Today is  bank holiday. A friend recently told me that there is a good walk from Walney Island to Piel Island near Barrow. The walk is across the sands for about 1.5 miles so the first thing to check are the tide tables. A late afternoon low water was ideal so i decided to try the walk out. It was excellent and I didn't even get my feet wet.

Heading off across the sands
[flickr version here]

Piel Castle, the current remains date back to the 14th century

The Ship Inn on Piel Island

Returning to the mainland
(this isn't me, I was on foot)

While cycling through Brindle this morning I stopped to photograph the cladding on St James' Church which has just been fitted while refurbishment is underway.

Today is the birthday of my daughter Jill. The picture was taken over 30 years ago.

Jill at an even earlier age, taken near Tarn Hows

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This afternoon was the 6th Whittle-le-Woods Flower, Craft and Vegetable show in the Village Hall.

these onions were grown and entered by my friend Eric. After the judging he gave me 2 for the kitchen

Today George Band OBE died at his home in Hampshire. He was on the successful 1953 British Mt Everest expedition when Hillary and Tenzing reached the summit. In 1955 along with Joe Brown he made the first ascent of Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world. I was very fortunate to trek with George when he returned to the base camp area of Kangchenjunga in 2005 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his first ascent. He was a complete gentleman and I was proud to have known him.

George Band after returning
to Kangchenjunga in 2005

Today is the 360th anniversary of the Battle of Wigan Lane which was one of the final battles of the English Civil War. It was fought between the Royalists under the command of the Earl of Derby and elements of the New Model Army under the command of Colonel Robert Lilburne. The Royalists were defeated, losing nearly half their officers and men. Colonel Lilburn's men were marching from their encampment in the Brindle area towards the Earl of Derby's men in Wigan. A running skirmish began in the vicinity of the junction of Bolton Road and Wigan Lane near Frederick's Ice Cream shop. One of the most notable casualties was Sir Thomas Tyldesley who's memorial can be seen in Wigan. I cycled along Wigan Lane then on to Wigan to see the memorial.

Bolton Road and Wigan Lane junction

Sir Thomas Tyldesley

Sir Thomas Tyldesley's memorial in Wigan

This evening was the last summer outing of Chorley Photographic Society. As it was at the Top Lock Inn I decided to walk there. I had a pleasant walk and a not very nice pint when I got there. To make matters worse it cost me £3.

I had a pleasant late summer evening walk up to the Leeds and Liverpool canal on Town Lane. As the sun began to set there were some nice lighting effects.

After my ferry journey to Ullapool I caught the same ferry back to Stornoway. I was chatting to one of the passengers who told me the Lewis Chessmen were on display in Stornoway Museum. I called in to the Museum to have a look and was surprised to hear that I could take photos. The exquisite chessmen were found on the west coast of Lewis in 1831 and date back to the 12th century. They area carved from walrus ivory and probably made in Norway.

I caught the ferry from Stornoway to Ullapool on the mainland. This view is of Ullapool on the final approach. The sun broke through briefly to illuminate the houses. The sky hasn't been artificially darkened as it appears. (click on the image for a larger view of the photo on the flickr website)

Today was the Big Drum Day in Astley Park, Chorley. It is Chorley's festival of Afro-Brasilian drumming and dancing and is an amazing exhibition of colour and drumming. I think today is the third time the event has been run and each is even more popular than the last. Early rain didn't put people off and thankfully the sun came out later.

Audience and performers in the walled garden of Astley Hall.

Viva Brasil Dancers

This morning I called at Chorley Library to check out some old photos they had of the Chorley Cycling Club around the 1890s. The photos were amazing but of equal value was the information attached. The photo below had the names of all the cyclist. In the photo below is W. M. Gillibrand who is the first cyclist on the left. In Oct 1932 he gave a talk to the Chorley Rotary Club and it was fully reported in the Chorley and Leyland Advertiser. A transcript is here and worth a read.

left to right W.M. Gillibrand, F. Bromley, T. Frier, J. Critchley (capt), A. Torrance,
K. Sargent, T. Radcliffe, J. Hoyle Brown, W. Berry, R. Birch, G. Hopkinson & T. Bromley.

While out on my morning walk in the village I was treated to the sight of a very colourful rainbow. Fortunately the rain that caused it fizzled out soon afterwards so I didn't get wet.

I made some comments on Sun 31 Jul 2011 about the Ironman 2011 triathlon which had part of its cycling time trial running though the Chorley countryside.
I am full of admiration for the athletes who do the swim, then do a 112 mile cycle time trial and then a full marathon.
I was hoping the Chorley Guardian would do a good report but all they were concerned with was the Buckshaw Village feeding station where competitors dropped their empty bottles to collect a full one.
The Chorley Guardian’s first line of comment was:
‘RUBBISH: Bottles discarded by Ironman competitors litter a grass verge at Buckshaw Village’. I cycled past the Buckshaw feeding station the next morning and there wasn’t a single bottle or scrap of rubbish anywhere. It had all been cleared up by the organisers.
I get annoyed by this negative view of cycling that the media are keen to promote.

This photo is from the Wed 3 Aug 2011 edition of the Chorley Guardian (I didn't take it). The photographer has deliberately taken a low viewpoint to exaggerate the bottles on the ground. The newspaper text called this rubbish. It was all soon cleared up by the organisers and left in a clean and tidy state. None of the clean up was reported on by the Chorley Guardian.

Today I managed to get access to the interior of the recently refurbished WAP building on Dark Lane, Whittle-leWoods. It originally formed part of the Whittle Springs complex which was a famous recreational area many years ago.

the WAP building about 1920

the ruinous building on 11 Feb 2010

the completed building