Phoksundo Lake is at an altitude of 3,611.5 m (11,849 ft)
It is 145 m (476 ft) deep which is almost twice as deep as the UKs Wastwater.
It has a surface area slightly larger than Wastwater.

Moonlight on the tents and a starry sky by Phoksundo Lake

The early morning flight from Nepalgunj to Jhupal

Local firewater and fire food.

Sunset in Nepalgunj (below)

First view of the Himalayas on the approach to Kathmandu

Today I'm heading off for the Himalayas in Nepal. For the first time in ages I'm flying from Manchester Airport which is great because its much closer than Heathrow and is far more pleasant ant efficient.

This evening drove to Bolton with son Steve to the Albert Halls by the Town Hall. The event was ‘An Evening with Mark Beaumont’ and Mark spent the first half talking about his two epic cycle rides. The first was his record breaking ride round the World when he smashed the old record and completed the 18,296.74 miles in 194 days 17 hrs. Then he spoke about cycling the Americas. After the intermission he spoke about the expedition to row to the north magnetic pole then rowing the Atlantic when the team were lucky to escape with their lives when the boat was capsized by a freak wave and they had to be rescued.

There's lots of interesting stuff on the
Mark Beaumont website.

I think I’ll stick to riding my bike.

Mark Beaumont

Mark's Mum running the book stall

The presentation laptop

= = = =

Mid morning out for cycle ride to Chequerbent near Westhoughton. I’d seen a Wikipedia reference to an old steam train tank engine that used to haul wagons at the Hulton Coalmines. I found it quietly rusting away in the J. Doyle scrap metal recycling yard. Then I cycled on to Westoughton Library where I knew there was a display of artefacts from the Pretoria Pit disaster in 1910 when 344 men and boys lost their lives. For me the most impressive part was the painting.

The actual number of dead was 344

Tank engine which pulled coal trains from Pretoria Pit.
Stored in the compound of Scrap Recycling compound of J. Doyle Ltd., Westhoughton.

The Parish Club

Whittle-le-Woods and Clayton-le-Woods Parish Club
In commemoration of the centenary
12th October 1912 - 12 October 2012

Cllr Eric Bell unveils the memorial plaque to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Parish Club.

Dorothy Pickup - born 14 Oct 1912

Digging the foundations. The man on the left by the barrow is Eric's grandfather.

1912 to 2012

This evening Tessa Houghton, a local artist from Whittle-le-Woods, held her new exhibition of paintings ‘Northern Light’ in the recently refurbished WAP building on Dark Lane. The works are mainly landscape oil on canvas and it was good to see the WAP house brought back in to use after standing derelict for many years. It was recently rebuilt back to its former glory and a 1920s picture was used by the developer to match the original appearance.

Tessa at her exhibition

Oil on canvas

The WAP house this evening

The same view in the 1920s

Last night I attended a fascinating talk at Chorley Historical and Archaeological Society by Alan Davies about the Pretoria Pit Disaster in 1910. The pit was in the Westhoughton area and the disaster was one of the worst in the industry. On 21 Dec 1910 344 men and boys were killed in an underground explosion. There are several memorials around the area and I went for a cycle ride to have a look at some of them.

NEAR THIS SPOT IS THE SITE OF PRETORIA PIT WHERE 344 MEN & BOYS LOST THEIR LIVES IN A MINING DISASTER ON DECEMBER 21st 1910

At the end of Broadway off Newbrook Road is a memorial to the disaster behind a recently erected set of gates. Lettering on the gates reads 'PRETORIA MEMORIAL 344'
The actual site is almost a mile away.

Westhoughton Town Hall where the memorial to the cricketers is fixed on the near corner of the building,

Erected by the Bolton & District Cricket Association.
In memory of the Players and Committee-Men of the following Clubs.
Westhoughton, Daisy Hill, Wingates and Chequerbent.

Memorial to the 344 Men and Boys in Westhoughton Cemetery.

After the erection of the Memorial

Bryan Hey Farm is on Scout Road to the north of Bolton. It does ice creams and I've passed it many times but never called in. This afternoon I drove there with my son to give it a try. I wasn't disappointed. A triple scoop cone with a flavour variety of choice cost £2.50 which I thought very reasonable. Smaller versions are available.

Queen's Park Bolton

Jason Kenny - Double Gold Medal Olympian

Bolton Town Hall

While cycling through Bolton I had a quick look in Queen's Park and pleased to see a lot of colour about. In the town it was nice to see a banner still on the Town Hall celebrating the wonderful Olympic gold medals won by local cyclist Jason Kenny. The banner for Bradley Wiggins in Chorley has already been taken down! It was for winning the Tour de France, something an Englishman has never done.

Although the Road Closed sign has fallen over it is still there to prevent motorists driving along Moor Road, Anglezarke.

As I was on my bike I took no notice of the 'Closed' sign and continued. The road wasn't closed as this is the only place where any work had been done. All the closure did was send motorists on a long and pointless detour.