This is the second communication in an occasional series about the Avro Vulcan there are other communications here and here. In January time I went inside XM655 and saw it was good. While in the Lake District recently I decided to sneak to Carlisle Airport and the Solway Aviation Museum. It was a foggy cool day, quite the opposite from the previous day when I had walked Helvellyn.
There were a couple of buildings with the usual paraphernalia nicely set out and some interesting stuff on the UK Space Programme and RAF Spadeadam. Outside the aircraft were nice but they do need to be inside, it’s a shame to see these beasts getting weathered, if only we had access to a warm dry boneyard.
Phantom
The people running the museum were chatty and interesting. They pointed me to the Devil’s Porridge Museum which I will visit another time!
Lightning (export version)
Basic Jet Trainer and Fast Jet
JP
Help Me
Lightning
Whirlwind
Lovely Bird
Tail Hook
Phantom
Sea Prince
Sea Prince
Canberra
Hunter
Tailfin and ECM / Radar pod
Hiding in the Lightning
Vulcan nose
The photos would more more alive if the sun had shone a little! There were two planes which allowed access to the cockpits, the Canberra and the Sea Prince. The Sea Prince was used as a navigation trainer for the Royal Navy and that is why the seats in the cabin are set out that way.
Canberra Cockpit
There’s a certain smell that emanates from inside aircraft, a mix of oil, electrics and age.
Sea Prince Cabin
Once I had toured these I was allowed to get inside the Vulcan which is always an enjoyable experience. I think people who make films about aircraft need to get in a real plane. They quite often make their planes with plenty of room to move around without realising the claustrophobic nature of cockpits.
Vulcan Cockpit
If you are into aircraft then the Solway Aviation Museum is well worth a visit. Good value for money and the chance to get inside some of the planes.
On 28 October I decided, after reviewing the weather, that I would attempt to scale Helvellyn the third tallest mountain in England. By attempt I mean that I would either get to the top or turn around very quickly, there aren’t that many escape routes. I parked the beast in Glenridding and check my equipment. Then I sauntered purposefully towards Mires Beck. I had planned to contour around Birkhouse Moor but in retrospect I shouldn’t have because I will need to head back there to complete that fell.
The Beast At GlenriddingView from the path up to Mires Beck
At the Hole-In-The-Wall I chose the Striding Edge route. This was more ridge-like and climbing than I had expected and I made sure that I slowed down and was thinking through everything carefully. It was a long way down both sides to either Red Tarn or Nethermost Cove and it would hurt, a lot.
Striding Edge and Red Tarn with Helvellyn hidden.
Striding Edge was mostly clear but with quite a wind chill and the cloud base was above the ridge but below Helvellyn. Parts of this ridge were challenging and I was always aware that my phone didn’t really have any signal, there weren’t many other people out either. Once the ridge was completed I had to find a way up the last scramble to the top. I saw the memorial to the airmen who landed a plane on top of this plateau.
Crazy Plane StuffHelvellyn Summit
I had planned to walk back via a route near Raise, but chose to take the slightly shorter route down Swirral Edge and take in Catstye Cam. Had I stayed atop Helvellyn for about twenty minutes longer I would have had lovely clear weather up there. When I got to Catstye Cam the whole area was clear. After that it was a slog along good paths back to Glenridding.
Helvellyn from Catstye Cam
While I was walking I realised two things. One, I don’t like uneven steps made of stones, I’m much happier taking many little steps along a smooth path. Two, my left knee doesn’t like going down hill. The second thing was more a memory than a new thought. I have done plenty of hill walking to know my physical limits.
Ullswater from Catstye Cam
Now I am tempted with completing all the Wainwrights. I have no idea how long it would take me.
Some additions:
I heard RAF jets on my ascent. But I didn’t see them. This is about the fifth time I’ve heard planes but not seen them. I should probably get to the Mach Loop sometime.
Here are my walking statistics for the day, although they don’t include any information about altitude:
I recently completed watching the entire run of Psych. That might make it sound like I did a complete binge-watch of eight seasons but I have completed the show over seven years. I watched some on terrestrial TV, I recorded some from ITV4 and I also bought the DVDs when I got to the last four series.
After nearly seven years I have finished Psych. It’s helped me through kids, divorce and down times. Thanks guys. @DuleHill
I have enjoyed the show thoroughly. It is well acted, written and photographed. I consider it a good use of my time. Like many of the TV shows I have loved it mixed developed characters with fun, jokes and seriousness. I even sat on my sofa and laughed out loud on occasions. Dulé Hill and James Roday were perfect in the lead roles and this is the second series I have watched with Dulé Hill, the previous being The West Wing, a show that left me with similar feelings to this one. Anyway, Mr Hill responded to my message:
So this was a nice touch from someone who I assume is a nice person. However, I would also add that I have no wish to meet my heroes as they would all too easily disappoint.
