Joe's cup is below this plate

The cup was empty.

Lovely lighting as I walked back along Black Brook

This morning I was walking in Cumbria and used the occasion to test my new inReach SE satellite tracker. It also has the advantage of being able to sent and receive emails and txt messages via satellite.

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Walked to the Whittle-le-Woods, Town Lane book swap telephone box. I left several books for others to read and collected one for me to read. It’s only recently opened and good to see more books appearing. The book swap box on Waterhouse Green has been thriving since the end of last year.

While on a very windy cycle ride over from Rivington to Belmont this morning I stopped to take this snap of the boundary sign between Chorley and Blackburn with Darwen. I prefer the thought that we may be twinned with the North Pole than Szekesfehervar, even though I’ve never been to either. Perhaps instead of being twinned we should be triplicated so that we could have two other siblings, one serious and the other surreal.

One of Cumbria’s finest hidden gems is Smardale Gill Railway Viaduct. It is a grade 2 listed structure 27.5m (90ft) high, 168m long and 14 arches. It was constructed for the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway and complete in 1861. After the line closed in 1962 the viaduct fell into disrepair. After a considerable amount of investment and work it was re-opened to pedestrians in 1992. It is a delight to walk along and has easy access from either Smardale, near Kirkby Stephen or Newbiggin-on-Lune by the A685.

Today I started a cycle ride across the Scottish Borders. I started form Sanquhar then cycled east. Two trains were needed to get there, Preston to Carlisle then Carlisle to Sanquhar.

Carlisle rail station platform 7.
Last train to Sanquhar.

Arriving at a deserted Sanquhar rail station in the rain and dark.

This evening's photo.

The display on Tue 11 Nov 2011, just before the switch off.

Fireplace of the 16th century
Wycoller Hall c1920

The same view this morning

A short 30 second video in the dining hall area

Wycoller Beck

Early visitors to WycollerBeck

The Greenwich Time Signal pips are 90 years old today. They have been broadcast daily on the radio since 5 February 1924. Happy Birthday.
There are six pips in total, which occur on the 5 seconds leading up to the hour. The first five pips are a tenth of a second long, while the final pip lasts half a second. The actual moment when the hour changes – the "on-time marker" – is at the very beginning of the last pip.

Vantage Toyota showroom.

Before

And after

Yesterday’s cycle ride by the Yarrow Reservoir was a failure because ice on the roads made it too dangerous to get there. This morning it was above freezing and lovely weather, so I made it. The Yarrow overflow into Anglezarke Reservoir was flowing because of recent rain. This snap was taken from Knowsley Lane.

Near Lucas Green, Whittle-le-Woods is this excavated anti-aircraft gun base and associated pillbox. It was excavated over 12 months ago as part of a pre-construct archaeological survey of the area. The pillbox has been visible since it was built in the early 1940s but the gun base wasn’t known about. Unfortunately the vandals have move in and it is being steadily damaged and destroyed. So more of our heritage vanishing before our eyes.

J.38