Another Penketh Winter Walk.

 It's honestly taken a pandemic and half a lifetime to recognize that I live in a most wonderful part of the British Isles.

Penketh

The word is old English "PEN"...an edge..and "KETH"...a wood.

Burtonwood

Burtonwood was once a forest north of the Mersey.

Probably Penketh before the Romans arrived.

We park by old Marsh Lane...which tells you a little about the geography of the area.....

...it runs alongside a  field where you can view the Ferry Power Station for another few months before demolition.

And then  pass this beautiful ancient willow on the edge of the railway...

..across the line...

and this is the edge where Burton Wood and the internationally known river...

"The Mersey"

meet.

Today again we started our walk at the canal..... the first in England.

We call it The Sankey Canal...though St. Helen's would assume to own it...

...but as it came from Sankey Brook/ Penketh Brook...enough said!

In the distance..Ditchfield Farm....

One of the first mentions of the Penketh family was William de Penketh who was witness to a charter in 1240. In 1280 Gilbert and Robert Penketh became joint lords of the Manor of Penketh.

...then right turn on to the muddy path back to the canal walk...past the Penketh Brook sluice gate 

...and always a shadow pic...

just to say

"We were there"

Back to the canal walk where bikes and dogs rule...

...love a "bokeh" in a pic!!

...the sun is low and the canal water catches  gold on the ripples from  dabbling ducks... 

Birthdays and other things...

 Today these two tree climbers are 19 years old!

Snape Twins

Izzy and Esther.

Where did that time go?

Oh wait...it went with fun and meals together with the family...

...it went at High School and now work and university..

...it went with laughter and tears...

It was great!!

...always cake here at The Potters House..

A chocolate cake was baked and on behalf of both...Izzy blew out the candles!

Their mum and dad isolating at the moment missed the traditional blowing of the light!

...celebrating A level results this year...

...and here are some flowers from the garden....

..in the summer when things were easier all round!!

Taking the road to Widnes along the Canal.

 

The bottom part of Sankey Canal is overgrown with these wonderful winter reeds that rustle and sway in the light winds coming along the water..

We didn't walk too far today..the weather is chilly and an hour was quite enough for us.

We wondered what would happen to the areas fenced off behind the large pipes leading from the power station.

Would it be recognized as a wilding area by one of the universities?

Nobody has civilised this for all those years that the station was pumping out energy for our homes.

Moss and ferns clothe the pipes and birds are free to nest and breed.

I'm sure there are foxes, badgers, squirrels and moles aplenty in there.

Everywhere there is water both under the reeds and also along the length of the pipe.

When the power station is being dismantled is the railway going to be used to take all the technical machinery away? I should think so.

Here's the wooden signalman's hut on the rail link to the power station that used to have the coal wagons trundling though the day and night..now surrounded by birch saplings and reeds...it would make a great summerhouse!!

We've lived with these sculptural shapes for so long that to envisage the landscape without them will be strange.

Already the landscape..the reeds...the wild trees are enveloping those towers...

Here  some wild flowers and ferns filling the area behind the green links and spilling out on to the path.

Mersey light by the Ferry Tavern

 Late afternoon light in November,,down by the banks of the Mersey river...

...and the sun breaks through the stormy clouds.

Sankey Valley Park...Lockdown Walks

 

We walked along the far side of Sankey Brook this afternoon ..a muddy path under trees with  fallen leaves blackened underfoot...made me think of Robert Frost and "Two Roads."

We discovered this sculpture...probably the last people to do that!

The paths are well used.

Reeds were whispering in the soft winds... and a rainbow arrived...full bow..over the hospital.

The third I've seen today.

Down to the seven arches where the Liverpool train crosses..

......and ducks and water fowl nest in the reeds...

...a beautiful tree in winter attire and  the brook now clogged up with only the canal to make its way on to St. Helens.

..the sun goes down earlier each day..and so being low catches the light through the bare trees and the water...

...sunset and bokeh over The Sankey Canal

November Sunshine...

 

It's not an easy thing coping with change in these days... 

Lines are drawn on winter grass

I stop and stand for a moment

whisper...don't go...don't go.

It's my soul song  my heart cry

Shell and stone   feather and bone.

Black oak stark against blueness

Drawing  restoring  slow breathing

sigh...don't leave...don't leave.

My soul song   my heart cry

Shell and bone   feather and stone.

For these we give thanks again

For copper rustling  mossed cushions

cry...stay awhile...stay awhile.

Sing my soul song   slow my heartbeat

Shell and stone   feather and bone.

Lines are drawn on winter grass

A low sun moves and shadows pass

now going...soon fading.

My heart cry   my soul song

Shell and stone   feather and bone.

Lockdown walks...

Here's a pic of some summer flowers in the herb garden.

"Fox and cubs"

Remembering... November 11th

 

Today we remember two dads who were active in  WW2

Sydney Snape

Alan and Jean's dad

...who was active in the North Atlantic as a member of The Royal Navy...

and

Douglas McClelland

...dad to Ian, Rosemary and Geraldine...

...who patrolled the docks and ship building port of Belfast...

We miss these two men

and

...are thankful for their lives.

Lockdown walks in Penketh

I'm enjoying the need to walk around the district again!!

Over the weekend two lovely walks towards the south of the parish...

Sankey Brook...

...making it's way down to the Mersey River...

...and this one very close to our home...

... the walk down to the Ferry Inn by the Mersey and the yacht haven in the Sankey Canal...

...golden light on the water..still...

...the boat yard by the canal... 

 

..and here's some lovely autumn colour from the garden at 

The Potters House Penketh.

..as they say on all the blog posts...

"Stay Safe"

🍂