AQUARIUS 5 Miles
Aquanauts. Danny, Anthony, Vic, John W.
The dominant feature of todays walk was "WATER". It was all around...on the ground. In the air, on us ! but most spectacularly in the river.
It was gently raining as we left the car park and set off to cross the single track bridge to Halton on the North bank of the Lune.
The turbulent, chocolate brown, waters of the Lune were blasting their way through the stanchions of the metal bridge.
Once across the bridge we immediately turned right to follow the Northern bank of the Lune as it led us to the Crook O' Lune.
Just a short distance along a muddy track before we found ourselves in the lower, suburban area of Halton.
We waited. We waited a bit longer. We continued to wait.
Not many metres after we left the built up area we found a picnic bench in a sheltered spot. COFFEE !
Danny, like some stage magician pulling rabbits out of a hat, managed to pull out of his rucksack enough seating pads to keep all our "Bums" dry as we sat on the very wet seats.
Coffees finished and rucksacks donned we were forced to take shelter against the rocky bank seen in the photos as a sudden fierce squall of wind drove heavy rain up the river.
This building has been rebuilt (2015) after a flooded river (half way up the present red doors) had swept the old building away. It houses a water powered turbine using the river to generate electricity.
We spent a few minutes looking around the waterworks before following a steep set of steps away from the river and up into the woods.
I'm sure you will be as surprised as we were that some of the paths were MUDDY !
Though not all of them.
As we walked little rivulets crossed our path adding to the already flooded river.
Not all were quite so small though.
As we could see from this little bridge.
More history as one of the route markers for the Lancashire Witches journey to Lancaster was on the cycle track.
A left turn now took us over the railway bridge and onwards to a cafe in Caton (We hoped).
Quite a number of trees had been felled along the track and the stumps had strange marks on them. Something to "Kill them off ?"
It only took us a matter of minutes before we reached the junction which would lead us into Caton.
Our much praised cafe was, however, closed. It was in the old post office and a nearby post box seemed to suggest a certain longevity.
Edward Vll was reigning at the beginning of the last Century.
JW appears to be stuffing the floral decorations into his rucksack.. Does the landlady know ?
And here we are back at the old railway station a few metres beyond which is the car park we were heading for.
The rain had stopped just after lunch and we drove home partially blinded by the low, late afternoon sunshine.
It wasn't far into this area before Vic left us in search of a toilet.
NO VIC !
We waited. We waited a bit longer. We continued to wait.
At last ! Here comes Vic.
Vic's toiletry habits are not something we would wish to explore in this blog so they must remain undisclosed.
By now coffee time was upon us. Danny found seating but the rest of us declined it. Rather too near the powerful torrent.
Sorry about the poor quality of some of the photos . The cold damp air and constant rain, meant that the lens misted over whenever the camera was taken out of a "warm" pocket.
Danny, like some stage magician pulling rabbits out of a hat, managed to pull out of his rucksack enough seating pads to keep all our "Bums" dry as we sat on the very wet seats.
The air was filled with the constant roar of the torrent a few yards away.
Rain over and off we go again.
This building has been rebuilt (2015) after a flooded river (half way up the present red doors) had swept the old building away. It houses a water powered turbine using the river to generate electricity.
I'm sure you will be as surprised as we were that some of the paths were MUDDY !
Though not all of them.
As we walked little rivulets crossed our path adding to the already flooded river.
As we could see from this little bridge.
From here the path narrowed significantly and rose steeply up to the road from the Crook O' Lune to Halton.
Being , on most walks, the photographer (along with Danny) this character does not always appear in the photographs which is probably just as well !
A path alongside the road took us quickly down to the Crook O' Lune picnic site.
We sat in our oft used position. Generally deemed to be the spot where
J M W TURNER painted the view of the Lune Valley with Ingleborough Fell on the distance horizon. I think Mr Turner would have struggled today as there was no sign of Ingleborough and very little horizon to speak of.
JW is pointing out that one of the witches, Dame Chattox or Mother Demdike, was called Annie Whittle. As was his mother.
Quite a number of trees had been felled along the track and the stumps had strange marks on them. Something to "Kill them off ?"
It only took us a matter of minutes before we reached the junction which would lead us into Caton.
Our much praised cafe was, however, closed. It was in the old post office and a nearby post box seemed to suggest a certain longevity.
Edward Vll was reigning at the beginning of the last Century.
Although the cafe was closed the pub across the road offered a warm welcome.
JW appears to be stuffing the floral decorations into his rucksack.. Does the landlady know ?
Leaving the pub we followed the road back to the Crook O' Lune and then the rail track back to Halton.
As we walked back along this track towards the Car Park at Halton we were briefly battered by a sudden hail storm.
And here we are back at the old railway station a few metres beyond which is the car park we were heading for.
The rain had stopped just after lunch and we drove home partially blinded by the low, late afternoon sunshine.
THE END
JW
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