Today’s guest picture comes from my brother Andrew. He was in London helping to sort out my late sister Susan’s affairs and took a moment off to go up the river by boat.
I was up early this morning on another gloomy day as I had to take our car to Carlisle to get new brakes. I dropped it off at the garage and considered whether to go for a walk while the work was being done. It was very windy and it was raining quite hard, but the forecast suggested that the rain would blow over, so I put on my new rain jacket and set out to explore Carlisle for a couple of hours.
My confidence in the forecast turned out to be justified and I didn’t have long to wait until the rain cleared and I even enjoyed some sunshine. I took far too many photos with my phone so I have grouped them into themed galleries for the impatient reader to skim over at speed. Those with time hanging heavily on their hands can always click on a gallery to get the bigger picture.
Shortly after leaving the garage, I visited Melbourne Park which runs along the banks of the River Petteril.
After leaving the Petteril, I walked through varied streets until I came to the River Caldew which I followed back to the town centre.
I met a number of river bridges on my way.
Carlisle is still very much a brick and sett city.
Carlisle used to be known as ‘The Railway City’ with seven railway companies serving its citizens. I crossed a lot of railway lines on my walk today, including lines to Newcastle, Settle, London and Whitehaven, and of course Scotland. I have tentatively given the pictures titles.
I took the pair of bridges across both the Caldew and the main line railway and spent a little time in the city centre . . .
. . . where I visited a camera shop. I was just thinking about a coffee and a snack when I got a text to say that the car was ready, so I headed back to the garage by the direct route down Warwick Road, passing this fine church on my way.
I had mixed feelings when I picked up the car. The brakes had not been replaced! However, the mechanic told me that, in his view, this was because they did not need replacing. The problem was surface corrosion and he recommended that I should either drive more or jam on the brakes whenever possible to prevent more corrosion. (Neither of these is going to happen.) This made me wonder whether my journey had been really necessary. However, he then presented me with a long and detailed bill which charged me the grand sum of £0, saying he hadn’t wanted to charge for work that didn’t need doing. I drove home quite happily, having had an interesting 7 mile walk which had cost me no more than the electricity for 46 miles (probably about £4 these days).
Mrs Tootlepedal spent the morning preparing to go to a meeting with two people who weren’t there. She will try again next week.
It wasn’t raining after lunch, so I spent a little time watching chaffinches trying to win the honour of being flying bird of the day, but getting their timing just wrong, being too early, too late, too low or having an annoying friend in the background.
Other birds sat quietly for portraits, except a dunnock who stood for his.
It was good to see increasing activity on the feeder.
Having enjoyed a walk in the morning with better weather than expected, I looked at the forecast and saw that it was not predicted to rain here until the late afternoon. As the wind was very boisterous, I thought that a quick spin round my Canonbie circuit would be fun as long as I took my electric bike. I hadn’t even got out of the drive before it started to rain, but as the morning rain had stopped as I walked, I thought that it might stop again this afternoon and pedalled on. I arrived home a sadder but wiser man, thoroughly cold and thoroughly drenched. I only stopped for one picture and that was to show where all the rain was going.
Quite a contrast with a week ago.
I had a shower to get some feeling back into my body, and went downstairs to enjoy a cup of tea with Mike Tinker. He might have mentioned how warm and pleasant the weather had been on his recent trip to New Zealand.
Then it was time for a Zoom with our granddaughter Matilda and her father. This was good fun although there was not much recorder playing in it.
After our evening meal, we both went out, Mrs Tootlepedal to a practice for the Opera Society’s anniversary concert, and I to the monthly meeting of the Camera Club. We had a good turnout there (including a new member) and dozens of splendid pictures to look at.
A goldfinch got its timing right and is the flying bird of the day.
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I wouldn’t mind getting the brakes done if I had a walk like that in the meantime!
It certainly passed the time very pleasantly.
Vehicles are so frustrating; wear out of you use them, wear out if you don’t. Handy to have though – being without them for a while it’s not much fun
I agree. We don’t use ours a lot (12000 miles in nearly four years. I have cycled further than that) but we would miss it if we didn’t have it.
It was nice to see the daffodils and the blackthorn.
It was also nice to see the railroad tracks. They’re getting harder to see all the time here but other parts of the country still have a lot of trains running.
I was going to say that the rivers looked like they could still hold a lot of rain but then I got to the next to last shot.
It obviously rained quite a lot more in Langholm than it did in Carlisle.
At least the walk was dry. And a very pretty one it was. That cup of tea must have tasted good after the bike ride. Nice of Mike Tinker to mention New Zealand’s sunny weather.
There has got to be some reward for flying all those thousands of miles. 🙂
A stellar assortment of bridges!
There was a lot of crossing on my walk.
What an energetic day.
You made good use of your waiting time
I like wandering round Carlisle.
I agree, you made good use of the waiting time. I am glad you had an honest mechanic, and you are only out the time and electricity.
Your bird feeders look like a busy airport! Our feeder here has also done a brisk business, especially in the suet cake department. It was below freezing here this morning. It will be a while before I see any blooming trees.
We are promised a very cold morning tomorrow. Mrs T isn’t going to get any serious gardening for a while.
Love the panels showing Carlisle! I won’t have to visit now! Great bird photos too.
It’s a great place, especially if you like railway bridges. I love the geometry of railway lines.
Hooray for the honest mechanic!
I second that (though a cynic might suggest that they had forgotten to order the new parts).
Between meeting members who weren’t there….and brakes that didn’t need repairing…I like that the auto repair man made out a detailed bill for 0 amount, quite kind and also humorous. Thanks for the interesting tour of Carlisle.