In other news, but not new news, as this happened ages ago I got followed on Twitter by John Forbes Nash. Yes, that John Forbes Nash. I have no idea why he followed me or how he found me on Twitter. I was quite excited by this. I was also very saddened when he died in May 2015.
The title of this communication does not refer to the more frequent sea passage in the Northwest of the globe. The fact that this passage is becoming a more regular occurrence should scare the fuck out of all of you. Anthropogenic Global Climate change is happening and the speed is increasing. The biggest problem is that all the damage has been done already. Because the effects are long term and not pleasant and will cost a fucking fortune to sort out it’s not the sort of thing politicians really want to talk about. As far as I can tell this planet is fucked. It isn’t going to get solved and our grandchildren will be suffering as a result of this. Fuck the self-interested assholes who “govern” the countries. Fuck them and the short-termism of politics.
Bridges
The bit in the middle of the map, bounded by the river, the A229 and the two motorways is a lovely area to live in. I have written about it before see this communication. To get to Snodland, which the Post Office thinks is the best place to take my parcels, is a 9 or 12 mile journey ONE WAY. This is largely because of the river and the location of bridges over the river.
A new village is being built on brownfield site in the three villages area. There will soon be four in the valley. While I understand the need for more housing I do think the character of the valley villages is going to be ruined. Currently the villages are largely working class Victorian homes built for the workers of Burham Brick Works. There’s a certain look and feel to the villages. The brand new village will be large, expensive homes. My chip on my shoulder is back! I have found myself getting annoyed recently at the stratification of society and the problems that causes. Anyway, back to the journey to the post office lest this writing become another rant about the uselessness of politicians and the social engineering they mess with [along with fucking the planet].
Part of the deal for these new houses was a new bridge to be built. This will allow most of the traffic of the new village to not go past the junction to my village. But in reality that’s bullshit. What may happen is that the local country roads become over run with people cutting through along the bottom of the Downs. We shall see. My village is already planning a zebra crossing because of the expected extra traffic.
New Bridge
The new bridge is in place and opened recently. I drove over it this evening and took a photo. Already the road seems busier [anecdote and confirmation bias]. I will run that way tomorrow. Normally running along that stretch I would be passed by about 3-4 cars during the mile I am on that road. It will be interesting to see what happens. While I like the idea of the bridge I am not happy about what it means for those who live around here.
The New Bridge
So I now have to spend the next few months behind non locals who think the road [at the split] is two way because they haven’t paid attention. My patience could be tested.
I will keep you chaps updated about what happens. I predict a serious crash at the Bull Lane / Pilgrims Way junction within a year and then traffic lights or a mini roundabout will be installed.
A part of the summer’s tour was to visit the West Country to see friends. As I’ve been driving around quite a bit I found some radio series to listen to. I already listen to podcasts and I do that mostly when I am running so I wanted other things to listen to while driving. I had an audio book version of Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan and then I listened to all of Cabin Pressure, a radio situation comedy by John Finnimore. Cabin Pressure is brilliant and so very well written, I’d recommend it to all.
I spent two nights at the Kilna Guest House just on the edge of Tideford. This is a few miles along from crossing the Tamar bridge and so is definitely in Cornwall.
On my first night there I went to see a film in Plymouth at the Vue cinema, I watched David Brent. On the first full day in Cornwall I has a quick run around the lovely countryside.
After that I then met with my good friend Jamie and he had a surprise first activity for us. We travelled a small distance along the A38 to Adrenalin Quarry. For a relatively small sum we were able to launch ourselves off the top edge of the quarry and fly down the zip line for 490m.
Zip Wire
It was pretty good fun and there was a video service available so we decided to do the whole thing again. Having looked into zip wires a little bit there’s one in Wales which is a mile long! I would really like to do that one. At the end of the Adrenalin zip wire we were about one metre above the lake travelling at 40 miles per hour.
The set up at Adrenalin Quarry was very professional and one of the best outdoor activity centres I have been to. I was very impressed and the technology was impressive. To get the video I just needed a code number for their website which was printed on a wrist band. Inside the wrist band was an RFID chip which I placed near a reader just before we launched off the platform. It all worked very well.
Later that afternoon the full-on sport experience continued with frisbee golf at Mount Edgcumbe House on the opposite side of the Tamar from Plymouth. We bumped into more experienced players of frisbee golf and they had different frisbees for different distances and conditions, it was quite an impressive set up and just a little nerdy!
