PENWORTHAM

TO BOLDLY GO (WITH JIM)  5+ Miles

TREKKIES :-  Jim, Anthony, Mike, Danny and John

No problems parking today as we met Jim on the expansive car park at St. Theresa's Church on Queen's way Penwortham. 

It was Jim's plan for us to start with a look around St Theresa's Church as our first "Visit" and as the church had "Facilities" it was welcomed by the rest of the group.

As we approached the church the door was being locked by John Russell one of our erstwhile regular walkers. He acts as a sort of unofficial church warden. What a lovely surprise. He UN-locked the door and in we went

There he is, with the group, telling us about some of the aspects of the lovely modern church.

One of which was the baptismal font with it's bronze (?) cap depicting scenes from Christ's life (I think)

With John the Baptist ?

We said our goodbyes to John and set off through Penwortham's highly upmarket suburbs.

Past the golf course and into a small but attractive wood.

Passing under this attractive arched bough. Natural or human assisted ??

The path through the woodland took us down to the riverside (Ribble) which Jim contentiously declared was much more attractive passing through Penwortham than when passing Preston. OH AYE !

The wooden sculptures WERE attractive.   Time for a coffee break.

This gap in the trees was the site of heavy lifting equipment when the power station was constructed ?  demolished  ?

Peeping over the trees..... St Walburge's spire.

                                     Jim     Anthony      Mike        Danny

Passing the remnants of the demolished power station.

Life (hope) springs eternal. A brave sapling reaches out from the roots of a long dead tree.

Through the trees we could now see the bridge taking traffic between Preston and Penwortham and then on to Southport and Liverpool.

We crossed over the bridge to briefly to leave Penwortham and it's ATTRACTIVE river and visited Preston with it's equally LOVELY river 😉

This was the first time we had seen the newly built flood barriers. They looked very impressive and at the same time neat and almost  unobtrusive. Just like a sturdy wall.

We followed the flood barriers along Broadgate eventually arriving at the "Old Bridge".

......and so across the bridge and back into Penwortham. You will notice the lack of potholes in this ancient cobbled surface. Could there be a lesson there ? I suspect there is but laying cobbles would probably be expensively time consuming in this modern era.

" I'm leaning on a lamp post at the middle of the bridge in case a certain......"

Penwortham Methodist Church.

As we followed  a narrow foot path alongside the Methodist Church we came across this sign. It seemed almost "apologetic".  why in such an obscure place ?  Somebody looks to be trying to dipping his toe in the water though.

With Jim in the lead we eventually came to these steps which climbed up to a bridge which in turn took us further into Penwortham and in particular, to the cemetery.

Here we found some comfortable benches to sit and eat our butties and drink our Coffees/Tea. We could not, of course, leave the cemetery before paying our respects to "Paddy" one of our , now much missed, regular walkers who was buried here only a few short weeks ago.

Leaving the cemetery we once gain found ourselves in genteel and rather "Comfortable" Suburban Penwortham.

But Jim assured us that Penwortham was not entirely the domain of the well heeled  and demonstrated this by leading us through Tesco's car park.

Rawstorne, as it has been written on this information board, is a somewhat contentious word as it is spelt in several different ways. Is it possible that the word escaped when standardisation of spelling became the norm.

No matter the word's confusion. One of our number lived in RAWSTORNE road. Coffee in his lovely garden was an unexpected treat. As was meeting Sue his charming wife. 

Then, having visited the Catholic Church and briefly acknowledging the Methodist Church. We finished or day by visiting the Anglican Church of St Mary's. Such ecumanism !

"Are we wasting our time here ?" says one yellow cone to the other. "They completely ignored us"

AND SO WE BID "ADIEU" TO POSH PENWORTHAM

LA FIN

( A nod to Mrs Cullen who is a fluent French speaker )

JW

HEYSHAM

 A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE "TUNNEL"

5 MILES ?

PLODDERS :-  Jim, John, Danny, Anthony, Mike.

After arriving at "Half Moon Bay" we had a bit of a struggle working out how to use the Parking machine. A regular user stepped in ... THANKS !

Here we are unloading the car and soon after heading to the cafe for a "Start Off" brew,

and then the walk which was rather more than we expected.

After a short walk passing this anchor. A reminder that tiny Heysham is still an important port.

AND A DISTANT VIEW OF THE FERRY ARRIVING IN THE DOCKS.

We entered "Money Close Lane which soon became a sort of GREEN TUNNEL. No footpaths and lined with thick undergrowth, bushes and trees. It was impossible to see any sort of a view, This seemed endless. The only change being the surface tarmac underfoot. Hardly exciting.

Sometimes rough sometimes smooth and occasional changes in hue. (Your being grossly unfair Mr Writer)

Then briefly a change as we passed through a rather well maintained mobile home park, Some of the caravans (privately owned ?) being rather sumptuous.

To our right as we emerged from the caravan site was Heysham Nuclear Power Station. Well guarded and fenced off. to our left the open sea.

Before us was a L-O-N-G stretch of unremitting and unforgiving concrete. Plod on mi hearties !

At last we reached Danny's planned target. The lighthouse at the entrance to Heysham Harbour.

Now this was NOT the "Eddystone Light"  NOR EVEN the "Needles Light". This was more yer "Heysham Pebble" light or yer  "Rusty nail" and candle light.

Here's the said "Beast" but as usual the hyperbolic words are hardly warranted. We spent a very pleasant hour sitting in the sun and watching the activities around the harbour.

We surmised that the small structure amongst the dilapidated wooden pier could have been the original lighthouse.

Over to our right was the Manx ferry waiting to load up and sail off the to the Isle of Man.

The above photo shows a group with over three hundred years of knowledge and experience and you can tell.       Can't you ? ..... Well possibly   er... well maybe .... well er.....   mmmmm ?......... No mention of acquired WISDOM  then. 

In the harbour was what appeared to be a small tug boat which circled around all the time we were there.

Then whilst we were watching to our right (Starboard) this boat sneaked slowly in to the left (Port). Jim went out to greet it.

But what was it and why so slow.   Look !  Jim got there first.

It seems that it was a dredger and in this and the following photo you can see the muddy water being disposed of over the side of the boat.

By now it was time to return and we set off with some trepidation to follow the concrete corridor and the green tunnel back to Half Moon Bay and the car.

As we walked back by the side of the nuclear facility an alarm sounded and a group of police and others uniformed staff appeared. They were hidden by the inner of the two security  fences   Genuine alarm ? or regular practice ?

As we walked back we came across this fabulous wooden sculpture on the beach. Entirely crafted by the forces of nature. Cleaned up it would be worth a fortune in a garden centre.

I can almost hear a tired parent saying. "GO AND PLAY OVER THERE KIDS"

Almost at the end of the Green Tunnel" and the end of the walk. 

"The light at the end of the tunnel"

A hot and thirsty walk required a return visit to the cafe for drinks. Jim, who had left part of his lunch at home, was ready for a bite to eat as well.

Half Moon Bay.  35 years ago, sans cafe and other civilising things, this was where John brought the kids for a sunny seaside day out.

A very tiring but as always an enjoyable and companiable days walking....and walking....and walki............

Well done Danny.

That's all folk

John zzzzzzzzzz !