A visit to Ambleside, 2hrs walking on Loughrigg Fell, 1hr lunch at Zeffirelli’s, 1hr shopping.
Our favourites Cunningham’s Outdoor Clothing shop opposite the old bridge house, The Detail shop opposite a pub for nice design items, The Old Bank Chocolate Factory Shop walking towards the garage on the main road, not to be confused with other chocolate shops.
Loughrigg is quite a low fell overlooking Ambleside. It overlooks the Langdales on one side and Grasmere on the other.
Blackwell is a large house overlooking Lake Windermere, built as an arts and craft house in 1900 by the Holts brewing family of Manchester. We visited in December to have a Christmas Lunch, very good it was, booking essential as it’s not very big and they don’t make many lunches.
The house is styled by Baillie Scott a famous arts and craft architect and designer using a theme of natural products and shapes. After the meal we had a guided tour which is one of the activities on Friday, with different ones each day. We learnt a lot about the family and how they lost their eldest son in WW1 and the younger son took over making a big success and founding Christie Hospital in Manchester as well.
On a sunny day the views and light are excellent. The house was built so the main windows look south and over the lake to make the most of the light. There are other exhibitions in the house, the current one is Women in the Art and Craft Movement.
Blackwell Arts and Craft House, near Bowness
The Fylde Gallery is an attractive and small place upstairs in Booths store at Lytham. It has a regular change of exhibition. In November 2017 a display by Jeffrey Hammond showed us his bright and large acrylic paintwork of local scenes and some further afield. To add flavour let it be known that Jeffrey played bass in Jethro Tull for a while in their heyday and lives locally.
Blackpool features strongly and these are really in your face when you first go in:
The Fylde Gallery, Lytham
Gresgarth Hall, where is that? That’s what I said. About 5 miles east of Lancaster on the road to Kirkby Lonsdale, turn right at Caton and there it is. On a bend the long tree lined drive hides the house.
It’s only open once a month and closed in winter and only the gardens are open. They’re very nice gardens though. Designed by Arabella Lennox-Boyd; a valley laced with paths, follies, trees planted to show off their bark, pretty bridges over a stream and sudden views. 12 acres.
Well worth the trip and afterwards we drove to Kirkby Lonsdale and wandered through the churchyard to see Ruskin’s View. Lovely place Kirkby Lonsdale. Other options are Devil’s Bridge which is a walk along the river bank or a walk from the market square along a ginnel doing both is a nice circle.
Under a mile from Lancaster city centre up a hill is Williamson Park, a small lake and fountain, a wooded area, the Ashton Memorial, Butterfly House, aviary, mammal house and cafe. Most of all there is a scenic view of the Lake District and Morecambe Bay across to Barrow, Blackpool Tower is visible.
On an cold November day we were privileged with a clear view. Climbing up the Ashton Memorial gave an even better view. The cafe was fairly busy as was the Butterfly House which is worth going to see.
A visit to the ELR on Saturday 14th October for the Steam Event. Running were ex Southern 34092 City of Wells and ex-LNER 60009 Union of South Africa plus some local locos.
We drove to Rawtenstall which is the nearest station and taking a wrong turning came upon a shopping area that has a big car park for the M&S Food, Aldi, Costa etc and a convenient path to the station. Tickets on a steam day are £13.20 each and we boarded the 10.30 hauled by 34092 which was looking very smart in dark green. Arriving at Ramsbottom it was found the loco had a ‘hot axle’ so after a short wait it was replaced by 52392 which must have been a big disappointment to the dozens of photographers strategically positioned on the hills along the track. Well I’m thinking that could have been me as I was thinking of getting some trackside shots. I wonder who owns the loco and how much it costs to do a repair like that.
Arriving at Bury the train was 25 minutes late so emergency measures were taken for those who wanted to take Union of South Africa back. They were told to run across the track while stewards made sure they went safely. The platform was packed with enthusiasts and 60009 was looking magnificent, the shape of the loco, its curves are beautifully designed and metalwork beautifully formed.
