The morning was hazy sunshine; almost warm and no wind. It was ideal weather for a cycle ride so I headed off south for a relatively flat ride. My first brief stop was in Wigan and the Wigan Pier area. Then through Ashton-in-Makerfield and on to Newton-le-Willows where I stopped to eat my lunch, which was a couple of pieces of toast. Then on through Leigh, Atherton and Westhoughton to pick up the main A6 where I turned left to return home.

Market Place, Wigan town centre

Wigan Pier.

the old Market House in Newton-le-Willows

the route of today's cycle ride.

The full Super Moon was on Sat 19 March but it was still quite impressive this morning (Mon 21 March 2011). The description ‘Super Moon’ is because it is at its closest to Earth for 18 years and so appears lightly larger than normal. Another interesting point is that this morning the moon set about 6 hours after the Autumnal Equinox, when the day and night are of equal length.
The picture was taken from Kem Mill, Whittle-le-Woods looking towards Shaw Hill.

Today I was visiting friends near Craven Arms, Shropshire then on to Tewkesbury for lunch. On the way I drove via Coalbrookdale to have a look at the first large span iron bridge ever built at Ironbridge.

wide view of the Iron bridge at Coalbrookdale.

picture postcard view on St Mary's Rd, Tewkesbury.

delightful alleyway by an old burial ground.

In Tewkesbury I visited Val who is a member of the local Artist group. Some time ago I gave her some prints of photos I'd taken on my travels and she showed me a pastel drawing she'd made from one of the prints.

Cycling along the A58 between Bolton and Bury I stopped to photograph the daffodils along the verge.

Drove to Chorley to catch the 06:31 train to Edinburgh. It was very overcast and soon started raining. By the time I arrive at Edinburgh Waverley Rail Station the rain looked set for the day. I stepped off the train just before 09:30 and set off along Princess St in the rain. I was heading for Holyrood House and the Queen’s Gallery to see the Marcus Adams exhibition of Royal Portraits.

Edinburgh Waverley Railway Station.

Sculpture on Bridge Street.

Shop and archway on Canongate.

Approaching the Queen's Gallery, Holyrood House, in the rain.

The gallery didn’t open till 10am so I wasn’t in a rush. I turned in to North Bridge Street to cross the bridge and admire the sculptures. I managed to get some shelter under a bus shelter. Then I turned left on to the Royal Mile and managed to get some snaps where the path was sheltered. It rain increased as I reached the Queens Gallery and it took me a while to get my waterproofs off inside.

Marcus Adams (1875-1959)
Royal Photgrapher

This 1938 picture of the Royal Family was taken in Buckingham Palace. Because of lighting problems Marcus Adams took the main group as one exposure then took another of the background from the same position. In the darkroom he combined the 2 negatives to make the final print.
 

I collected my ticket, left my bag at the desk and headed up the stairs to see the exhibited images. The prints were the original Gelatine Silver prints and had an almost luminescent quality that the published reproductions don’t seem to have. I was using one of the mobile audio guided with headphones which I found very useful and unobtrusive. After the exhibition I continued into Holyrood house and had a look round the main buildings.

I was very interested in visiting the section where Mary Queen of Scots used as her apartments when she lived here in the 16th century. It was now late morning and there were a lot of tourists about making it difficult to appreciate the place properly. I did ask one of the attendants about the alleged blood stain on the floor by the plaque to show the place where Mary’s Secretary Rizzio was murdered in 1566. Not surprisingly he said it was fake.

Mary Stuart (1542-1587)

This is the spot where Mary's secretary
the Italian David Rizzio (1533 -1566) was murdered.

David Rizzio

Quotation on Canongate.

After a rainy start the weather cleared a bit so I went out on the bike via Tockholes. On the way back I stopped briefly in Abbey Village to see off the annual Roddlesworth Roller cross country running event. They set off at 11am from the Hare and Hounds, Abbey Village. Two officials who I saw at the event were Jim and Iris Smith who I know from many years ago.

I'd been walking in the Baldersdale area of Durham again and spent a leisurely drive back via Middleton-in-Teesdale and over to Alston.

Wide view of the old railway bridge over the River Lune on the B6282. The bridge is straight, the distortion being due to the wide angle effect.

The overflow lagoon of Selset Reservoir.

Caught 05:40am bus (£3.70 single) to Preston. While walking through the town centre there was a TV camera being set up and surrounding activity which seemed to be connected with the Preston Guild preparations. The Guild is next year in 2012 being held every 20 years. At the Railway Station I caught the 07:17 train for a pleasant ride to Birmingham New Street Station. After a wait till 09:30 I was on the train to Birmingham International where I walked to the National Exhibition Centre to attend the Focus on Imaging Exhibition.

TV camera in Preston Town centre.

Wide view of Birmingham International
Railway station waiting room.

Wide view while walking to the NEC.

Wide view of the Focus on Imaging Exhibition in halls 9 & 10.

On Saturday 5th March 2011 Whittle-le-Woods Village Hall was filled to capacity by relatives and friends of Margaret Neill who celebrated her 100th birthday on Thu 3rd Mar. Margaret was born at Hill Top Farm, Brindle in 1911. She was educated at Brindle School and during WW2 she worked in a nearby farm where she met her future husband Bill. They married in 1940. The family moved to Whittle-le-Woods in 1948 where Margaret still lives. She enjoys cross words and attends the Monday Bingo sessions every week. Margaret has four daughters and one son. Also 9 grand-children, 12 great grand-children and 3 great, great grand-children.
 

Margaret being presented with flowers from the parish Council by Eric Bell

Margaret Neill, 100 on 3/3/2011

The guests start to arrive in the Village Hall

Dorothy Pickup age 98

Drove via Brough to return to Baldersdale. This time I continued along the road past Hury Reservoir and on to the end of the road at Clove Lodge. There is a very small area by the road to accommodate a few cars. I walked the route of the Pennine Way through the buildings and down the field to Blackton Bridge. Over the bridge is a green track which leads up to an iron gate and Low Birk Hatt Farm. The spelling is something of a puzzle. The map shows Birk Hat but the name by the gate says Low Birk Hatt. Higher up the fields is another farm called High Birk Hatt, with two ts. I walked up the field to the barn which is now a visitor centre. I had a look inside but there wasn’t much to see. The map shows various footpaths crossing the area of High Birk Hatt but none of them are marked on the ground. Fortunately it looked like nobody was at home so I wandered through the farm yard and across the fields to the car park of Balderhead Reservoir. I sat on one of the bench tables to eat my sandwiches then across the reservoir dam to descend through the buildings of Blackton.

This sign was by the Pennine Way.
It must have been put there by a jobsworth as there was no reason to close the path.

there was no sign of a drop anywhere.

The barn before repairs

The visitor centre in Hannah's meadow.

Balderhead Reservoir overflow shaft and control tower.

I soon picked up the way I’d walked in then returned to the car. I drove back via Lunedale and the B6276 to Brough. I stopped for a while to look round the magnificent Brough Castle.

Brough Castle tower.

Brough Castle tower.
Interior wide view.

Brough Castle

I called in at the Buckshaw branch of Tesco to buy some of their own brand of 100gr chocolate bars. It's the same price as the Asda equivalent but tastes better. There hadn't been any on the shelves for weeks so I took an empty wrapper for them to scan the barcode. It shows that they have some but the stock level is zero! And the next expected delivery is - not expected. They had no idea if it had been discontinued. To quote the TV programme -
'the computer says no'

I was cycling back from Leyland in what was almost warm sunshine when I spotted some colour by the roadside. I couldn't resist stopping to take a few snaps. Could this be the start of spring?