HESKETH BANK

 UNDERGROUND-OVERGROUND

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

                        Our Guide... Steve... Danny's brother

Wombles ?  I think not. Tell you later. Potterers certainly. 

Our Usual "Pre  amble"  brew and then off to the car park at the new....

 "Hesketh & Becconsall Nature Trail"

"I'll open the toilets for you" said Steve... How did he know ?

Then off we went down the fine new path.

Soon arriving at the lake which was once a quarry were clay was dug out to make Bricks.

Mike    Jim  Danny Steve Anthony

The gang down by the lake .  Full of birds and being turned into a beautiful spot complete with angler  positions.

Steve again.  Just so's you remember him. 😉

Who or what is Danny laughing at. I must find out next time we meet.

Leaving the main path we followed a narrow and at times tricky path until we came to these.   Guess what they are ??

Right first time. The scary thing is that many of us had toilets like these when we started school all those years ago.

Even further into the woods and we came across this deep dark hole ??

.....and down we went.  (This is the "Wombly" bit !)

It was an air raid shelter built for the workers at the quarry.

What wonerful things mobile phones are.  Built in Torches. 😀

The far end of the shelter haf not been cleared so we returned the same way.

The "Half wall"  you can see is a blast wall.  There is a similar half wall  just beyond it on the other side . It prevents any blast travelling the whole length of the tunnel. It also makes it difficult to negotiate in the dark. JW walked straight into a solid brick wall.😒 I think the wall came off worst. 😄

Up and out !

Back along the rough path to the track.

One of the excellent angling (fishing) platforms the association is providing. At first for the local angling club but daytickets may also be available.

John who has spent many hours, even days, fishing was invited to try the next one.

The path from here on had been deliberately left "natural" to give some challenge and originality to the walk.

A bit of under and over here as Anthony negotiates a leaning tree and then footsteps over the muddy bits.

We had of course left the fine footpath and were following the rough woodland path deliberately left to challenge the fitter walkers.

Rather a long muddy bit here. Best foot forward Anthony.

The path did indeed offer some challenges but there was even the chance for a ubiquitous "Bridge " photo.

LUNCHTIME !

Back to M & S for lunch. Jim declared that his "Butty" was not as good as it looked. It was  somewhat "Dry".

Just before this, Steve had left us to return home as it was  quite close.

Lunch over just time for a visit to the old church and the nearby shipyard. 

So our next visit was to the old church we have visited before. It was, in earlier days, the Becconsall's chapel of ease. (Not sure what that entails....help)

During World War II, A german plane, perhaps anxious to escape home. had dropped a random bomb on the graveyard. The damage it caused can still be seen. Pure speculation but perhaps it had been part of an attack on the Preston Dock or the airfield at Warton. or even trying to hit the customs house nearby.

Just look at the central gravestone.

Need to ask Danny about the above gravestone . There was something special about it.

The next photo shows a helping hand BUT WHERE TOO ? up or down

We spent some time looking at the gravestones in the yard and were quite taken by how many of the occupants were in their late seventies and eighties. Modern medicine perhaps not quite as good as we thought.  There were many graves of IDDONS, presumably a local family name.

Becconsall Old Church. "All Saints" 1764.

Just another 50 yards down the yard was a boat yard, Most of the boats had been put to bed for the winter but many were already moored ready for action along the creek 0r pehaps it was actually the river Douglas itself.

The River Asland or Douglas ( So good they named it twice ?)

And so off back down the lane to the car and off to home.

A thoroughly enjoyable day thanks to Danny and his brother Steve.

And what about the wombles ........

" Uncle Bulgaria, He can remember the days when he wasn't behind the times."

Can't we all !

Au revoir

JW

WRAY

 WELL I NEVER !

LADIES & GENTLEMEN !:- John, Anthony, Danny.

                                           Guests:- Barbara, Pauline.

Well, Well, Well ! Who'd have thought that after 16/17 years, ladies would join us on our thus far entirely masculine thursdays ? 

Not that we are in the slightest bit Misogynistic. But what sensible ladies would have wished to join a bunch of ageing old F---s stumbling round the countryside.

But times have changed and so has the nature of our weekly meetings. Less a hiking style walk and more a visit to a place of interest.  So.............

... here we are visiting the annual "Wray Scarecrow Festival"

After parking in a field at the edge of the Village....