We stayed at on the station and had refreshment, there were a lot of stall holders selling railway memorabilia. Plenty of beer being drunk as well as the tea. We waited for 13000 to arrive and some exchange was done to haul the train to Heywood. We had intended to visit the Bury Transport Museum but had got behind schedule so decided to get the train back so we could visit The Whitaker Museum and Art Gallery in Rawtenstall.
Getting back to the car we were able to do some shopping then drive to the Whitaker which is about half a mile from the station. It’s a smallish building in a park on the side of a hill. Formerly a mill owners house it contains a cafe, museum and art gallery. The cafe serves very good food and is quite stylish although service was slow on that day. It was busy. The art gallery had a local artist’s open display. The quality was high and obviously selective with prices also quite high. The museum is fairly small but interesting with some Horrocks displays similar to what I’ve seen at Queen Street Mill Museum in Burnley. The museum is good if you’re nearby but not worth a journey.
Overall it was a good day and one that will be repeated although perhaps getting the 9.30 train would give more time as we like to be home by 4.
Traditionally Birmingham has been known as the ‘second city’ after London. For the last 20 years Manchester’s star has been rising and it now makes a valid claim to be second city. The Northern Powerhouse seemed to support this call and the devolved powers given to Manchester both promoted by George Osborne.
Yet behind the scenes the Midland Engine project is getting a lot of infrastructure investment. This covers Birmingham, Nottingham, Leicester and the area of the Midlands between Shropshire and Lincolnshire. Birmingham will be the first to get improved High Speed Rail services making it a nod away from London and freeing up other routes, and many banks are re-locating to Birmingham.
Manchester was King Cotton and Birmingham was the workshop to the world. Both are great centres. Both have lost their original purpose. Manchester has appeared to be more successful in re-inventing itself sometimes it seems on the back of its soccer teams and the music of the 90s. The airport is much more successful than any in the Midlands and that is a driver of investment. The transfer, reluctantly, of the BBC studios to Manchester (Salford actually) also brought some prestige.
Also in the north is Leeds which, with Yorkshire swagger, also makes claims to greatness. Quite a number of financial companies are in Leeds. Improving links between Manchester and Leeds is one of the Northern Powerhouse targets. So called High Speed 3. Viewed from the north lack of east-west transport investment has long been a difficulty yet it can seem local rivalries almost encourage keeping each other at arms length.
It seems that Birmingham is currently a place to watch although Manchester’s devolved powers might give it another surge and will links to Leeds create emphasis the powerhouse. Interesting times.
A shock announcement on Tuesday 18th April that the government intends to call a General Election for the 8th June. This needs a 2/3 majority in the House of Commons to over-ride the law that elections will be held every 5 years.
Come April 19th Parliament voted 522-13 in favour of a General Election.
The government claims they need a bigger majority and a mandate from the public to get the best deal out of Brexit. The majority is small and the Conservatives have some fanatical Brexiters who can make life difficult. As well as their own fanatics the government accuses all the other parties and the House of Lords of threatening to obstruct the deal when negotiated.
That’s politics, first you agree with the idea. Then you find a little bit you don’t like and from that object to it all with the intention of gaining advantage over your opposition. They say they have principles but it’s all about power.
Another reason for the election is said to be that an election is due in 2020 and the government could have its hands tied if there are problems during negotiations in 2019. Putting a future election back to 2022 will give time for interim agreements or problems to be sorted out.
As a Remain supporter it has to be agreed that with an almost hung Parliament we’re going to get a lot of brinkmanship and attempted blackmail over the negotiations. Some people want to leave the EU under any conditions regardless of the damage it will do.
Only the Lib Dems are guaranteeing a 2nd referendum. This may sound attractive, but is likely to result strengthening the EU’s hand if they think the UK could change its mind. Whether that’s a good thing is worth pondering.
