Traditions and travel

[menzies]

Heard it was around 112 degrees in parts of France this past week. For a country not built on AC units that has got to hurt!

BTW, leaving tomorrow for the auld sod. A bit in Derry then Antrim Coast, Belfast (Titanic stuff) Downpatrick, NewGrange, Dublin, Waterford, Youghal, Kinsale, Ring of Kerrry, Dingle, Lahinch, and Donegal, before back to base in Derry!

Never did the tourist stuff growing up - so decided to make up for it! Staying in the Gaeltacht in Dingle! Memories of mandatory Gaelic class in school!

 

[Irish Rambler]

I have to keep going back to settle my itchy feet. Like me when I lived and worked there was no time to go and see the tourist sights.
A wee tip if you've not been back for a while you'll be out of practice with the Ulster/Irish fried breakfasts so watch your waistline, a few pints of the black stuff will help to ease the belt out another notch or two.
If your coming down from Derry along the beautiful Antrim coast call in at the whisky factory in Bushmills, check the times on their site as they do a great tour.
That was my ancient cruising grounds, you may have seen see some of the photo's in the earlier post 'Ireland to the Mediterranean Part 1'.
Dingle has got very touristy since you were a we'an but still keeps its magic, the harbour there is super, we spent a week there on our way here.
Take plenty of photo's and make some lovely memories in the land of Cead Mile Failte.

 

[BruceK]

We were in Ireland for 3 weeks last year, starting in Dublin and then following by car the coast south and around, until we were about level with Dublin but on the other coast, then cross country back. Enjoyed every minute of the trip.

Dingle had gone mad since I was there near 20yrs ago on a cycling trip. A quiet waterfront with an old local providing boat trips to see the resident dolphin has morphed into a town where half the waterfront is a carpark filled with massive tourist coaches. We stayed at a small hotel on the other side of the peninsula, accessed over a partly one lane mountain pass, as nice a hotel as we had anywhere,located practically on a beach.

I tend to avoid what I call "the full catastrophe", for breakfast.

We traveled to/from Ireland by ferry, 3 hours from Wales. Taking a rental car from UK to Ireland had such EU ramifications we ended up with 3 separate car hires. There is no drop fee either way between the ferry departure point and London,from memory Avis were the only provider.

 

[Irish Rambler]

'The full catastrophe' tradition started when the farmers got up early to feed and milk the cattle etc and then they would come in around 9 and sit down to a good feed. Everything was locally produced, it was usually served with fried potato bread (delicious) the later versions now serve 'Hash Browns' instead which are an imported American taste and beans in tomato sauce which was introduced into Britain by the Americans in WW2.
I still love it but as I get older I just can't eat the same volume, I love the thick cut dry cured back bacon with eggs so my waistline never seems to diminish !
When we were cruising down that coast we called in at Dingle and couldn't believe the change ourselves but if you go up the back streets you can still find the genuine Irish pubs and 'huxter' stores that sell everything thing from beer, groceries, tools etc and its in there you get the best 'craic' as the locals gather for a pint and crack jokes and tell tall tales to each other.
We had a good laugh when all the tourist boats went out looking for the dolphin and he wouldn't show up, as we left out through the dogleg into the main inlet he came alongside and gave us a private 5 minute display.
Our company used to collect computers from Dell at Limerick for delivery to Gothenberg in Sweden and we used that ferry over to Wales every night.
Its a pity the hire car company's don't get their act together as they would benefit if they were more flexible, many people hire a car and just drive over and say nothing.
The most important thing is that you enjoyed your visit, hopefully you'll go back.
We've been and had our trip this year and next up for us is a trip to Scotland and then China to round off the year.

 

[Irish Rambler]

In post 53 I mentioned fitting a bath to please the admiral, and the subsequent saga of sourcing a bath to fit and the 2,000 mile round trip to collect the bath.
I'm happy to say the admiral is as pleased as punch now the new bath has been fitted.

