Tuesday 26 March 2024

BREAKING THE SILENCE

 THE ROAD AHEAD

A Long and Winding Road (The Beatles)

The Road is Long with Many a Winding Turn  (The Hollies)

Keep Right on till the End of the Road (Harry Lauder)

So many songs have been written about travelling a road. It is, it seems, part of the universal human experience. A metaphor for life itself. 

There is a certain melancholy about such songs, A certain realisation that such roads are difficult and challenging. Demanding fortitude and determination. 

But in practically all of them HOPE remains constant. No road goes on forever The promise of better times lies ahead.


Good heavens JW . That was a bit over the top for a bunch of old fellas pottering around rural (and urban) Lancashire. 

Well yes , dear reader, you're right,  but if we wind it down a notch or two (or three) The Meanderthals have been on the road for quite a number of years and just at present the road seems to be definitely winding and rocky.

A New knee for one walker.  A heart needing attention from another. A health related driving prohibition for another and major surgery on a foot for another. All these things combined with long list of chronic health conditions mean the Meanderthals can at times be rather depleted.

And then of course the BIG ONE...............  OLD FATHER TIME !

After many, many years of walking together.............

............ The Meanderthals are...  to a man ................. arriving at or have already arrived at.......... OCTOGENARIAN status.  Like an old car,  parts need repairing or replacing and the whole  system needs a service. The only question now to be asked and answered    "Are we Veterans or Vintage ?"

We are, most of us, becoming aware of our advancing years. Some of us are beginning to find more than a mile or two challenging. Others (e.g, Danny) seems oblivious or immune to the accumulation of past birthdays. We are agreed, though, that the most important thing is the continuation of our camaraderie. So our Thursday walks are now more accurately  "Thursday Gatherings" which may and usually do include a walk of varied lengths and a visit to a cafe for a  coffee/snack  of UN-limited length. Where much talking , laughing and hot air is exchanged.

And So....... to misquote Toy Story's Buzz Lightyear...... "To the unknown...and beyond." ................  together.

See you all in the future ?


JW






Saturday 17 February 2024

OFFLINE

 Dear Readers,

JW your usual blog writer will be out of action for several weeks so no blog unless another Meanderthal steps in. Will try to get back to the screen and keyboard ASAP. In the meantime why not get out and enjoy a good "Meander" yourselves.

JW

Friday 2 February 2024

PRESTON

 MEANDERTHALS do LUNCH  (2 Miles +)

LUNCHING LADS :-  Anthony, Danny, Dave, Frank,

                                    Harry, Jim, John R, John W,

                                    Martin, Mike, Paddy, Peter (guest)

                                    Vic .

Just over a year ago, Martin, one of our stalwart walkers, slipped in the snow. He broke several vertebrae in his upper spine. Since then he has been unable to move from his shoulders down. He is at present living in Moor Park house.


Over the years it has become a Meanderthal tradition that anyone unable to manage the whole of the planned  walk would drive out to meet us as we stopped for lunch. I myself did this after a knee replacement operation some years ago.

Turning this tradition on it's head we decided that if if Mohamet could not come to the mountain then the mountain would have to come to Mohamet.

So... after leaving our cars close to Preston North End's Stadium, here we are making our way across Moor Park to the care home




A walk, if only minimal, is de-rigeur as part of our Thursday meetings so we 
took a rambling route to the house on the A6.


As we walked , Peter our temporary Meanderthal,  spotted that vandals , or more kindly, comedians, had turned the direction posts round. He suggested (Nay demanded 😠) that John used his stick to reach up and put it right. Eventually he did.......... Move on !.......... How did Vic get on that photo he didn't arrive till later.

Our decidedly short route still took us past the Jeremiah Horrocks observatory.....


and the Tennis courts.


We arrived at the home at about 11.45 . John Russell and Dave Eastham were already there waiting for us in the foyer.

It took several minutes for all of us to sign in using the computerised system.



The foyer, as you can see, was decorated with hearts upon which were written the names of the residents.

Here's Martin's.


The home were happy for us to use the Garden Room which was almost opposite Martins room.





After some delay signing in we all gathered in the Garden room (Garden Retreat) and soon after Martin joined us in his electric wheelchair.


The door just visible to the front right of the corridor is the Garden Room. Martin's room is along the corridor on the left just past the OFFICE WINDOW.