It isn’t guaranteed that the government will get a bigger majority, but you have to hope it doesn’t end up messy with several parties that don’t really agree trying to form a government through a loose alliance.
Work is underway at a fairly slow pace on electrifying more track in the North West of England.
Currently the Manchester to Blackpool line is forecast for completion for the summer timetable of 2018. Work on re-aligning the track is underway. A big task will close Blackpool station from November 2017 for several weeks into 2018.
Trans-Pennine routes from Manchester to York and Selby are underway. This is a large project involving 76 miles of track and many tunnels and bridges. 2022 is a date mentioned for completion.
A 300metre stretch in the middle of Manchester, called the Ordsall Chord, is underway which will allow trains to go between Victoria and Piccadilly. Unfortunately it cuts off the track at the Manchester Science Museum that is the original stretch from the earliest Stephenson days. Forecast for completion in late 2017.
There is talk of a High Speed 3 (HS3) link between Manchester and Leeds. As well as the HS2 link to Manchester and Leeds from Birmingham, creating a neat triangle. Although it isn’t certain what standard of high speed HS3 will be. Quite likely to be slower than HS2. Give that 20 years.
In addition there is work scoping big changes to rail signalling. This will remove all trackside signals and put them in the drivers cab along with data exchanges that will enable trains to have moving clear stretches between them rather than them being fixed by stationary signals. Give that 30 years.
There is a lot happening on rail.
Hard Working on Preston to Blackpool electrification March 2017
If you visit the north Lancashire coast you can see rows of windmills near the horizon. The closest is Barrow, 90MW. Nearby are 3 others: West of Duddon Sands 389MW, Ormonde 150MW, Walney 9MW. Just off the Mersey is Burbo Bank Extension under construction 256MW. Further out is Gwynt y Mor 576MW.
1.5GW of wind power in a small section of the Irish Sea.
The Electoral Commission is to publish initial findings on the 13th September for its review of boundaries. There will then be a 12 week public consultation period and two other public reviews before the September 2018 presentation to Parliament.
The Commission has an objective to maintain equality in the numbers of registered voters in each constituency while respecting local affinities.
For the 2018 review Parliament has directed that the number of constituencies is reduced to 600 from 650. This is objected to by the opposition, Labour, as their seats tend to be in smaller constituencies although they maintain that there is a higher number of unregistered people in those areas. While the Conservatives claim that Labour has a built in majority by having too many seats.
The North West has an electorate of 5,074,302 and 75 seats. It is expected this will be reduced to 68 seats. The North West will have the biggest reduction in seats of any area.
Scotland and Wales have the smallest electoral numbers in constituencies, with one in Scotland being only 21,000. The Isle of Wight is the largest being 108,000 and several in the South East are very big. Preston is in the smaller ones with 59,000. The average needs to be around 75,000 and all the others, except 4, are to be within plus or minus 5% or between about 71,000 to 79,000.
The proposal is to be made to the Secretary of State by September 2018 and to be used in the General Election of 2020.
It seems reasonable to have seats with similar numbers of voters. It isn’t fair to voters if a few people can vote in an MP in one place and it takes thousands more in another. We don’t allow for registered voters who don’t vote in elections and similarly we shouldn’t allow for unregistered voters. It also seems sensible to reduce the number of MPs. It isn’t obvious that an extra few thousand voters will add an intolerable burdon to an MPs workload if some already cover nearly 100,000.
Another difficulty with the change is that a number of MPs are going to lose their seat altogether and that can make things harder for party leaders.
Overall this seems a good thing and look to a similar exercise in the House of Lords.
Keep up to date on the Electoral Commission website:
On the 1st August it was announced that the Lake District will be extended eastwards to the M6 and the Yorkshire Dales will be extended westwards to the M6.
From the west coast to the east coast there is now only a gap of about 20 miles that is not in National Park land. That is the gap between the Yorkshire Dales and the North Yorkshire Moors National Parks.
