Along the coast to Positano

While on the ferry to Amalfi I looked back towards Capri and the gathering clouds

After walking over the hills we descended to Amalfi and enjoyed a look round before catching the bus back to the hotel.

St Andrew's Roman Catholic church
in the Piazza del Duomo, Amalfi, Italy

St Andrews interior

St Andrews crypt

Back in the hotel we were treated to the opportunity to make out own pizza in the kitchen oven. Mine is the one at the back

The weather was fine for our day trip to the Island of Capri. I shudder to think what property on the island costs. If the prices in the shops are anything to go by you’d need to be a millionaire. It was nice to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.

As soon as the ferry returned to Naples we just had time to rush to the Museum to have a look at some of the wonderful artefacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Capri view

The Royal Clipper seen on the approach to Capri.

She is the largest full-rigged sailing ship in the world. This magnificent sailing ship has 5 masts and 42 sails. it can carry 227 passengers with a 106 crew.

Alexander mosaic from Pompeii, battle of Issus, dating from circa 100 BC,
is a Roman floor mosaic originally from the House of the Faun in Pompeii

Athena, Naples Museum. From Pisoni's villa at Herculaneum

Homer, Naples Museum

Naples National Archaeological Museum interior

Today we were originally going to sail to Capri but as the day was windy and the ferry crossing was uncertain we swapped the itinerary to visit Pompeii instead. A train ride of less than an hour took us there. Pompeii is somewhere I’d wanted to visit since I was a young boy. I’ve taken rather a long time getting round to doing it.

Pompeii was an ancient Roman town near Naples. Pompeii along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, were mostly destroyed and buried under ash and pumice during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

Pompeii columns showing the brick core

Early morning flight, 06:10am,
from Liverpool to Naples.

Performance art in Naples

Heading for the evening meal café

Mill chimney

On the way home called at Withnell Fold village. I sat for a while on the memorial bench that my brother and I erected in the memorial garden. It is to the memory of our Mother who died in 2010. Next to the garden is the most conspicuous remnant of Withnell Fold Paper Mill that closed in 1967. It is the mill chimney and still stands in excellent condition. The chimney building at the base had been derelict for many years but a local developer has been rebuilding it for the past couple of years and intends to use it for an office. It was good to see the work restarted after being on hold for a while.

This afternoon called to see a friend in Chorley and noticed this wonderful painting of Market Street Chorley on his wall. It is an original watercolour painted by Frank Ellison, a friend of his. Its the first time I've seen it.

Cromar stone circle Tomnaverie, Aberdeenshire.
Dating back to around 2500BC, this is a fine example of what is known as a recumbent stone circle - a type unique to this part of Scotland in having the largest stone laid flat. It was almost destroyed in the 1920s by the adjacent quarry before being protected by the state; stones removed at that time were put back into their original positions in 1999-2000.

Loch Muick from Corrie Chast, Aberdeenshire.

The Leeds and Liverpool canal at Whittle Springs. The wide view illustrates the two lengths of canal that join here. Under the bridge to the left is the original line of the Lancaster canal that was opened on 1 June 1803, 210 years ago. On the right is the bottom lock of a flight of seven that connect the canal with the length to Leeds, opened in 1816.

Cycling home through Rivington I noticed many more than the usual number of cyclists on the roads for a weekend. Fortunately they were mostly coming the other way. Through Rivington they were so numerous some sort of cycling event must have been underway. I suspect it was a reliability ride. This photo was taken at the junction of Horrobin Ln and New Rd.

Riding into Chorley from Charnock Richard I saw the boundary marker stone had recently been painted. I suspect it will have been done by the Milestone Society.

Caught the bus to Chorley then train to Manchester Oxford Road. Walked to the Friends Meeting House on Mount Street to attend the CBA (Council for British Archaeology) North West Group Spring Conference. The main subject covered by the speakers was current research in Mesolithic North-West England. For me the most interesting presentation was by Alison Burns who spoke about the Mesolithic and Neolithic preserved footprints along the coast at Formby. The lecture hall was rather too bright to see the projected images at their best. I generally find with academics that they have good knowledge of their subject but not such a good idea about presentation.

Friends Meeting House, Manchester

The Lecture Hall

On 22 March 2013 I was cycling though Woolsthorpe and wanted to visit the Manor House where Sir Isaac Newton was born in 1642. Unfortunately it was closed when I arrived so put it on my list for a future visit. Today is that day and after an uneventful drive I arrived just after the 11am opening time. £5.50 got me in, which I thought reasonable.
Woolsthorpe Manor, Colsterworth, Lincolnshire was the birthplace of Sir Isaac Newton on 25 December 1642. The house is now administered by the National Trust and open to the public from spring to autumn. The house is furnished with period items on load from the Victoria and Albert museum. The only annoying thing about National trust properties is that they don’t allow photography inside so my photo visit lacks images of the rooms.

Isaac Newton (age 46)
by Godfrey Kneller

Woolsthorpe Manor

Woolsthorpe Manor,
wide angle view in black and white

The Royal Society visit Woolsthorpe in 1927
to commemorate the bicentenary of
Newton's death.
One of the visitors is Albert Einstein

Spare room

This is believed to be the tree where Newton observed an apple fall, inspiring him to formulate his law of universal gravitation.

Front door view

Undated front door view

Front door in 1903

Prof Stephen Hawking visits in 1989

On Monday I was on the train heading for Crewe when I looked out of the window to see the huge Radio Telescope at Jodrell Bank. It reminded me that it’s a place I’ve been meaning to visit so decided to call in today.
The Lovell Telescope is a radio telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory, Cheshire. When it was constructed in 1955, the telescope was the largest steerable dish radio telescope in the world at 76.2 m (250 ft) in diameter. It is now the third largest, after the Green Bank telescope in West Virginia, USA, and the Effelsberg telescope in Germany. It was originally known as the "250 ft telescope" or the Radio Telescope at Jodrell Bank. It was renamed to the Lovell Telescope in 1987 after Sir Bernard Lovell OBE (1913 - 2012), and became a Grade I listed building in 1988.(thanks to Wikipedia for the above info.)

