Bits and pieces

HFF…. Will wars never end? A memorial to the fallen of the Great War of 1914-1919 here in the peaceful coastal village of Lochinver in Scotland. Sadly for the population in and around The Ukraine, it seems that wars will never end. The preceding photo shows the main front of Lochinver, this memorial just to the right. Enjoy this in peace, so far away from our Ukrainian neighbours this weekend and spare them a thought in their hour of need! Have a peaceful weekend. Herb

Seen in Lincolnshire on a warm summer’s day. As a moth it has grey/black forewings and hind wings of scarlet with charcoal edging. Found normally in open places during May to August. There numbers have been reported to have fallen by 83% during the last 35 years. We see again the colours of the Ukraine flag here integrating into the beauty of nature. Let’s hope for peace and happiness soon. Enjoy the day in peace. Herb

As each day here in Britain, we feel and experience the results of Russia’s war on Ukraine. This has resulted in a rapid price in energy bills due to the self-imposed lowering of Russian gas imports. So here is one of the main attempts that the whole of Europe is hoping to compensate with: wind power! These in Lincolnshire (taken with a long lens) are what are known as offshore windfarms (yes these are in the sea) and that is where most of our wind produced electric energy comes from. On-shore farms are set in our countryside. It is promised that many more of each will have to be constructed. NB - this description changed from original. Enjoy full screen.

In the market square of Knaresborough are two benches, each seating a sculpture. This one is 'Blind Jack' (1717-1810) with his surveyor's wheel, a local character. He was the first professional road builder to emerge after the Industrial revolution. Sculptor: Barbara Asquith The second sculpture is 'Mother Shipton'. Born in Knaresborough in the late 15th centaury. A Tudor prophetess believed to have predicted such events as the great Fire of London. Born Ursula Sontheil in a cave near the River Nidd in 1488. Died in 1561 at 80 years. Notice the old pub called 'Blind Jacks' in the background. Sculptor: Chris Kelly. Enjoy full screen.

All aboard this vintage steam train carriage for our trip from Bridgnorth to Bewdley on the SVR (Severn Valley Railway). I know –it’s not exactly a row of benches but it would have been, some years earlier. Enjoy full size and enjoy your week in safety.

The Saltburn Cliff Lift is a funicular railway in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Redcar and Cleveland in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. It provides access to Saltburn Pier and the seafront from the town. The cliff lift is the oldest operating water-balance cliff lift in the United Kingdom. Saltburn Cliff Lift was constructed between 1883 and 1884 to replace a vertical cliff hoist, designed by John Anderson, which was used to transport passengers up and down the steep north-facing cliff between the town and the pier. It improved access for tourists to the seafront and beach. Designed by George Croydon Marks for the manufacturer Richard Tangye, the cliff lift has a height of 120 feet (37 m) and a track length of 207 feet (63 m), resulting 71 per cent incline. A pair of 12-person cars, each fitted with a 240-imperial-gallon (1,100 L) water tank, run on parallel standard gauge tracks; by removing or adding the water to their tanks, movement is achieved, regulated by a brakeman at the top. The lift opened on Saturday 28 June 1884. The original cars have been replaced with aluminium counterparts and the top station restored, but little of the underlying mechanism has been changed since it was installed. Owned since the Second World War by the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland, the lift remains in regular use between March and October each year. It is one of Saltburn's most popular tourist attractions. Reportedly, the service was being used by an estimated 150,000 passengers per year by the twenty-first century. ~ WiKi

Actually the gates from a mausoleum but don’t tell anybody. Seen at Saddell Abbey. Enjoy the weekend.

One from the achieves. Enjoy

Having walked along the sea-cliffs of this 'Children of Lir' loop (just beyond the top edge here), we come finally to a strange structure, namely the ‘Children of Lir’ sculpture. In truth we knew this was here as it denoted our turn-around point but we expected something more in the way of a ‘traditional’ sculpture. We found nothing explaining how these walls and bits represented elements of the story: The Children of Lir sculpture - one of a series from the Spirit of Place Sculpture Trail which centres on culturally-distinct, historic, unspoiled and isolated regions around the world. The sculpture has significance to this area from where thousands of people have emigrated in the past to all parts of the world – bringing with them a strong spirit of place – but never to return. The legend of The Children of Lir tells the tale of children who were turned into swans and condemned to wander the countryside for 900 years, 300 of these were spent on the north Mayo Island, Inishglora, 300 on Lough Derravaragh and 300 years in the Sea of Moyle (above County Antrim) . More info on the legend: www.irishcentral.com/roots/irish-myth-children-lir-swan-lake We were to visit the northern spot with another storyboard near Bushmills on our second week here. Inishglora Isand can just about be seen (I think) in the PiP photo. Have a good day.

