Just one day in February.

 On Friday we drove up the M6 to the old house in West End Morecambe and popped the heating on to warm it up.

...then  switched on the electric blanket to air the bed...

...and off to Arnside in the wind with big skies and rainbows over the Bay.

A train goes off to Whitehaven again.

It looks like a toy train as it trundles over the bridge on it's way up the west coast of Cumbria.

We sit and stare and promise...we'll do that trip this year.

 

...my mum loved seagulls...her favourite book was " Jonathan Livingston Seagull"...

Rosie bought it for her.

...we used to watch them from the old caravan at Ballyferris...fighting the winds and soaring over the wild seas.

...we were just in time to catch the "bore" as it powered it's way up the Kent ...roaring like a tractor...

...sudden downpours...

...caused many rainbows...I love a rainbow...it tells me " All will be well"...

(Julian of Norwich...thankyou..)

...then back to the old house and fish and chips with the blessed son...who now lives on The Bay.

A big fire in the grate and rugs around the knees and we talk of this and that ...

and are thankful.

Sunday at Grange-over-Sands

It was Prom Art again on Sunday ...gosh it comes around so fast I can hardly get my breath.

Well... we love Grange and The Prom Art...but not the rain that stopped the people from promenading with their families and dogs!

So it was a matter of covering up the stall and in the heavy showers hauling in the paintings while the ceramics could look after themselves!

    

  The stall looked good..

...even in all the wetness!

.and Robert....chief organiser, if you don't count his gorgeous wife !...

was to be seen as usual, walking up and down the prom encouraging us.

 yellow hat glowing... so we would know that he was around.

We had some new tiles on the stall...         
               hares......!

 yes... I know you all realise I'm besotted with them at the moment...

                       but there you go!

...you must blame Derek Jarman's cottage for it all!













There's always a bonus at Grange.....
...the bay was glorious with massive rain clouds  hanging over the hills around Arnside...
I just had to take loads of pics...

Then just to be seen away in the distance at the oppposite side of the bay...

...leading his people like a modern day Moses across the treacherous sands....

the Queen's Guide, Cedric Robinson

I listened to two little girls discussing the sands...

..." If you fall in there the sand will swallow you up"...

...unbelieving look..."Really?"

Well it could have been a Dr. Who moment!

The Bore.

What a good name !
It certainly isn't boring if you are there as it happens.
Most people in England know of the Avon Bore.
But there is a Bore in south Cumbria on the River Kent .
We often go to Arnside, on the south bank of the river,

We have a cuppa in the little wooden tea rooms along the bank and up a hill to the left.
Then sit and wait and hope, like children listening for sleigh bells on Christmas Eve.

 If our timing is right, we will hear the "bore" as the tide streams in past the town at a narrow part of the river. It sounds like a train coming closer...really loud... and the first time is so uncanny as to make you think that the train is coming up the river! 
Sadly we were out of luck, but the tea was worth it and the piece of almond and lemon cake almost made up for the disappointment.

Today we took the bikes and peddled down to the Mersey, about a mile as the crow flies.

Not many crows there ...mainly seagulls and other water fowl!
We sat at the wooden tables, gazing out over the river and ate sandwiches...they don't serve food...and drank  Guinness.

Suddenly...there was a roar coming  from the west.
A Bore!
I couldn't believe my ears and I jumped up knocking over drinks and crisps !

From being a trickle of water in the river, it very quickly filled up to the level of the rushes and sedges on the opposite side to us.

I've lived around here for 40 years and I never knew that we had our own local Mersey Bore! 
Well that's not completely true...actually I've known quite a few...but none as exciting as this one!