After a torrential downpour the skies
can clear quickly

Then the gloom can soon descend
on a wet footpath

Then back on the road the car drivers
probably didn't notice the change in the weather

Drove to Slaggyford which is just in Northumberland. I had my bike in the car but had to wait quite a while as torrential rain battered down. When I set off for my cycle ride the minor roads had taken a severe battering and many stretches had their tarmac completely lifted off. I headed north through Eals then east through Coanwood. I noticed a Friends Meeting House behind some trees so went to have a look. It was Coanwood Friends Meeting House.

Coanwood Friends Meeting House.

It is one of the few Quaker Meeting Houses left in Northumberland and is historically important because it has not been modified since being built in 1760. It is a Grade2 listed building and cared for by the Historical Chapels Trust. There is an older Meeting House in Allendale, but it has been modified.

Coanwood Friends Meeting House interior.

Further east I joined the A686 for a few miles before turning south along the B6303. The going was hard at times due to a very strong head wind. After Allendale and Allenheads there was a steep climb over Burtree Fell which was even harder with the headwind.

On the descent I overshot the sharp right turn to Alston as the sign only said ‘to Killhope’ I soon corrected my mistake and continued along the A689 and over the even higher Killhope Cross pass. Then through Nenthead to Alston where I watched as large Lorries tried to negotiate the narrow cobbled street where people had parked cars and vans causing problems for others. I turned north on the A686 then left on to a minor lane along the east side of the River South Tyne. I had a quick look at the interesting Holy Paraclete Church at Kirkhaugh before continuing back to the car. A ride of 49.6miles.

The cobbled main street of Alston, one of the highest towns in England

Kirkhaugh, Holy Paraclete Church

Holy Paraclete Church interior

The cycle route of 50miles

Google map of route

Arriving at Preston Railway Station for the morning train.

The Community Archives and Heritage Group’s sixth annual conference was held at the University College, London.

The Fleming Lecture Theatre at the University College London

Throughout the day the standard of presentations was very high and there can be no doubt that Bill Walker of our Heritage Centre Support Group gave one of the best. Accompanying Bill was Alan Greenhalgh who was partly responsible for keeping their website up to date.

Bill Walker

Chorley’s Heritage Centre Support Group received the award for ‘Best New Archive.’

I had received an invitation to the opening of the annual exhibition of South Liverpool Photographic Society which was held in the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral.
On the way I picked Gordon Jenkins up from Chorley then we drove to Liverpool for the evening opening. It gave me an opportunity to visit the magnificent Cathedral for the first time. The Architect was Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880 - 1960) and it was built from (1904–1978). The foundation stone was laid by King Edward VII in July 1904 and the final dedication was in October 1978 and attended by Queen Elizabeth II.

After the rain the skies cleared and during the evening I wandered along the Leeds and Liverpool canal with a lovely cloudscape background.

The recent heavy rain caused a lot of flooding and thankfully that has all drained away from the roads. However, a longer lasting problem is the physical damage to the roads such a surcharged drains and surface tarmac being washed away. This section of road was seen in Tockholes this morning.

Early evening cycled to the Cavendish Arms, Brindle for the fourth annual beer festival. I arrived shortly after 7pm and it was already packed and getting served with a pint of ‘Lanacster Bomber’ ale took a while. The beer was good but the sound system wasn’t. When the band came on it was time for me to leave. They were terrible. I’m always puzzled why bands have to have the volume up so loud that the sound is totally distorted. However, I did have any enjoyable cycle home through the lanes. In a pamphlet about the festival it says this is their last beer festival, perhaps it’s as well.

The Cavendish Arms, Brindle

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Midday drove via Sedbergh to Fell End and Uldale House Farm for an organised visit to see the farm and experience a sheepdog demonstration. When I reached the farm gate it had a ‘visit cancelled’ sign on it. There was no explanation why so I decided to walk up to the farm to investigate. It was pouring with rain so I put my waterproofs on and walked up rough track to the farm. On the final approach I saw the farmer, Harry Hutchinson, driving down on his quad bike with a trailer of fence repair materials.

He stopped and we chatted about the cancellation. It was due to the heavy rain yesterday and as the forecast for today was more of the same they’d decided to cancel. However, as I’d turned up he said he’s show me round and also demonstrate how he uses his sheepdogs. He also breeds his Border Collie sheepdogs and we walked up to one of the fields where he showed me how he used two dogs, with one working at a time, to round up some sheep.

 It was very impressive seeing them working precisely to his whistled instructions. He said he can even control them from almost as far as he can see them. Pointing up to the mist shrouded Baugh Fell he said that if the weather is good he can control the collies up there while he’s down on the farm. It was an amazing demonstration of teamwork between man and dog. He showed me some of his cattle in the nearby shed before I left to let him get on with his fence repair in the pouring rain.

working dogs, a joy to watch

Harry and his cattle

a lot of bull

On the way home I called to check the River Lune near Tebay

- - - -

Anyone looking at these pages will wonder why I bother commenting on the level of a reservoir. The Blue Lagoon has been under threat for several years for safety reasons. The Authorities want the dam removed. Local residents want to keep it. For that volume of water to change so quickly is extraordinary. This picture was taken less than 48hrs after the one below on Thu 21 Jun 2012.

Blue Lagoon Reservoir this morning. Full again in less than 2 days

Blue Lagoon Reservoir this afternoon. Where did all the water go?

Almost the same view 10 days ago. It was the same 7 days ago.