A chance for both boys and girls to get some extra exercise and friendly sport on this Saturday morning. Taken at the side of one of our new local schools on what appears to be artificial turf. A certain reluctance nowadays to take such snaps as parents and staff soon get suspicious of the reasons. For me, of course, it’s simply getting some interest along with a fence. HFF, enjoy the weekend.

A lone adult leading a child over this wobbly bridge with the waves crashing below. Our viewing of this showed many people going over it with some trepidation and maybe understandable fear. They were only allowed over, singularly or in very small personal groups.

We are just at the sea edge of the Ballycroy National Park here in County Mayo and walking along the beach. To the land side there is a bank of over 1.5metres of peat that makes up the coastline but no doubt it is much deeper. Here we see that the peat bogs are covering up ancient tree roots. As we know, peat can preserves such roots for millennium so I wonder just how old this tree would be? Maybe it was here when the Vikings were about or even cavemen?

A rare natural history insect capture from me here. This seen in a pond on a recent drive and walk. Damselflies (suborder Zygoptera) are smaller than dragonflies and are known for their graceful flight and dazzling colours at times. This couple are in their mating position. More info: www.britannica.com/animal/damselfly Enjoy full screen.

A surprise night visit to York gives us a chance to join this special walking tour. Our very professional wench host, Alice, takes us down the small lanes and corners to relate stories of ghost seen near that spot and other blood-curdling tales of days long past. York has a great deal of history from Roman, Viking and the dark-ages including our Civil war. Enjoy full screen and All the Very Best for Christmas.

This is situated very near the castle in the main square of Bamburgh in Northumbria. Actually it is described as 'The Old Animal drinking fountain'. The fountain dates from the early 19th Century and is grade II listed. See PiP for the square itself. Enjoy.

A trip to the Yorkshire towns of Oxenhope, Harworth and Keighley in 2010 found us in the middle of a 40s weekend at Harworth. As these places with their heritage railway centres were locations for the famous Yanks film of 1978, it was no wonder then that this type of scene was very popular. Looks like these gentlemen had received a warm welcome from the ladies of the town here :) Enjoy full screen

A homage to our late Queen here. There are a lot of these E.R (Elizabeth Regina: Queen Elizabeth) post boxes around and even many with G.R (George Rex: King George) inscribed. I wonder how many C.R post-boxes will be produced and lovingly kept going like this one seen in Northern Ireland. In these days of email and multi-media messaging it would seem that the days pf post-boxes are numbered. We have had royal post boxes since the reign of Queen Victoria and there are a quite a few people who still search for and collect real sightings of the rarer ones. Here is a list of post-box monarchs: VR – Queen Victoria : 1837-1901 ER VII – King Edward VII : 1901-1910 GR – King George V : 1910-1936 ER VIII – King Edward VIII : Jan-Dec 1936 GR VI – King George VI : 1936-1952 EIIR – Queen Elizabeth II : 1952-2022 CIIIR – King Charles III : 2022-present. Enjoy full screen More info: memoirsofametrogirl.com/2019/07/21/london-post-boxes-royal-mail-history-queen-victoria-queen-elizabeth-ii

The ‘Ribble Valley Live Steamers’ are up and running on this Sunday afternoon round trip at their headquarters at Eddisford bridge, Clitheroe. Now don’t laugh, for these engines are very serious bits of sophisticated engineering with the ability to pull around this track up to two four people carriages. That is quite amazing. Each one having been lovingly crafted as near to its full size equivalent as possible. A mixture of engines here on this day with at least four more out of sight. The two front ones here having just discharged their fun loving travelling charges. A good time to grab a bite to eat and stoke up the fires! See Pip. Enjoy full screen More info: www.facebook.com/RVLSteamers/?locale=en_GB