On the drive home from the highlands of Scotland I visited Kinross and caught the 09:45am ferry to Castle Island on Loch Leven. The castle is where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned between June 1567 and May 1568 and subsequently escaped.

Approaching Lochleven Castle on Castle Island, Loch Leven, Kinross

Mary, Queen of Scots

In July 1567 Mary was forced to abdicate in favour of her one-year-old son James.

Artists impression of the tower

Inside the Glassin tower today

The morning’s sunrise viewed from the old military road
between Crathie and Gairnshiel Lodge.

Loch Muick viewed from the old drove road from Spittal of Glenmuick and Glen Clova.

The Capel Mounth track was known to have been used from around 1630 until as recently as 1887. The track was mainly used by cattle drovers but also by general travellers and part of the Jacobite Army.

My Thermarest Prolite sleeping mat de-laminated last week while camping on my Tewkesbury to Chichester cycle ride. It had a lifetime warranty so after my walk today I called at ‘First Ascent’ in Matlock to replace it. This photo shows the new mat on the right and a much cheaper Higear Ultralite 3/4 on the left. Last week I bought the Higear as a replacement as I no longer trust the Thermarest. The Higear cost £25, about one third of the one on the right. Only time will tell how good it is.

Chorley Photographic Society Annual Exhibition in Astley Hall, Chorley

In all the years I have seen it this year is the best ever. The overall quality is excellent and many images are certainly of top professional quality and imagination.

Astley Hall Coach House

Charley Pal

After seeing the Photographic Exhibition I walked across to the Coach House to see the recently opened 'Chorley Remembers' Exhibition.
The exhibition was funded by a Lottery Grant of about £80K. The quality of the displays and photographic information was high and it should be at that price. However, I thought a lot of it trivialised war and made it more of an adventure play area for children. It was good to see some of the large photos and paintings that have been in the Astley Hall store rooms for decades. I thought the ‘sniper experience’ display was in very bad taste.

The ‘sniper experience’ is in bad taste.

Part of the Chorley Remembers Exhibition

Today is the Summer Solstice and the longest day. I usually visit the Trig Point on the summit of Dehnam Hill in Bridle to watch the sun rising over Pendle Hill.
The experience is similar to those who visit Stonehenge but without the crowds.
It’s not often I actually see the sunrise and this morning was no exception.
I cycled and walked there but knew I wouldn’t see anything because of the early morning mist.

It was still misty with drizzle when the sun rose a 04:39 am. However, it was interesting to see that the trig point, which is a stone post erected by the Ordnance Survey, has recently received a new coat of white paint and a red Lancashire Rose painted on each of the four sides.
There has been a trig point on the same spot since before the 1848 maps and the current one will probably have been re-built in the mid 1930s when a lot of re-surveying was done. The posts were part of a network or triangulated fixed points that were used to map the whole country and produce the best maps in the world.
They have largely been superseded by aerial photography and digital mapping using lasers and GPS measurements. Many of the posts have been left in place and adopted by various individuals and organisations that maintain and preserve them.

This morning's view at Stonehenge. This picture came from Twitter and I hope Sarah, the author, doesn't mind me using it.

I cycled back to Denham Hill to hopefully watch the sunset at 21:44. Although I had good distant views there was too much cloud to see the sun. So I just photographed the cloudscape.
 

Chichester Cathedral interior.
Chichester Cathedral was built to replace the cathedral founded in 681 by St. Wilfrid.
In 1187 a fire burnt out the cathedral and destroyed much of the town. Substantial rebuilding was done, including re-facing the nave and replacing the destroyed wooden ceiling with the present stone vault. The cathedral was reconsecrated in 1199.

A map of the route can be seen via this link.

Waiting for a train. Wide view of Chichester Railway Station

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire.
It is one of the most famous sites in the world.
The henge is the remains of a ring of standing stones set within earthworks and dating back to about 2000 BC to 3000 BC. The site wasn't open when I arrived so I took a picture over the fence. The good thing is there were no people getting in the way.

As I cycled away from Stonehenge I met another cyclist. He was Craig Martin from Victoria, Australia. His adventure was much bigger than mine. He is in the process of cycling round the World and has already cycled through more than 80 countries, with many more to go.

The Northgate Brewery, with it's impressive Victorian facade, was designed and built by Henry Wadworth in 1885.

Avebury is a Neolithic henge monument from around 2,600BC containing three stone circles,
around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire. It contains the largest stone circle in Europe.
 

Left my car is Tewkesbury and set of on a cross country cycle ride to Chichester, to arrive on Thu to catch the train back.
On the right is Tetbury Market House in the rain. It is a Grade I listed building built during the prosperous years of the wool trade and completed in 1655

This afternoon called at Withnell Fold and saw the new waste bin that the council has put next to the village stocks. Its position has caused some concern with local residents as it has been fitted with no regard to its detrimental effect on the local scenery. I have to agree, as it looks a mess. I know a waste bin is needed but just 3m up the road is a small electrical substation behind the hedge and by it would have been the ideal place to fit the bin. It would have taken a bit longer to fit so the council seems to have gone for the easy option.

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While on my morning walk through Whittle-le-Woods I saw the signs put up by the local primary school who are trying to get passing motorists to slow down. The school is by the main A6 and many motorists treat the road like a race track.

The boundary post marking the border between Whittle-le-Woods and Chorley on the Blackburn Road B6228 (formerly A674) was smashed by Council workmen in 2011 when they were fixing new metal rails to the edge of the culvert. In recent days the stone has been repaired and re-fixed. Sometime during the past week it had been given a coat of white paint.

Walking along the Leeds and Liverpool canal I saw this view of Town Lane
across a wonderful field of buttercups.

Another nice sunny day so cycled to Blackburn then caught the train to Halifax then cycled home in warm sunshine. My return route headed north to Haworth where the Bronte museum is then back to Hebden Bridge and on through Bacup and Darwen.

Arriving at Halifax Railway Station

Sunny Halifax

Haworth and the main cobbled street

Hebden Bridge with my trusty old bike propped up in the middle.

Plan of the route

Route profile

This morning visited the National Coal Mining Museum at the Caphouse Colliery near Wakefield. They do underground tours but the safety requirements are very strict. No electrical equipment is allowed underground so that excludes cameras. I’d hoped to take my old Nikon underground loaded with film. It has no light meter or battery so I thought it would be OK. I was told it still wouldn’t be OK as others may see it and think photography was allowed.

Caphouse Colliery winding gear

National Coal Mining Museum, Caphouse Colliery near Wakefield.

However, I was able to get my photos by making a special appointment to go underground an hour before the general public was allowed in. I was also allowed to take my digital camera down after it had been checked for electrical safety. I still had to leave my digital watch and car-keys behind as they had batteries in them.
Many thanks to Andy Smith for arranging things and B.J. for taking me underground and giving me so much fascinating information.

About to descend 140m down no.1 shaft

Timber shoring. No nails or bolts are used.
The timbers are held in place by the pressure
of the surrounding ground

The miner is a model but the rest is real.

Mechanisation at the coal face

Griff brings us back to the surface

Looking straight down the Furnace Shaft.
The red dot in the middle is a light at the bottom, 140m (460ft) below.

This evening walked along the Lancaster Canal in Whittle-le-Woods which opened 210 years ago today. The first barge passed though Whittle tunnels to Walton Summit on 1 June 1803

After landing at Liverpool airport I drove straight to Pleasington Crematorium to the Remembrance Room to see the book entry for my father who died 34 years ago

The  room where the book is kept is now much smaller as a partition has been
put down the middle

After arriving at Liverpool I took this photo of the crew who'd flow the Airbus aircraft