North Lincolnshire Saturday 11th October

So Saturday has arrived.

On this trip I'm based at Barnetby Le Wold and the wonderful establishment that is Holcombe Guest House

My second eldest daughter Lynn with Jack and Charlotte, two of my grandchildren, are meeting up with me later so I have time to look around.

I never heard of Barnetby Silver Band, but apparently they're a brass band who have been making music since 1876

The Whistle and Flute have an open mic night tonight, I may call in.

I've walked to Barnetby Station.

It's a place I've often passed, but never visited. I've always known it's a busy junction for passenger and goods trains (you can hear train whistles in the night) and I'm finally putting a visit to rest.

The next half dozen pictures therefore are trains.

Above and below is the Trans-Pennine Grimsby Manchester Airport service.

Talking of trains

Here's a little clip

After the station I continued along a country lane which terminated at Rookery Farm. 

After meeting up with Lynn, Jack and Charlotte, we headed out to the Messingham Sands Nature Reserve

I got told off for touching red mushrooms.

The grass was quite wet.

We got ourselves lost, but thankfully one of the trust's volunteers put us on the right track.

My first instinct was to say these sheep above were the Black Welsh Mountain breed, I might be right !

We got to the hide where we saw quite a variety of birds. This cormorant was very obliging opening up it's wings.

The geese were noisy.

There were also quite a number of swans, cygnets and coots.

After a while we made our way down to Keadby to meet up with Michele, Callum and Erin and made our way down to Keadby Canal and the Daybreak celebrations.

Though the Daybreak was on view, she wasn't open for boarding..............

.................that wasn't the case with the Amy Howson

Preserved and manned by volunteers of the 'Humber Keel and Sloop Preservation Society', it was well cabined out with pictures and information.

The above vessel I photographed yesterday has since acquired some bunting.

This boat just arrived down the canal.

I got talking to the owners.

The boat is called Scout after the young girl narrator of the book 'To Kill a Mocking Bird'

It is barely a week old having been completed up the canal at Thorne......

...............they themselves are Neil and Tracy Dodson of Perth, Western Australia, who are taking time out to do their own thing. They were heading to Nottingham from here.  

Above are all images from photographs of the canal past and present.

The chimneys of the power station were a landmark for miles around until they were demolished in 1986.

The society also had a rope splicing display.

Are my grandchildren becoming bored ?

Across the road I asked my old boss for his permission to walk up the jetty.

From left to right are Callum, Erin, Jack and Charlotte.

The last time I was up here, I was either tying a ship up, or letting one go.

My old boss was telling me of an incident here from a couple of years ago.

It's on Youtube - Keadby Boat Crash

Top left are the canal lock gates, top right across the river to Gunness Wharf, bottom are Callum, Erin and Michele.

A short walk up the village saw us witness this spider tackling his prey. Hopefully I got some good video footage to upload later.

Here's the clip

It's set to an excerpt from 'Turbine' from Callum's Soundcloud page. 

Above is a stitched panorama of the clouds above Scunthorpe.

I needed to crop the image to clear the black edges...........

..................this was the surprising result of that crop.

I finished my photographing for the day with a short walk along Keadby's Black Drains.

(The two flowers in the collage below are from the front garden)

I'm just back from the open mic night at the Whistle and Flute and stayed to watch three acts.

I can't remember the names of the first two, a male then a female vocalist ( they were good ), but the last act I saw was the Dogwood Flowers.  I know someone who would love them.

It's been an enjoyable day.