The Atom Panopticon

Over the last few years a series of sculptures have appeared at various Lancashire locations. These sculptures are called Panopticons. This one is in Pendle at the Wycollar Country Park. The Background scenery is the moorland between Lancashire and Yorkshire which was the setting for Wuthering Heights from the book (or song) of the same name.

He Were A Great Baker Were Our Dad.......

From the old HOVIS bread TV advert of years ago, this is Haworth High Street. The commercial had a young delivery boy pushing his bicycle up this cobbled hill in a sepia image of yesteryear.

Temper Tantrums.....

This is the result of being crap at the XBox game 'Soul Calibur' and subsequently losing one's rag.

See if you can spot the point of impact of the console controller.......

The Biggest Pear Drop in the World

Oswaldtwistle Mills is the home to the biggest pear drop in the world. You used to have to pay to go and see it, but now it's free.

It's also a lot smaller, I think, than it once was. This is because after people had paid to go behind the curtain to have a look, you could hardly blame them for having a lick too.

Over the years this has, therefore, resulted in a bit of shrinkage.

It is now protected behind glass to prevent it from being sucked into oblivion (quite literally).

Filey Follies

The Coble Landing from the beach at Filey is not named after the cobblestones which make up the path from the beach, but after the fishing cobles which are launched from here.

The park which overlooks the bay at the top of the town contains a few, interesting, random ornaments. The Filey Fisherman is in a flowerbed and refers to the town's seafaring heritage, whilst a Plesiosaurus commemerates the finding of a full skeleton of one of these creatures locally.
The East Coast is rich in fossils, and a giant model of the type that can often be found on the beach is also on display.

The world's first flight was completed by Yorkshireman George Cawley, nearly 50 years before the Wright brothers strapped an engine on and stole all the glory. The beach sands of Filey Bay, however, were used as an aerodrome for the newly powered aeroplanes in the early part of the last century, and an example of the early types of aircraft used is represented in model form on the Southern part of the promenade.

Whitby Abbey

Taken from the other side of the wall as I'm a cheapskate and wouldn't pay to go in.

Jelly Fest!!

I'm not sure what went on here.
We walked along the southern part of Filey Bay one evening and the sands were, as usual, wide, empty and clear.
24 hours later they were the scene of total jellyfish carnage!
In between times the sea had been a bit lively, with breaking waves, but couldn't really be described as 'rough'. However, the tide had deposited hundreds, probably even thousands, of dead jelly fish.
They came in many different sizes, but seemed to fall within three colour groups; purple, blue or red.

More Lifeboats!

Continuing the collection of Lifeboats, these are from Bridlington (complete with launching tractor) and Filey. The tractor has a registration as it has to cross the road to reach the slipway to the beach.
The Filey boat has the red hull paint which is used to protect those Lifeboats which are normally kept at anchor. As Filey has a Lifeboat House, this may be a temporary replacement boat whilst the usual craft is being serviced/repaired.

Flamborough & North Landing

Flamborough Lighthouse.
A 2 mile walk along the cliff top to North landing, which is a small bay that is used to launch fishing cobles. They are put to sea by a combination of a small bulldozer, slightly modified for the purpose and a collection of ropes, pullies and logs.
The Lifeboat House (and, therefore, Lifeboat) isn't open to the public at North landing, but it does have a rather splendid slipway into the sea.
The walk takes you past the Flamborough Head Golf Course which itself occupies the site of a WWII radar station (part of the Chain Home system). Some leftovers from the war years can still be seen in the form of a couple of pill boxes one overgrown and both concreted closed.

Stamford Bridge bridge!

We all know the story of 1066 & all that; William of Normandy and Harold's 'eyeful of arrow' which took place on 14th October of that year.
The warm up event, however, took place outside York some 300 miles to the north, a few weeks earlier, when an invading Viking army was defeated at Stamford Bridge. The village came later and was, rather obviously, named after the Main crossing point of the River Ouse.

This is a photo of that crossing!

Taken whilst leaning over the river edge and holding onto the branch of a tree...no idea who the people are on the riverbank but I suspect they were waiting for me to fall in.

Harold's army found it difficult to remove the Vikings from their dominant position and occupation of the strategic bridge.
So he sent some soldiers down the river in boats at night where they removed the enemy by sticking pikestaffs through wooden planks from under the bridge and setting fire to it.

He thus defeated the invading King Harald Hardraada (who, in the true spirit of sibling love, was supported by Harold's own brother, Tostig.....) on 25th September 1066.

This was after marching his army the length of Britain, so he must have been a bit dismayed to hear after the battle that Duke William of Normandy had just landed at Bexhill on the south coast and so he began the long walk back.