Home Again

Malcolm and I returned home yesterday, from a few days away in the Lake District. It's always something of a gamble going to the Lakes, as the weather can be (and often is) rather bad. But on this occasion, we were very lucky and had some surprisingly good weather. We started our stay, with a walk along the Lancaster Canal.

The skies were rather grey, but it remained dry for our walk and gloriously quiet as we enjoyed all the Celandines growing along the banks.

Several small bridges cross the canal. Not all of them carry roads or tracks. This one for example seems to have no purpose other than to allow farm access.

Dotted along the canal, clumps of daffodils added a little colour to the scene. Wordsworth would have been proud!

Then there was another bridge, again, with no road over it...

Soon, we were looking down towards the Mill Pond at the southern end of Holme village.

... another bridge, this one carrying Sheernest Lane.

A little further on, we spotted some strange structures in the grass across the canal.

Conveniently, an information board was provided and it turns out these were old coke ovens. It isn't known when they were built, but it's thought to be soon after the opening of the northern end of the canal in 1819.

They were not in use for long, as the nearby railway line meant that it would have been cheaper and easier to transport coal, stone and coke from elsewhere.
So that was the first day. more to come...