusual weather conditions in the Breamish Valley Northumberland where the rainbow was continuous for around 5 hours.

 Cycling up the Upper Breamish Valley to Linhope Spout at the base of the Cheviot Hills

A nice example of the Fly Agaric fungi growing in the area of the waterfall

Also the Salmon were ascending the river on their way to the spawning beds at the base of the Cheviot Hills

                        Constructing the new fish pass at Powburn

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne

The island is connected to the mainland with a causeway which is covered by the tides twice a day

Another stretch of beautiful beach lies under the imposing Banburgh Castle

                        Looking across to the Inner Farne Islands

The imposing National Trust  property of Cragside

  Near to the Scottish Border, the old town of Berwick upon Tweed

L.S.Lowry the Artist visited the town many times.The Lowry artist trail
shows the many views he painted of the town

Over the border into Scotland on the nature reserve at St Abbs Head we spotted a large Basking shark more than 20ft long off the headland

                                           St Abbs

A day out in Edinburgh

                          Inside the Scottish Parliament Building

Travelling across country on our way back to the English Lake District we stopped 2 nights at Haltwistle to explore the countryside along Adrian's Wall (the famous Roman Wall)

                               The Roman town of Vindolanda

    Just a few of the thousands of artifacts excavated  from around the ruins

Back now to the Beautiful English Lake District in the gorgeous weather of late September

       Looking across Esthwaite Water to the mountain of Wetherlam

The house of Beatrix Potter at Near Sawrey where she wrote most of the children's stories of Peter Rabbit

And now back to the Lake District Fell an area that I love
The climb up Wetherlam

                  The horizontal scratches on this glacier worn rock

             In the centre of the photo a well camouflaged common frog

                                    The summit Cairn

                          Looking across to the Langdale fells

                               Across the fells to Great Carrs

Cycle ride to Little Langdale Through Tilberthwaite Gill

                                    Little Langdale  Tarn

            Lunch at the Three Shires Inn to celebrate my 71st birthday

Our best walk of the holidays .... Dow Crag and Coniston Old Man

                                 On route to Dow Crag

                  The rising mist and cloud added to the atmosphere

                                        Goats Water

                  Coniston Old Man.... our first view of the summit

                       Down from the summit to Goats Hawes

                         Across.... the summit of Dow Crag

                        The summit of Coniston Old Man

                                  The steep route down

A walk in Wordsworth countryside

                                        Rydal Water

                                       Old mine workings

                                              Grasmere

                                 Over Red Bank to Elterwater

                                     The Langdale Pikes

                                              Elterwater

                  The River Brathay which flows out of Elterwater

Finally another bike ride....  around Coniston Water

                             The steam boat on Coniston Water

                            Coniston village across the lake

                               Dow Crag and Coniston Old Man

                          Resting the feet at the end of our last day

Burnley Town Centre Fish Passes

Sept. 8th 2011
           Our frustrating wet weather (heavy drizzly overcast days) typical Lancashire weather is now into its 4th day and all work on the new fish pass has been stopped because of the volume of water.
     

 By the time theses fish passes are completed (early October) I hope to be walking along the many upland streams in our river system to see how many Sea trout and Salmon ascend to these newly opened potential spawning grounds. I have no high hopes as it will take several years before we see them in any numbers on these new spawning beds. 

Local Wanderings

Monday 5th Sept . 2011
    The weather after a few brighter warmer days has reverted back to the wet, unsettled, windy weather which has been predominant in our part of the world this summer. I haven't been out of our local area over the last 3 weeks but there's always locations to visit as the season are ever changing as we slowly move into early Autumn.

Fair Snape Fell.....  mid Aug and a weekend away with our family at Chipping

           Two of our grandchildren sheltering under the Butterbur leaves

Walking on the moors around Widdop Rocks 18th Aug.

   This rock must be an erratic dumped by the glaciers of the last ice age

22nd Aug.

 This is a corn field wild flower mix sown after workmen had repaired a roadside banking subsidence up  Thursden Valley in the Pennines,  pretty though the flowers are I'm not so sure that they are inkeeping with the moorland surroundings. This moorland stream holds Bullheads and Trout so I reverted back to my younger years doing a spot of fishing with the grandchildren.

 31st. Aug
    I never tire of our heather moorland which always puts on a good show around the end of Aug. so another walk over the moors to Top Withens the remote farmhouse  It is associated with" Wuthering Heights" the novel written by Emily Bronte one of the Bronte sisters.
        On this walk we are joined by Victoria our granddaughter  who was staying with us for a few days.

1st Sept .
             A pleasant bike ride along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal to East Marton about 15 miles round trip

                                             East Marton
3rd Sept.
              And finally in complete contrast to our rural scenery,  a few photos taken in the old industrial  area of  Burnley where at the confluence of the Rivers Calder and Brun a new fish pass is being installed. It's over 150 years since these two rivers were clean enough to allow Salmon And Sea Trout to swim through the town to their spawning grounds high in the Pennines. Now our local rivers are much cleaner and far less polluted the Ribble Fisheries are installing fish passes on previously polluted rivers in the hope that the migratory fish will return to their original spawning grounds.

    Near to the roundabout on Active Way  the confluence of the two rivers

   These are the Stainless Steel Fish Passes that are being installed, one for each weir. As the water flows down the structure a vortex is created by the positioning of all the baffles, this forms a vacuum at its centre, any fish caught up in it can swim up the pass and clear the weir with very little effort.