Sorry lads she's a bit shy so no photo's

 

[Irish Rambler]

I'm happy to say that the admiral christened the bath and is as pleased as punch, I just love it when a plan comes together.
When we bought the boat this was once a double cabin with en-suite toilet and shower room.
We stripped it bare and pre-placed wiring (fitted nylon draw strings in case we needed to pull more wire at a later date). Removed the toilet and shower and several pre-planned things from that earlier work came together to help the final bath installation.
With the toilet removed we fitted a Candy 4kg washing machine and the old shower mixer valve supplies regulated water to it and a dish washer.
The old toilet sea water feed has now been utilised as the bath water pump exit, we bought a Whale Gulper non clog pump and we're pleasantly surprised how efficient it is emptying the bath.
The temp regulated mixer valve on our hot water supply came into its own when we were filling the bath for a trial run.
What was once an aft double cabin has now been transformed into a very practical office cum bathroom.

Due to the size of the bath we can't both fit in but we popped a bottle of bubbly, the rest is classified !

Photo.
This was the original double aft cabin.
The photo in the previous post is as it is today.

 

[Irish Rambler]

How many of you guys have lost keys ? Be honest now !
Slipped out of your pocket into the water ? Mislaid ? Stolen or just simply can't find them.
We've had all three.
I dropped a set in the water when my arms were full of tools and I tried to unlock the door without dropping the tools, Duh !
Mislaid ! only the Lord above knows where c'os my wife sure doesn't.
Stolen, left them hanging in the lock and we think they were stolen for the key float and colour coded key tags.
We discovered that all the windows and locks for our boat were manufactured by Trend Marine in their UK factory and a replacement lock cost us over £100 plus shipping so I decided to look deeper into it.
I searched around and found a company who'll sell you just the barrel so you don't have to change the whole lock.
You can have all the locks on the boat with one key or even go electric.
The company is www.locksonline.co.uk and being British they have a 'can do' attitude and back it up with good service with worldwide shipping.
Take a look at their site it'll give a better explanation as the pictures are better than a thousand words, it'll cost you nothing and could save you a lot of money/hassle down the line.

Photo's.
1, interior.

2,3,4, exterior.

5,6, old lock barrel removed.

7,8, new lock l/h & r/h clearly showing the oval where the barrel slots in and held by a single screw.

 

[bogranjac1]

Too too many pics upside down or sideways to be sure to be sure ???

 

[Irish Rambler]

Your absolutely right bogranjac1.
I tried to be all modern and 'with it' and began to use the camera on the phone to save lugging the camera around but the photo's seem to have a mind of their own because when I turn them on the laptop and save them, they always go back the wrong way when I post them. I've tried orientating the camera but to no avail.
Never fear, I'm going back to the trusty Nikon for future pic because its annoying the hell outta me too.

 

[bogranjac1]

After downloading the pics from camera to laptop and identifying the ones you want to publish try saving them to USB key after U have inverted or manipulated them. I found the pics remain as I desired after transfer to USB. Also it's easier to locate the intended pics.
I like your posts so don't think I'm being critical, hopefully helpful.

 

[Irish Rambler]

No problem I'm a spanners man meself not really into IT and always glad of help and to help others, thanks for the tip I'll give it a go but to be sure to be sure I'm taking the camera on our next trip up North which starts on the 18th of next month.
We've started searching out our vests, long johns, jumpers and rain coats already

 

[Irish Rambler]

We've a guy living onboard a cruiser in Narbonne who's called Phillip Haines. he hails from Palm Beach California and calls himself Captain Tosh. He sailed around the world twice and bought an ex hire boat to put down his anchor here.
He just celebrated his 83rd birthday so we felt we should have a soiree with some special guests.

He's the guy in the 2nd photo. Any of you guys know him ?

 

[Irish Rambler]

