Exploring - Silverdale Cove

 Although the weather was not good to the point I did not risk my Dslr in heavy salty showers, I did explore Silverdale Cove, just inside Lancashire on foot which is a part of the Arnside & Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

You can see part of the coastal path which many people do go along giving some excellent views of the coastline.

There is much shingle on the beach here something that did not help my abilities at staying upright as it made for uneven ground.

It was a struggle but I managed it.

Morecombe Bay is known for its silt and mud flaps that have over the years resulted in tragedies where people have become in effect trapped, unable to get to dry land.

Some sense of the scale of the cove can be observed from looking at this picture.

Exploring - nature at the base

This week as promised I'm looking at my time away last week and I'll begin today with two pictures of plants with flowers where I stayed around South Lakeland in what was a stone built two storey building extended and extensively modernized while keeping much of its period charm.

One advantage of its elevated position is the excellent views across Morecombe Bay towards Heysham and Barrow In Furness with its sand dunes although you certainly notice it walking down the hardcore covered steep unadopted road.

There were a number of honey bees there but we never saw a wasp although there was much vegetation that one would of thought of attracted them.

There were a fair number of trees within the grounds and these are two good examples of them

Returning

 

Today, a short while after this entry has been published, I shall be returning no doubt emptying my suitcase with stuff ready for the wash and other bits and bobs after a quick clean such as my camera going back to where they are stored carefully.

Across the week I'll be unpacking the things that matter from that, the memories made, the things I did and my feelings about it and posting them here because that's one of the three things this blog has been about from day one and the original Tumblr  when I had that.

Breaking out

 

Well guess what will be happening this week?

It's the first time in yonks I've been able to go away exploring with friends on foot so I've washed and packed my stuff including the uniform I wear doing this, all neatly ironed and folded ready to face the great outdoors.

Just being together although we'll be keeping to some protocols to keep ourselves safe from this virus we've struggled with given we will be in shared accommodation with individual rooms rather than say tents.

It's time to get engaged with what this boy is all about all over again. 

An education in the outdoors

To be in the outdoors doesn't require that you are involved in Scouting in one form or another and here we have the Third Year (aka Year Nine) at a UK secondary school out on a walk in the woods.

Personally I can recall going for walks at school in the forests with proper hiking boots and thick woolen socks on as well as just going into a park or along country lanes outside of the classroom academic study because it was about developing the whole you as a rounded individual.

The boy second left is correctly dressed because his short sleeve shirt and shorts will allow air to circulate and provide good exposure to the vitamin D properties of natural sunlight while looking tidy which as he's representing his school is important

Tracksuits are fine for keeping warm in for P.e. and Games but really aren't good for this and to be honest I don't feel a blazer is necessary and I add I absolutely detested long trousers not least because in the summer I was way too hot.

Personally I feel schools would do better to spend more time outside of the classroom working with natural wonder and creativity to deliver the normal curriculum.

Working together

Working together, looping the rope around, you use your knot tying skills worked on previously to fasten it together securely, something that may prove itself to be vital later on in life.
Another example of real preparation for life.

From Canalside to on the canal view

 Been rather a warm week here being mindful about then and how long to go out in.

While out one day watching many species of butterflies and fighting of what seemed like an army of biting things, along the canal I observed a good number of craft going through the locks, some leaving their overnight moorings.

This was a well observed scene shot in very contrasty conditions against the light that required a tiny amount of tweaking as the narrowboat came through the manually operated lock immediately behind it.

Note the reflection in the water too.