Some of the group can talk the hind legs off Donkeys others prefer to listen and enjoy. All in all everyone, particularly Martin, enjoyed the jokes, stories and general badinage.



Danny took  charge of the camera saying he would take a photo of me (John W) so that I would appear on the blog. That's me hiding behind the small white tree with a twig stuck up my nose. Good Photo Danny 😮👍



The staff at the home were delightful. The two young ladies in this photo brought us all cups of tea/coffee as soon as we arrived.


As we left we offered to sweep the floor (Luncheon crumbs and bits of mud from our walk through the park).  " No! No ! " they insisted " We can do that when you've gone."


And so we left as Martin steered his electric chair back to his room.

A successful visit which we shall certainly repeat before long.

J.W.

 

Friday 26 January 2024

GLASSON DOCK

 RAILROAD, STEAMBOAT, RIVER & CANAL. 3+ Miles

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

The title of this blog entry is the first line of a song which Danny's sister, Rosemary, and myself used to sing in a folk group in the 60's. I have waited years to be able to use it, truthfully, in the blog . 

RAILROAD.

Here it is. Disused now and serving as a footpath and cycle way (and car park) between Glasson and Lancaster.



try as we might we could not get this parking ticket machine to work. £1 a day was hardly exorbitant but we couldn't even pay that.  Ah well !



STEAMBOAT next...

Probably diesel actually but this ship nosing it's way into Glasson dock was near enough to fit the bill


Glasson dock was our target for today's walk but it was at this point some distance away.  

There it is. Over there in the misty distance.

So we had better set off past the early flowering (?) Gorse bushes.


The tide was high, threatening to wash away some of the wrecks abandoned on the shore..   Why do farmers and seamen simply abandon worn out or broken equipment ?  I must quickly add that probably most of them don't,  if only  to avoid slander laws.😟

A strange colour for garden lights. BLUE ??😕


A fine, handsome pheasant on that wall..... 'cept it's made of tinplate 😲

Just a few yards further and we were passing the popular "Stork at Condor Green"

RIVER follows on....

Here's Danny approaching the bridge over the muddy river Conder which flows on , winding it's way to join the Lune.

I think John is colluding with Jim (taking the photo) to turn this perfectly innocent road sign into a rude one. They did not succeed. 


and finally the CANAL ...

Next Bridge and we take to the canal


But what's going on here ?



Bit of a nuisance on the towpath .


The hedge is being layed to lower it's height and thicken it up.

Once clear of the "Brushwood" our way was again barred. This time by a large bird.

Jim soon sorted it out though. Very gently of course.


Short break for a knee rest and a coffee break.

Then on towards the freshwater basin at Glasson Dock.

But just before we reached it we passed the church next to the canal.




Christchurch .

As we reached the large freshwater basin a young man was fishing for Pike, Traditional quarry during the winter months.


And so on to Glasson .......


....... and a welcoming cafe.

Across the bridge spanning the lock between the freshwater and the Saltwater basin and  there it is "The Quayside Cafe" . Hidden behind Jim. 

( How big is Jim ?)



Another excellent and busy cafe which had opened today for the first time after it's winter break.


The world (the one we walk in at least) is full of friendly, charming people ready to chat and laugh with an odd bunch of old fellas ( does he mean US ?)


Leaving the cafe we set off to follow the disused rail track back to the cars. Being stupid it took me a few seconds looking at this photo to realise couple of cyclist  sitting on the bench are in fact NOT THERE !



Taking a photo in the opposite direction told us what the Wheel was all about.


If I remember correctly many years ago the white fencing was not there and a lady drove her car down this ramp and into the water. Was it accidental or something rather more sad. I couldn't say but it certainly made the papers.

Having seen the Condor River we now spent sometime looking out over the LUNE. The birdlife was fantastic. Hundreds if not thousands of birds were moving on the water, at the muddy edges or in the air. Lapwings, geese, various waders, (quite hard to identify at distance ) curlews, crows and numerous SBBs ( small brown birds) in fact too numerous to name them all. Strangely we didn't see any of the increasingly common Canada Geese.


This boat looked in a state of distress. The ever kind Danny shouted did they need assistance, There was no reply....... the skipper was obviously something of a "Stick in the mud " 😜

It seemed to be a "shipwreck" as Danny, indeed all of us ,  understood perfectly well.

 The old railway track made an excellent footpath and it was not long before we arrived at the cars and were soon on our way home after a short but pleasant walk.

JW