Although the M6 itself appears to be in a corridor of unprotected land. That stretch around Tebay is probably the most scenic stretch of motorway in Britain.
Sizergh Castle which is a pleasing National Trust property in south Lakeland is now in the Lake District National Park.
Sizergh Castle National Trust
The only hiccup in the latest change is that the Yorkshire Dales National Park now extends into Lancashire so we think the name should be changed to the Lancashire & Yorkshire Dales.
Route from Slaidburn to Clitheroe
Lancashire has some interesting places. We visited Slaidburn in the Forest of Bowland with the Friends of the Lancashire Archives. That area has large parts of the Duke of Westminster’s Estate. From the west you can access it from Clitheroe, Longridge or from the A6 near Galgate. You soon enter hilly and isolated areas with very narrow lanes that go on and on, making for slow travel especially the route from the A6 or to Longridge.
Slaidburn features several interesting houses in the surrounding area as well as quaint pub with B&B. The war memorial is also very poignant.
There are more photos on the website: http://www.madeinpreston.co.uk/1hrAway/slaidburn.html
June 23rd was the day the UK voted to leave the EU by 52%/48%. In England the country and towns voted to leave while the big cities voted to remain. Wales voted out. Scotland, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar voted to remain.
The north west followed English trends with only Manchester, Liverpool and LibDem South Lakeland voting to remain. What is it about the towns and countryside that made them vote out?
Boris Johnson who was probably the main cheer leader for Leave says it was sovereignty, the right to vote for their representatives. Although most commentators say immigration was the biggest factor and if the EU had been more flexible in allowing the UK to restrict immigration it would have made a difference.
Both sides accuse the other of lying. Although Boris Johnson being photographed next to a poster saying the £355million a day will be given to the NHS seems the most memorable example. A second example could be the emergency budget threats George Osborne made.
The Labour Party MPs landed themselves in a civil war by accusing their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, of being ineffectual. It did seem that his heart wasn’t in the Remain case.
Basically 72% turned out and of that 52% voted to Leave so just over a third of the population voted out. Of those a good majority where in the older category. From anecdotal experience immigration, in so far as it clogs up schools, housing, hospitals and jobs plus sovereignty are the big issues in that group regardless of them being Labour or Conservative voters. It is a feature of a referendum that extremists of the left and right are likely to vote for the same side. So it begins to make the outcome less certain in an election on this kind of subject.
That young people tend not to turn out is also a factor, although who is to say that the non-voters would vote to plan.
Overall the people have spoken. As a very strong Remain voter it is still our expectation that the so called Project Fear is more like a 10-15 year project. The worsening of the economy will happen slowly after a bumpy year or two.
Seems like everyone I speak to or read on Facebook wants out of the EU. On this basis the result will be 90/10 for leaving.
Yet the pundits say it’s a very close thing and Remain is likely to win. There is up to 40 years of pain for some people and they’re letting us know, that’s the only explanation I can find.
There are a lot of bogus numbers about. Like the £355m a week we are said to pay the EU, in reality it’s nearer £130m as we don’t pay or get most of it back. Still a lot. There’s the claim each family will be £4,300 worse off if we leave, I’ve no idea where that comes from, probably possible loss of business.
The Leaving case revolves around: The right to self govern, controls over immigration, reduction in red tape, making our own trade deals, keeping the payments to the EU to spend on what we want.
The Remain case revolves around: we’re already doing relatively well, being a full member of the big EU market and having a say in what it does, the benefits of inward investment by being part of the market. Having our voice made louder by being part of the biggest trading area in the world. Not leaping into the unknown.
There is a lot more depth to those points and there is a counter to every one.
In conclusion I’ve heard nothing that makes me believe we will be better outside or that we won’t have to do deals that negate the reasons for leaving. At the moment voting Remain seems logical. The EU has a lot of problems but so does everyone.
