A birthday trip....

It has to be said that most people's choice of birthday walk would not be along the beach at Parton in North Cumbria......but what a lovely morning! A chance to sit and sketch the view towards Whitehaven ( it was a bit chilly though) and then a scrat along the beach (the sun came out) with good views of waders, before making a heart from the beach finds.

Surprise View - the long version!

A repeat of the previous painting but on a long thin canvas so I could get more view in!

Greystoke Forest Fungi

A lovely little walk yielding an array of spectacular fungi - love the angel wings.

Lake District Wildlife Park - lemurs ..

A gorgeous morning, albeit a tad breezy, with the Lemurs at Bassenthwaite. A great present!

Tom Garner : Young C-Art exhibition

Good to see Tom's work up in the gallery at Carlisle College Brampton Road Campus.

Tom Garner's digital artwork..

Other young C-artists. 

Surprise View - oil painting

Surprise view - an oil painting - not photographed in the best of lights! 

Autumn-coloured moths.

A few pictures from last week's moth trap - amazing how the colours seem to reflect the season.

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Left hand column: Canary shouldered thorn; angle shades and pink barred sallow.
Right hand column:  Ear agg; frosted orange and green brindled crescent.

Surprise View - Borrowdale.

Following yesterday's superly spectacular walk in perfect autumn weather, I thought that Surprise view deserved a blog of its own!

Ashness Bridge....Watendlath ...High Tove and High Seat circular walk.

A beautiful autumn day - more like late summer and a cracking walk. Parked at the bottom of the road up to Ashness Bridge and walked up, past Surprise view and along the river to Watendlath. A fabulous light on the water. Then a pull up onto High Tove before a very boggy (wet and peaty) walk onto the tops to High Seat before dropping down to Ashness Bridge again. Great views.

Solway acrylics..

Great Gable from Haystacks

A larger oil this afternoon...

Parton Beach and finds.

We went for a short walk along Parton beach yesterday - lots of sea-washed glass, much of which still retains the lettering from old bottles. Not surprising when you read about Parton's industrial heritage:  

Parton Bay has shaped Parton’s history. The bay was used by the Romans when they occupied Moresby Fort which sits above the village on Hadrian’s Wall. The port continued to be used through the Middle Ages, and Elizabethan times but it wasn’t until in 17th century that the port underwent significant development to cater for the local coal trade. During the early seventeenth century the port flourished and Parton prospered and new industries developed. For a time Parton was a busier port than Whitehaven, however in 1795 a storm destroyed the harbour breakwaters, and the port never recovered, reverting back to a small fishing haven. The village industries, which included a brewery, had enough local custom to survive and some new industries developed including an engineering company, a tannery and glassworks which shipped glass bottles to London. With the loss of the port, coal now had to be transported to Whitehaven and a horse-drawn tramway was built along the foot of the cliffs which is known as the Wagon Way. Locomotives made at Lowca Engineering works, had to be transported from Parton by seagoing barge as it was not until late in the nineteenth century the railway extension to Whitehaven via Parton was built. The railway brought new opportunities for Parton's industries. The colliery, the engineering works and the brewery all thrived, an iron-foundry opened next to the new railway station, and in the 1870s an ironworks was established on the shore near the Lowca works. ( http://www.copeland.gov.uk/content/parton-%E2%80%93-industry-education)

Part of Percy Kelly's Parton painting (http://www.percykelly.co.uk/percy-kelly-trails/parton-trail/)

Victorian tip finds

A cracking evening literally just picking these up off the tip! ...and then a morning of cleaning these up.

Allonby - sparkling in the sun.

A glorious day - walked from Mawbray to Allonby and back.

Flowering rush in the beck at Allonby. 

Hesket Newmarket Show 2016

Another cracking show day ... damp but not wet as had been promised.