The fourth Whittle-le-Woods Flower, Craft and Vegetable Show in the new Village Hall was held today. I was one of the judges so had the privilege of seeing many of the exhibits before the public.

Whittle-le-Woods Village Hall.

There is  a very useful UNiROSS universal battery charger. I wanted a charger for my camera batteries that I could use when away from any power source. This charger has a 12v input so I have just tried out a battery box with 10*AA 1.2v NiMH batteries to generate 12v and a home made PP3 to 1.3mm DC plug. I connected it all up and it seemed to work OK. My next experiment is to use a 8 box to take standard AA batteries eg 8*1.5v=12v.

Walking through the old ruined Church of St Thomas a Becket in Heptonstall near Hebden Bridge I saw the gravestone of David Hartley who was hanged at Tyburn near York in 1774. He was the leader of The Cragg Coiners, a band of counterfeiters and murderers.

Today was the Big Drum Day in Astley Park, Chorley. Drum bands and Exotic Brasilian Dancers brought hundreds of people into the park. A little rain didn't dampen anyone's enthusiasm.

I haven't seen any Angel Delight in British shops for years. I saw this packet in my local Asda shop this morning and couldn't resist buying a packet. Though I've not made any yet.

Last week I walked past the interesting old stone footbridge over Colden Water at Hebble Hole above Hebden Bridge. I returned today to photograph it again. While there I couldn’t resist re-visiting May’s Aladdin’s Cave shop at High Gate Farm for a cup of tea and piece of cake.

Stone footbridge over Colden Water
at Hebble Hole

Set off 7am on bike. Cycled via Blackburn, Accrington, Burnley and down the Cliviger Gorge to Cornholme. Turned left up the steep narrow road towards the Long Causeway. Stopped briefly to photograph an old factory and chimney which was being demolished. Then along the Long Causeway road to Colden to call at May’s shop at High Gate Farm. Stopped for a cup of tea and a small pie before descending through Heptonstall to the Todmorden Road where I stopped at the ‘Hot Stuff’ café for a Tuna Cheese sandwich. Decided to return home via Rochdale as I hadn’t cycled that road before. It was good cycling through Littleborough to Rochdale but then I went through Bury and Bolton but those roads weren’t as good for cycling.

More Industrial Archaeology about to vanish

May's Aladdins Cave shop at High Gate Farm

Inside the shop.

High Gate Farm, near Heptonstall,
Hebden Bridge.

An early lunch at 'Hot Stuff' on the way back.

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Cycled to Withnell Fold Sports and Social Club to another of their excellent barbeque evenings. Earlier rain had blown away and there was an evening of good weather. It was an event for all as children played on the grass the parents enjoyed the food and drink. One of the guest beers was Darren Mashers from Darwen. A very nice pint.

With TV analogue broadcasting soon to be switched off I thought I'd better get a new aerial fitted to get the best quality. It's a TV aerial but also receives radio signals that input into my PC.

New aerial being fitted

With a decent weather forecast and the only possible rain later in the day I set off for a longer than usual cycle ride I let home at 7:20am, heading north along the A6 and a relatively quiet road. The ride to Lancaster was uneventful but I didn’t fancy the busy A683 to Kirkby Lonsdale so crossed the River Lune at Halton and followed the minor lane and B6254 instead. I crossed Devil’s Bridge and stopped briefly for something to eat before continuing on the A65. This is where I realised my mistake of doing this ride on a weekend. Everybody else had the same idea but they were in cars, towing caravans or riding motorcycles.

Approaching Settle I left the main road and took the B6480, the old road, through the town. Then it was back on the main road where I had to run the gauntlet of motorists all the way to Gisburn. I sat in the St Mary’s Churchyard for my second food stop before joining the busy A65 to Langho where I took the less busy A666 to Blackburn. Cycling through the Brookhouse area was like being in Delhi with all the Asian shops, spicy smells and saris. A few miles from home I realised my odometer would probably record about 99 miles so I continued into Chorley and back home on the A6 to finish with a distance of 101.81 miles.

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This year the Iron Man UK Triathlon was held around Bolton. One of the feeding stations on the cycling stage was on the road between Rivington and Belmont and as I passed it on a bike ride this morning I saw this unsightly pile of discarded water bottles dumped in the grass. This isn't going to do the event's reputation any good.

While walking from Sawley to Settle with Eric Bell we came across this interesting feature in a field on the approach to Gisburn. The iron sword ,a mock Excalibur, had the words 'Love to All' marked on the other side. Nearby was a recently constructed reproduction stone circle

Excalibur with Pendle Hill in the background

The Chorley Photographic Society evening outing was to Worden Park, Leyland. The lighting was disappointing and not many turned up but I had a go anyway and used my HDR (high dynamic range) software to make the sky look more interesting.