Lovell Radio Telescope

Room with a view beyond the stars

Lovell Radio Telescope from
the main viewing area

Lovell Radio Telescope from the south

Live display of the dish monitoring pulsars

Live trace and available to print and take away

Infra Red view. Me on left and bandit on right

The shop. Not many books and predominantly by Prof Brian Cox OBE

I thought it would be good to investigate some of the minor lanes in Cheshire by bike. Catching the train to Crewe then cycling home seemed the obvious way to do it. There is no direct train service and I knew I would have to change at either Preston or Manchester Piccadilly. The problem with that is the final service being run by Virgin who have a bike policy that needs pre-booking. I cycled to Chorley and they couldn’t get me a booking from Manchester until the 11:55am train. I decided to take a chance and caught the 08:35 from Chorley and once at Piccadilly went to the Virgin help desk who were able to change my 11:55am booking to the earlier 9:55 train.

The train manager makes an announcement

The bike compartment doesn’t have a passenger operated door so I had to find the guard (now train manager) to tell him that I wanted to get off at Crewe. I reached Crew OK and was on my way just after 10:30am. I’d pre-planned my route to keep to the minor lanes as far as possible and was using my Garmin Etrex30 fixed to the handlebars to monitor the route ahead. The weather was fine and warm and got better as the day progressed. The terrain was flat and easy and my first stop was at ‘The King’s Lock’ on the Trent & Mersey canal. I was soon through Middlewich and on the long straight King St (B5309) which was presumably on the line of a previous Roman Road. I left it at the Davenham Road to head through Northwich. I crossed the Swing Bridge over the Weaver Navigation then through minor lanes to Antrobus and on to Warrington. I approached on the A49 and planned to head west along Ellesmere Road. I found it was a one-way road and not in my favour. So I had to cycle slowly along the footbath to get to the A5060 and the swing bridge. Through Warrington it was on to Newton-le-Willows where I stopped to have something to eat outside Laurel Bank houses. The end house was where I used to visit my uncle, aunty and cousin when a small boy in the 50s. I finished my lunch outside the old Market House then continued through Ashton-in-Makerfield, Aspull, Blackrod and home.

Crewe Railway Station

The King's Lock
on the Trent & Mersey canal

Swing Bridge over the Weaver Navigation

on the Weaver Navigation

Laurel Bank
Newton-le-Willows

The old Market House

Profile of the ride

Plan of the route

I arrived home at 14:30, had a quick shower and went to take a few photos of the Whittle Duck Race. The main race (plastic ducks on the River Lostock) was just finishing about 15:10.

Bridge over the River Lostock - waiting for the ducks to appear.

This afternoon I was cycling through Bretherton when I noticed the memorial by the road where eighteen-year old cyclist Lewis Balyckyi was killed by a van driver on 18 Jan 2011. The van driver was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and was later found not guilty.

As I returned home through Bamber Bridge I stopped at the traffic lights as they were on red. A cyclist came by me and rode straight through the red lights.

Team time trial, seen on a walk along the canal bank this evening

Drove to RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire to the Battle of Britain memorial Flight museum.
RAF Coningsby is home to Typhoon and Tornado fast jets. It is also home to the propeller-driven aircraft Spitfire, Hurricane, Lancaster, Dakota and Chipmunk of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

Beautiful lines of the Supermarine Spitfire

Maintenance on a Hawker Hurricane

The Hawker Hurricane about
to have an engine test

The Avro Lancaster

Lancaster Gun turret with twin Brownings

BR1155 radio receiver.
My late father was in the RAF during WW2
and would have been very familiar
with this equipment.

The Tallboy Bomb One of these
was used to sink the 45,000ton German Battleship Tirpitz on 12 Nov 1944.
Designed by Barnes Wallis and
weighing 5 tons;
40% explosives and 60% casing.

The Anderson Shelter (Low tech protection from bombs)
The shelters were named after Sir John Anderson who in 1938 was made Home Secretary and put in charge or Air Raid precautions. They were designed by William Patterson and made of corrugated steel. 500,000 were made and given to people on less than £5 per week. Those earning more had to pay £7. They were uncomfortable and many people chose to risk staying indoors and sheltering under the stairs

The Anderson Shelter

RAF Scampton became the home of 617 Squadron in 1943. They were known as Squadron X when formed. We now know them as the "Dambusters."
Operation Chastise was an attack on German dams carried out on 16–17 May 1943 by Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron, subsequently known as the "Dambusters", using a specially developed "bouncing bomb" invented and developed by Barnes Wallis. The Möhne and Edersee Dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley.

On the way home I passed RAF Scampton

This afternoon I visited Withnell Fold Primary School which was my old school in the 1950s. The reason was to give the students an illustrated talk on the history of the village of Withnell Fold and the Paper Mill that used to be there until it closed in 1967. It was nice to see how things have changed over the years, mostly for the better. I could tell the children had been paying attention because of the barrage of questions at the end. Many years ago Kenneth Whitehead, who was the last mill manager, gave me an opened pack of paper made at the mill. I gave each of the children a sheet to keep as a memento.

Withnell Fold School
Wed 01 May 2013

The same classroom in 1911

= = = =

In the nearby village of Higher Wheelton I noticed the old Methodist Chapel is now being converted. Presumably to a residential dwelling.