Frisbee Golf at Mount Edgcumbe House
I have been around the grounds of Mount Edgcumbe a number of times but never actually inside [I’m not even sure if you can see inside] maybe next time I will go inside and have a nose around. Now that I’ve seen inside a few of these old houses they do seem similar and less impressive the more I see!
Mount Edgcumbe House
That evening was a meal in Saltash and then back to the guest house for sleep. I didn’t run the next morning but instead got ready to drive across the county towards the end of lands. I have other friends in Camborne and so listened to more of Cabin Pressure along the way. This was my first time to Camborne and I was curious as when I was at college the Royal School of Mines had a traditional rivalry with Camborne School of Mines and so I have been aware of this place since the early 90s!
While having a bit of an overview of the road map I noticed a monolith along the way and so I thought I should probably divert to see it. According to Wikipedia it is the largest prehistoric monolith in Cornwall. At the top of St Breock Downs I thought it’d be worth seeing.
St Breock Downs Monolith
In the picture you can see the monolith and the Beast! I managed to take a photograph of the side without a graffiti penis! According to my OS map app there was also a trig point nearby and so I walked the short distance to that also.
St Breock Downs Trig Point
The roads heading to the monolith were “classic” Cornish roads as they were single track two way roads with very few passing points. After this I stopped off for a coffee at “Cornwall Services” and then kept going to Camborne.
Later that afternoon a trip to the beach was required. It wasn’t cold nor too hot and there were sunny intervals. I didn’t take a hat and so I got burnt on my head. I should have known better.
Gwithian Beach
Clearly the southern most point of this island beckoned and the next day we travelled to the Lizard via a short time in the viewing area of RNAS Culdrose to see what was happening. We were quite lucky as there were about four Hawks doing their thing in the skies along with one Sea King. The Hawks were quite loud but not as good as the Tornados seen at RAF Marham. They were practising landings by performing touch and goes. Hopefully there’ll be F-35s here soon as they prepare for duties on the carriers.
Hawk, RNAS Culdrose
Pub lunch at Lizard and a stroll around the lighthouse and southern most point. It was very pleasant and lovely weather. One day I might have to order some pasties to get that authentic Cornish taste here in Kent.
Later that day we visited a monument on top of a hill near Camborne and from this vantage point you can see the impact that mining had on the landscape. There are small industrial buildings dotted around the place with chimneys clearly visible.
Carn Brea
And so the trip was over. The journey home was smooth enough. The roads were flowing quite well until the M25 which was to be expected. This was the last big trip of my summer although I have still to write about the biggest so keep an eye open for that!
Took a trip out to Sissinghurst in deepest darkest Kent. It’s a National Trust garden and although billed as a Castle Garden, there wasn’t much of a castle.
It was a nice few hours spent wandering around and see stuff. As someone who isn’t that bothered by plants I guess some of it was lost on me at a deep level. There were plenty of people stopping and smelling and touching the flowers but I didn’t. Yes, they look nice but I’m just not interested.
Here’s a gallery of green.
One Point Perspective
Reeds
Road To Nowhere
Give Me Your Answer
Sissinghurst
Red 5
Summer Flowers
On a walk around the lakes there was a little door in the bank. How strange.
Doorway
There did seem to be quite a few German visitors and this pleased me, the Germans coming over and spending their money, although granted it’s not as much money as before the referendum.
I thought it was time to change them. I think I’ve had them for about 2 years and so they have probably done around 1000 miles! So I bought some new trainers. These ones are nice and bouncy!
Went to look around Rochester Castle and Cathedral. I’d not been in the cathedral before and I was impressed, but then that’s the point of them. They are meant to intimidate you into believing a load of bollocks. It was strange as the organ was being tuned up and so added a creepy scary atmosphere. I mean, more of a creepy atmosphere than a whole building dedicated to the murder of a Jew, who possibly didn’t even exist.
So, there was a submarine in the river. This was somewhat of a surprise as I’d never noticed it before.
Black Widow
A quick Google tells me this is U-475, a Soviet era submarine called Black Widow. I could write stuff here but you could just visit the Wikipedia page here. Apparently this sub has been here for over ten years, but I have to say she’s not always been moored off Strood or I would have definitely noticed her before now. It’s an impressive sight. Not quite as impressive as the Raid On The Medway must have been, those pesky Dutch!
Rochester Bridge got in touch via Twitter:
@iparish and a nice inclusion of our Old Bridge too
— Rochester Bridge (@RochesterBridge) June 2, 2016
