Cumbria

A perfect summer's day for a walk up a mountain. Today's walk took in slate quarries above Coniston and then on up to the summit of the Old Man of Coniston. Looking back down from close to the summit, the nearer lake is Low Water and in the distance is Levers Water. The latter was created as a reservoir for the copper mines just visible at the right margin of the view.

Mandalls Slate Co Ltd worked a number of quarries on the slopes of Coniston Old Man. The main processing area was the mill at Saddlestone to where the slate 'clogs' were brought down by an aerial ropeway and sawn in the shed seen here. There were also a number of riving or dressing sheds on this level. The worked stone could then be sent further down the ropeway towards the Coppermines Valley for outward transport by road. Remains of the ropeway are still evident right up the hill with both fixed and moving ropes lying on the ground. The collapsed wooden framework was the start of the next flight of the ropeway.

Towards the top end of Langdale on a day when the weatherman said heavy rain! The nearer hill is Side Pike and to the right the land rises to Kettle Crag and Wrynose Fell. Best viewed large .

The Ulverston Canal was completed in 1796, in order to provide the town of Ulverston with a port. At 15 feet (4.6m) deep and 66 feet (20m) wide, it was intended to accommodate large ships. Railway competition led to a decline through the second half of the 19th century. Commercial traffic ended c1914 and it was abandoned in 1945. These are the top gates of the sea lock with the 1 mile dead straight canal heading off towards the terminal basin.

There are several limekilns around Crosthwaite on the west side of the Lyth valley. This one is in good condition and can just be seen from the road near Dawson Fold.

An astonishing building in the little market town of Ulverston. The use of at least four different colours of bricks on this late 19th century building creates a very striking effect. The whole building may appear to house an estate agency, but the ground floor is actually a cafe!

Another Lyth Valley limekiln. This time a small early kiln that must have produced lime just for local use.

The old Hartleys Brewery in Ulverston dates back to 1755, but the Hartley family only became involved in 1896. In July 1982 Hartleys (Ulverston) Ltd was acquired by Robinsons of Stockport and brewing ceased on the site in November 1991. Today it is used as a distribution depot by Robinsons, but a planning application has recently been submitted to develop the site as a supermarket.

At the end of the byway known as Whitbarrow Road is this limekiln high above the Valley of the Winster. A good place to sit on the adjacent, thoughtfully provided bench, and admire the view.

Deltic 55 002 at Carlisle with the Deltic Scotsman railtour.This ran from York to Inverkeithing via Leeds, Carlisle and Newcastle and then back via the East Coast line. On departure for Newcastle the train soon ran into trouble when damp rail and fallen leaves created problems for the Deltic near Wetheral with severe slipping occurring after being checked by a preceding DMU.

Carlisle was not a place where you normally saw Deltics and there was plenty of interest when 55 002 arrived from Leeds at the head of the Deltic Scotsman tour. Why the crowd all had to gather right against the locomotive to take their photos is beyond me. The subsequent run to Newcastle was less than spectacular as the locomotive suffered badly with greasy rails and nearly slipped to a halt several times.

I wasn't actually out to photograph trains on this day but just happened to spot people waiting by the lineside as I passed Shap in the car. Hastily pulling in and grabbing the camera I was just in time to climb onto the wall and snap Earl of Mount Edgcumbe coming around the bend on the way to Carlisle.

The warning may no longer be necessary as the rusty rails suggest disuse of the loading facilities at the Shap Blue Stone Quarry.

Shunter and wagons on the sidings at the loading point at Corus' Hardendale Quarry, Shap.

Top of the four Maerz limekilns at the Corus operated Hardendale Quarry at Shap.

This former Technical School on Abbey Road, Barrow-in-Furness was built 1900-1903 for Barrow Corporation to the design of Woodhouse and Willoughby. The building contractor was W Gradwell and Co. It is listed Grade II.

Roosecote Power Station was a gas-fired and former coal-fired power station, in Barrow-in-Furness. The gas-fired station opened in 1991 and was the first CCGT power station to supply electricity to the United Kingdom's National Grid. It was mothballed in 2012 after a proposed biomass power station was cancelled and subsequently demolished in 2014-15. It was a Combined cycle gas turbine power station, fueled by gas from Centrica's Morecambe Bay field which is landed at nearby Westfield Point (left background). The station generated electricity using one 165 MWe Alstom GT13E gas turbine, its associated alternator having a terminal voltage of 15.75 kV, rated at 210MVA, from which the exhaust gases at 520C pass through one CMI heat recovery steam generator. Steam from this powers one 63MWe steam turbine, with its alternator having a terminal voltage of 12.5 kV. The station had a thermal efficiency of 49%. The electricity generated entered the National Grid, via a transformer, at 132 kV, where it powers part of the United Utilities (former NORWEB) network. By March 2012 it was reconfigured to allow operation in the Short Term Operating Reserve market. The plant employed 33 people.

The Salvation Army, building in Abbey Rd, Barrow-in-Furness dates from 1910 which is quite late for this style of terracotta decoration.