A packaging company in Nelson, East Lancashire, has closed due to cheap imports of plastic packaging and the 5p charge on plastic bags. Some 50 manufacturing jobs lost in an area that needs jobs. Bad news.
A decision is due on replacing the existing submarines for the Trident nuclear weapon system. These submarines are built in the North West of England.
Those who support it believe it is a deterrent and weapon of last resort that has made a major war unimaginable, making smaller conflicts the only option. They also believe that Europe should play its part in defence of the west and not rely wholly on the USA. The UK and France have this capability in Europe. Several other countries in the world have the capability and others are developing it. Another element is in maintaining the thousands of skilled jobs involved with it.
Those against it point to the moral aspect of weapons of mass destruction and war in general. They believe that current wars are more related to insurgency than major attacks and that defence should be sized for that. They also point to the cost and how the money could be better spent. Some are developing a case to say the technology is outdated. Others think it makes them a more likely target.
No doubt most people would like to reduce defence costs although some say an alternative would be more expensive. On the moral side the only country to have given up nuclear weapons is Ukraine and the UK was a signatory to the agreement to defend its borders. A rather thin guarantee in the end.
In reality the jobs aspect should have no bearing on the decision as it is a matter of defence need and it is likely that other submarines and more ships will be needed to carry alternative weapons as well as extra squadrons of aircraft.
Although using nuclear weapons appears unimaginable, as a weapon of last resort they definitely appear to have a deterrent effect. As there are smaller wars happening in Europe and the Middle East and China is building new bases far out to sea it seems a risky option not to maintain the capability and hope that they are never needed.
The leader and some Labour MPs are aligned with the SNP and Green Party in wanting to remove nuclear weapons. Although a large number of Labour MPs support the renewal. The Conservatives support renewing the system and it is expected a vote in Parliament will approve it this year.
The North West of England is a great place to live. The northern half is all hills and lakes with attractive towns like Ambleside and Keswick. Even the roads are great, the M6 winds through the hills at Tebay and climbs over Shap, there aren’t many better Motorway routes.
Rydal Water near Ambleside
The central area is mellow hills and farmland with small cities like Lancaster and Preston, resorts like Blackpool, Southport and Morecambe on a flat coastal area of rich soil. As well as interesting small places such as Arnside with its long viaduct and tidal bore coming in from Morecambe Bay. Inland is the Forest of Bowland which is an area of hills, without trees, and pleasant market towns and villages. Clitheroe and Whalley are two interesting towns, known for up-market wine merchants and up-market clothes stores respectively as well as a castle and an abbey, both ruined. Blackburn, Burnley and Wigan are also in this area and both have interesting features including the Leeds Liverpool Canal and Cotton Mill museums.
To the south is Manchester and Liverpool and the county of Cheshire. Two great cities and a county full of interesting country houses and National Trust houses plus Jodrell Bank radio telescope. There is also the area around Ramsbottom which has the interesting East Lancs Railway. Liverpool has greatly upped its tourist attractiveness in the last few years.
The North West of England, which is about 120 miles long, 30 miles wide holds around 7 million people, mainly in the southern half and a wide range of things to see from city, hill, lake and sea.
The USA stepped up its space programme yesterday with the test launch and recovery of the Orion capsule designed for a manned journey to Mars and back. The flight was the first time an inhabitable capsule has gone beyond low earth orbit for over 40 years. Reaching 3600 miles and returning to earth.
A journey to Mars and back will take going on for 2 years. The Martian year is almost double the Earth year so the flight can only be done when the alignments are right which only happens a few times a year. This is a long term programme and unless serious rivalry builds it will be 20 years before the flight to Mars.
It’s fitting that the USA leads the space race as most of its population are born of those who took the step beyond the comfort zone to reach out for a place they knew little of. Or knew nothing at all in the earliest visits where the risk of falling off the flat earth was a huge danger.