- - - -

Nothing to see of the sun but the colours were quite nice behind Pendle Hill

Trying to donate blood today represented all that’s going wrong with the National Health Service. I arrived on time to be told they were running late, but couldn’t say how late. Here’s a tip. Ask the person who’s just finished donating blood what time they arrived. Deduct time arrived from that complete to get the answer.

Three levels of bureaucracy have to be endured via reading and signing forms before getting to donate blood. The man who pricks your finger to do the initial check was totally disinterested, unsmiling and unpleasant. He also had bad breath. There’s nothing like a good rant!

Early afternoon drove to the Foxfield Country Hotel near Whalley to give a presentation on Bolivia to the Blackburn and East Lancs. Friendship Group. It was a wonderful warm and sunny day and not one for being inside.

it was too nice outside to be inside listening to me.

the entrance foyer

I can never understand why people don’t take their litter home with them instead of dumping it in the countryside. A full litter bin is no excuse to leave stuff on the grass nearby.

Cycling along Walker Fold Road between Horwich and Bolton I saw this piece of roadside art. There was no information plate near it so I don’t know what it’s supposed to represent or when erected.

The legal requirement for car tyre tread is a minimum depth of 1.6mm. My front tyres were down to about 2.5 and they recommend changing at less than 3mm. So this morning I called in at the Toyota Service Centre in Blackburn for some new tyres to be fitted. There was an interesting chart on the wall illustrating how the braking efficiency reduces dramatically as the tread wears down.

Still legal but time for a change

Nice to have lots of tread again

While in Chorley I noticed that the ‘Singers Outdoor’ shop at the junction of Market St and Parsons Brow is due for closure. They’ve been a good shop for the economy end of outdoor stuff and it’s a shame that they’re going.

Singers Outdoor & Leisure

I was cycling past the Blue Lagoon Reservoir at Belmont this morning and amazed to see that it is now full. It was only half full last week. We have had a lot of rain lately!

During the morning drove to the top of Well Lane, Brinscall to meet Stuart, a farmer from Abbey Village and Mark Gaskell, an amateur war historian from Wigan. The purpose of the meeting was to talk about Stuart’s war time memories of the nearby Starfish decoy site.
Next to the ruins of Ratten Clough was a Starfish decoy site built during WW2 and operated by the RAF. It was a bombing decoy site and deliberately created simulations of burning towns during bombing raids. The reason being to divert the Lufwaffe bombers so they dropped bombs on the moors and not strategic targets.

This evening caught the bus to Chorley then a nice walk to Astley Hall through the park. The sky was dark. gloomy and threatened rain but I got to the hall and kept dry.
At the hall it was the official opening of the Chorley Photographic Society annual exhibition which was opened by Henry Mullarkey, President of the L&CPU (Lancashire & Cheshire Photographic Union)
 

Evening drove to Wigan Archaeological Society at the Brocket Arms. The speaker was Ian Trumble who is a Documentation Assistant at Bolton Museum and also a member of the Society. His talk was about prehistoric finds in the Bolton are. He brought several items from the museum; some we were allowed to handle and some we weren’t and had to just look at them in their box.

The most intriguing and mysterious story told by Ian was about the Red Moss head.
Red Moss is located near Horwich and in 1943 an area was being used for peat cutting. A partially preserved human head was found and identified as a young woman dating back to the Bronze Age or around 3000 years old. It was accompanied by various artefacts which area still in Bolton Museum. However, it its thought that the head was sent away for analysis and never returned. Its whereabouts became unknown. In 1996 a similar head was found within the confines of Birmingham University and thought to be the missing Red Moss head. Celebrations were short lived as once again it was sent away for analysis, never returned, and its whereabouts once again lost.

For the first part of the day I went for a cycle ride via Burnley, Rawtenstall and Darwen. On the way I rode along the minor lane through Goodshaw and stopped to take a picture of  St Mary & All Saints Church

As we arrived at the beacon the full moon was just rising behind the
Winter Hill transmitter mast

The Bonfire Beacon is lit

We had fireworks as well as the beacon

Watching the Bonfire from a safe distance with Winter Hill mast, the Full Moon and Mormon Temple in the distance.

Today has the most events to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
The first was the Senior Citizens lunch in the Whittle-le-Woods Village Hall

Whittle-le-Woods Village Hall.
Senior Citizens lunch to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee

Local singer Emily Jones with Cllr Eric Bell.
Emily's sang two songs to entertain the audience.

At Hillside Crescent they held their street party outside in the rain. However, they'd managed to rig up some tents to keep the rain off.

At 16:00 it was back to the Village Hall where the children's party was held. I didn't know the village had so many children.

This evening caught the bus to Chorley to take some photos of the Whittle-le-Woods Grand Diamond Jubilee Ball in the Lancastrian Suite, Chorley Town Hall. Fortunately there was some of the buffet left so I was able to have a snack before walking home along the canal.

This morning the Olympic Torch was carried through Chorley town centre. I arrived around 06:30am and already many people were lining the route. By the time the torch cavalcade started to arrive at 07:30 the town centre was packed. It was reassuring to see that so many people turned out.

The crowds start to gather

The Olympic Torch flame is passed on to the next runner

33 years ago today my Father died. His and Mum's name are in the memorial book at Pleasington Crematorium

When I arrived at the crematorium a funeral was taking place. Afterwards I saw the magnificent horse drawn hearse heading along the access road.