 ...we soon found ourselves sitting with a brew. (We usually do.) I think the cafe was run by the ladies of the WI who had commandeered the village hall for the "Scarecrow Festival" There was lots of home made food on display. " We shall return" we promised.

Although the ladies wanted cake as well as a brew👍

The gentlemen only wanted a "Start the Day" brew... Maybe cake at lunchtime.

Brews finished off we went to view the multitude of Scarecrows on display throughout the Village.

Dolly Parton ???

As we pottered through the village a gentleman drove past in a rather smart car.  He was not a SCARECROW.

As you may well imagine some of the scarecrows were NOT as good as others whilst some were superb.

This little old lady waiting for a bus turned out to be Rod Stewart 😕

Whilst "Elvis" did not look at all well. (There were other Elvises or Elvi ? )

Yes... well   Who he ?

Here Danny is reading about Casanova. John made the common mistake of translating Nova as "NEW". it isn't, it means shining brightly and is associated with stars. Apart from being a Libertine (Womaniser) Casanova was an intelligent man with many talents.

Don't know who this lady was but she was very tall.

Bet you can't guess who this is. Oops ! you've spotted it . Looking at that left hand I think after a few drinks I can play the guitar like that.

We continued down the high Street passing some excellent Scarecrows. Here's one of Santa.

Left ?  Right ? or Centre ?

Which is the real Santa ?

Hands up all those who said the one on the Right .   WRONG !

Before Coca Cola muscled in to change his garb to RED, their corporate.  colour,  Santa was traditionally dressed in GREEN 😮 We can't really blame Coca Cola as others used red as well and St Nicholas himself was said to be fond of red clothes. But the one in the middle, in green, is the earlier tradition.

Further down the street we came across a car dressed as a dog. The occupants of the car appeared to be Boris and Keir and were labelled as "DUMB & DUMBER"..... no comment.

This astronaut seems to have missed the pacific Ocean completely and will be very confused when he finds out were he is .... or ISN'T .

1694. There were quite a few houses in the village dated around this time.

How old is this house ?   C'mon get thinking. I'm no good at maths.

If that is the church house there must be a church. Yes here it is and a very pretty one to boot.

There was a book sale inside the church. John just hoped they didn't sell too many of the church's Order of Service or Book of Common Prayer which were in places right next to those being offered for sale.

I wonder to which order this nun belongs. She's wearing some daringly "Kinky" boots.

"Like God's own head the glorious sun uprist"

 quote from 

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"Lets go and look at the book sale."

We were all puzzled to find Shaun the Sheep hiding behind a headstone in the churchyard.

Anthony decided to take a pew as we examined the books (£1 each)

There were some interesting books but we eventually left empty handed.

In taking these photos I forget to find what it was all about, Sorry !

We continued our exploration of the village as there were still lots of scarecrows to see.

Here a witch wearing some very stylish boots.

At first sight this was a puzzle but on closer inspection it turned out to be quite clever. We didn't find out what the"Theme" was but "GOAT" should have been a clue. Many of the scarecrows appeared to be "NO 1 " in their trade or profession (e.g. Elvis  "THE KING" ) so maybe that was the theme.

Don't think you need to hold his ladder for him Danny .  He's a professional !

Must be lunch time by now 😋

LOVELY LUNCH LAPPED UP.... Lets finish the tour.

They started their lunch last Saturday... Still not finished...Too much chatter ?

A Much better Elvis . Notice the snarling curve of the mouth. He got second prize but we never found 1st

 "So anyway.  Elvis said to me......... "

The scarecrow looks a bit worried about you Pauline.

A little further down the terrace. a button said " Press me". If you did the scarecrow on the right waved it's arms and gave you a clip round the ear with the Hula Hoops.

OH NO !  John and Yoko  ONO !

"Wray-ce around the world"  Clever !

Apparently there wasn't much food in the Holy Land.

Sir Wraymund de Lune seems to be eating a hedgehog. 

I think he might also be desperate  for the loo.

Few more cars than when we arrived. Weekend apparently it will be "Heaving"

A very pleasant visit accompanied by the ladies.

Word of advice ..... 

"Don't stand still for too long or somebody will take your photograph"

See you next week.

JW

p.s. Later, Danny, our super "Researcher" found that "GOAT" stood for ...

"Greatest Of All Time."