Stroll 74 Blackburn to Chorley

 

I moved further into Lancashire on the Leeds Liverpool canal. Good to see plenty of Red Roses around. A lovely stretch contours around to head south towards Wigan. I got off at Chorley, then got a train back via Preston. Met the usual assortment of wonderful people. Life is a bit of a privilege sometimes.

Friends

Here are the four friends in Valencia.

 

Face Paint

Whilst we watched the World Cup final here in York, Rowan was in Valencia with three friends for the weekend. A local was happy to give Rowan a Spain flag on her cheeks. Looked reasonably crazy after the win, but in my daughter's words "to be honest it wasn't a patch on when Arsenal won the league"

 

Purple haze

On a bit of a butterfly roll at the moment. I saw this Purple Hairstreak in Museum gardens in the centre of York this week. I take the photos mainly to aid identification. Not works of art, but they do the job.

 

World Cup

 Rob, Mark and I always used to watch at least one World Cup match together. This year Rob's widow Kath invited us with Mandy and Rowan to watch a game at their house. It was a sad but good occasion. 

True to the past, it was the painful England exit to horrible Argentina. Danielle and I watched the final at home, and it was a great relief that Spain won.

Stroll 73 Gargrave to Colne

 

A walk along the Leeds Liverpool canal, from the Yorkshire Dales over to the East Lancs milltowns. A beautiful day, a good breeze and plenty of water for Layla to keep herself cool in. 

This is the reservoir built to keep the canal topped up at the summit of the canal, above Foulridge tunnel.

Where the Meadow meets the Barley

The fields we walk through in Escrick are ever-changing but always lovely. This time of year is no different.

 

Tapas?

 Saturday we were due to go with Shin-Suk and Peter to the best tapas bar in Snaith (near Goole). Until Peter found out it was out of business, so now Snaith has no tapas bars. I cooked a curry and they came round to ours instead. A very pleasant evening, which turned into a very stressful evening after Peter and Shin-Suk left and Danielle and I watched England v Norway in the football. It is never easy.

Danielle and Emilie at the gig.

Self Esteem

 A good weekend. Friday evening we went to see Self Esteem at the Museum Gardens in York. This was one of a series of evening gigs. This was the one we wanted to see. Fantastic performance that really was way better than your average gig. We went with Emilie and met up with Edward, Faye and John. The weather perfect and the vibe pleasant.

   

Meadow Brown

Back at the new forest, this meadow brown was one of hundreds that flitted around the meadow. It is a beautiful time.

 

Stroll 72

 

Looking across the Ribble valley towards Longridge Fell and others. Good to be in Lancashire again.

Stroll 72 Burnley to Blackburn

 A great stroll along the Leeds and Liverpool canal, between the two main mill towns of east Lancashire. It was a good walk, along a route that I cycled when I was a student at Liverpool en-route to Ilkley. I just about worked out where I slept in a field by the canal - it was 47 years ago, so quite a bit of change, not least a motorway. Still a great contouring canal to follow.

Art in Acomb

 On Sunday we walked around the Acomb Arts festival. This included an art show at the church, with a work by Tracy Enim and one by Damian Hurst: not what you'd normally expect in Acomb. It was good fun, we were with Emilie and the dogs, and found a street food pizza truck which was perfect for us all. This shot was taken in the church yard: it took a bit of getting the shot right, and it is not that great, but interesting enough.

Brimstone

 Walking the dog early in the heat today, back at the butterfly meadow. This Brimstone was hiding as a leaf .

Gatekeeper

The meadows in the new forest are alive with butterflies at the moment. Great to see. This is a Gatekeeper, which was one of my Mother's favourites.

 

Back in the Day

Long ago, the first York station was built within the city walls - via a vandalous knocking through of said walls. It has been long gone, but the railway offices at the back of this photo are still there, although now a luxury hotel. The station was replaced by the current one, in the 1860s.

 

Stroll 71 pt2

A beautiful light on the day in the Peak district. 

Stroll 71 Edale to Chinley

 A walk over the Pennines from Edale to Chinley. Followed the start of the Pennine Way up Jacob's Ladder to the top of the Peak district. Famous for unfathomable peat bogs, it was as dry as a bone as we enjoyed the quiet bleakness.

Looking back towards Edale from Jacob's Ladder