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.

A short sojourn to Keadby and Scunthorpe

The 3rd of June 2013

It's time I went and visited some of my family. I haven't seen much of them since our Ireland Reunion back last August. 

I'm driving down. It's the Appleby Horse Fair in Cumbria but the A66 is relatively quiet and I only see two horse driven traps on the road. I should go visit one year.

I'm staying at Keadby (pronounced Kidby), home of my eldest daughter.

I can't believe how much Callum and Erin have grown in ten months.

I'll see Charlotte and Jack tomorrow. We went to Fun Forest at Brigg where they could be let loose. 

My first morning in Keadby and I'm taking a walk.

There's a lot of drains in this area. It's historically part of the Isle of Axholme which is criss crossed with drains much like the Norfolk Broads.

The Keadby Pumping Station featured on the BBC's Domeday's programme back in 1986

There's an amazing amount of birds across the area.

Other flyers are also available.

Neither myself or my elder daughter had ever heard of Volotea, but it's a Barcelona based low cost airline.

Still on Keadby Drains I've spotted a quartet of Canada geese

I never knew that the dandelion seed heads that we used to tell the time from as kids were called  filamentous achenes. I'll never remember that !

It's good to see that the Pisces Angling Club are looking after those less able

From the drains I now take to the path alongside the Stainforth and Keadby Canal 

It's also at this point that the trains usually cross the canal. These rails must be relatively new since the Corus Group was formed through the merger of Koninklijke Hoogovens and British Steel on 6 October 1999. Perhaps the 08 signifies the year. 

MSM in my days at the steelworks stood for Medium Section Mill.

There are no trains running at the moment, but it looks like the signalman is working. The reason no trains are running is due to a major Landslip at Hatfield Main Colliery

Good to see that they're using the stoppage time for maintenance work

This machine is a Colmar Rail Loader

An announcement of an upcoming fishing match.

Judging by the one word comment at the bottom, someone must be happy with the allocated pegs.

Alongside the canal is the Keadby Power Station hence a large number of pylons in the area.

When I worked at Keadby Wharf we'd often see ducks with a large number of cygnets. It was also a fact of life that many of the cygnets did not survive. Pike was the danger from below while raptors were often seen hovering overhead. If mother duck raises three of these bonny wee things she'll have done well.

Quack quack babies and good luck.

I walked almost three and a half of the four miles along the canal to Ealand near Crowle, and all along here were swans. 

I disturbed a pair of resting ducks...........

...........but kept taking pictures..................

.............until they took off.

There was quite a variety of water birds. I spotted a number of tufted ducks.

A new bridge now crosses the canal. The operators of Keadby Power Station, SSE are now busy preparing a site west of the power station to accommodate a thirty four turbine windfarm. Looking around the area it's not just Galloway that's being flooded by them. 

I'm still on the fence, but for those interested here's opposing views.

Wind Energy the Truth by J.A.Halkema (he died aged 90 in 2009)

It's hard to find a link that isn't somehow connected to the power industry and their companies, but here's one from the BBC's childrens programme CBBC

I think I'll soon be off that fence !

  

more swans

another tufted duck

retracing my steps

are these more of a blot on the landscape than turbines ?

The Power Station. Note the lack of smoke from the chimneys. It's offline at the moment

At the lock gates where the canal flows into the river Trent.

Top left is the Spider T, top right an old workmate.

Bottom left my old boss and golf partner, bottom right is the barge the Hakuna Matata (recently sold for £65,000) 

On Tuesday we're off to Brigg to meet up with my second eldest daughter and Jack and Charlotte. 

There are four levels of fun (it's the biggest playframe for miles), a four lane Astra slide, a giant spiral slide, a twin lane wavy slide and a toddlers area.

Callum didn't come along, he's too big now. These three are having a great time though. 

On reflection !

I love you kids.

Scunthorpe claims to be the Industrial Garden Town. I'm absolutely amazed at the new building projects in the shadow of the Anchor Steelworks. Is the town bucking the national trend.

   

My walk today is through Twigmoor Woods close to the town.

Various varieties of rhododendrons make it really colourful.

  

One of the Scawby Gull Ponds

However, back at Keadby there's almost as much of Mother Nature

A young blackbird sits on a recycling bin................

.................and close by.

I've enjoyed my short trip but I'm now on my way home.

I've heard on the radio that there may be delays on the A66 due to the Appleby Horse Fair.

I'll take the scenic route over the A68 and A689 via Alston

This is a beautiful area. This is the North Pennines and they're hosting a Walking Festival in September.

I seem to remember that I'm looking down at the Nenthead Mines

I can see lots of people sitting outside the Nenthead Mines cafe.

I take a driving break in the highest market settlement in England

It's Alston of course

The good weather's fetched out the tourists

I'm surprised that there's no one sitting outside the Turk's Head though

I've been on this road before and if you're in no hurry it makes a scenic change to the A66 Scotch Corner to Penrith. There are lots of quaint villages and hamlets along the way. Below was my last picture of the day before getting back to my home in Newton Stewart.

I wondered whether Slaggyford suffered jokes about it's name, but surprisingly it seems not. Must just be my warped mind. It is however home to what looks like a good pub,the Kirkstyle Inn. May be worth a visit and not a million miles from Galloway.

That was a very enjoyable little jaunt and the weather was good to me.

See you guys again soon.