At the beginning of this thread I said that I'd been grounded, that was from cruising this year, the admiral said nothing about following 'traditions and travel' as you've seen on our earlier posts.
Bear with me while I explain, I was born in England and raised on a farm, being the youngest there was no future at the farm so like millions from the world before me being the youngest and last in line I'd to go into the world and make my own fortune.
Due to a broken home earlier in life the elder brother ran the farm and I was to be the 'free lifetime labour' so I ran away to sea when I was 15. I quickly grew up !
I'd reached a point where I had a choice, I could either, spend time in a Turkish prison along with the rest of the coasters crew for transporting 'machine parts' the skipper had taken on, or 'disappear'. During capture there's 2 things you can do, fight or flight. I disappeared.When the skipper had been doing 'extra curricular activities' everyone got a cut to keep schtum. As a lowly cabin boy my cut was meagre but instead of blowing it in the bars I banked it. 'Disappearing' meant going 'below the radar' so I made my way back to England and joined the army as a boy soldier when I was just over 16.
The regiment I joined was the 'Sherwood Foresters', as the local Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire regiment they were direct descendants of Robin Hood. The British army in cutbacks during the labour government years meant that many regiments were amalgamated, as many of you know when you join the military you join a band of brothers with an unbreakable lifetime bond.
OK enough of the personal stuff it's only to give background as it'll crop up in later posts.

Where did the 'Irish' bit come in ? I was stationed there with my regiment and after my time was done I returned and married a girl from there, started a business etc etc. Some Irish girls are like a hurricane, they come on all hot and wet and when they leave they take the roof with them. Enough of the personal stuff.
Being ex military with an interest in boats and the sea and living permanently on board in the South of France, coupled with the itchy feet and wanting to touch my roots has led to us making the journey up through France, over to England for a mental refit and to show my lovely French wife around England.

I'd read previously about WW2 and in particular about the German 'Enigma' cipher machine which cost so many lives and caused the allies so many problems.
It was invented by a German man called Walter Scheerbuis just after WW1 and consisted of 3 rotors with numbered notches and a series of plugs and lights and had zillions of combinations for sending messages. The Polish had a go at breaking the codes and had a bit of help from a French spy who sold them some information. Once the Germans invaded the Polish guys working on it escaped via Spain to Great Britain.
In Great Britain a unit was created in Bletchley park purely to crack the Enigma codes. The breakthrough was attributed to a man called Alan Turing, whilst he was undoubtedly brilliant he was in fact one of a team who worked and did all the donkey work. His supposed girlfriend (he was gay) a numerologist called Dorothy was also instrumental in cracking the code but refused any limelight or honours after the war. There has been a recent film about Turig, heavily publicized by the lgbt brigade, like all films it was economical with facts.

So who were the real heroes ? By the way it wasn't Brad Pitt in the movie U571.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Because of the usual time/distance/cost/intentions I constructed a circular route to take in all our interests. Some for me and some for the admiral.
To give you some orientation here's our route so far, we left Narbonne port and headed up to the North of France to the port of Dieppe, from there we took the ferry over the channel to Newhaven.
Back on wheels again and our first port of call is Tamworth to take a very special photo for you.(Don't worry we've ditched using the camera phone so no more upside down photo's).

Photo's.
1, War memorial in Tamworth, England. In the heartlands of England there is great respect for its military heroes.

2,3,4,5 This is the memorial to Colin Grazier, if you click and enlarge the photo it gives the explanation of his actions during WW2.

6, Our route by car up through France.

7, After the 4 hour ferry crossing our route from Newhaven to Tamworth, the site of Colin Graziers memorial.

Colin Grazier, Lt Anthony Fasson and the civilian cabin boy Brown's actions in capturing the 'Enigma machine' and code books from a sinking German submarine in the Mediterranean were kept secret until virtually the end of the war lest the Germans realize the 'Enigma' code had been broken.
Sadly, ships that could have been re-routed were left to the mercy of the German submarines and many ships and sailors went to their deaths to keep secret the fact the British had cracked the 'Enigma' code.
During the year following the capture of the 'Enigma' cipher machine the shipping losses across the Atlantic fell by over 60%, the Germans initially put this down to a new anti submarine device the British had invented to escape the German submarine 'Wolf Pack' attacks.
By the time they realized the tide of the war had changed.
The supplies so badly needed which were brought from America over to Britain by ships had rebuilt the British army and also bolstered the Russians with essential equipment so they could open a second front.
When America entered the war the writing was on the wall for Germany.
If you think America entered the war voluntarily then you need to read my book 'Encore' available from Amazon as an e-book or paperback.
Since WW2 the Germans have again tried to conquer Europe, this time without firing a shot via the European Union.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Another port of call for us was to pick up some deck filler caps from a ships chandler. In Great Britain the 'canal age' was started by the need for transport of goods before the coming of railways.
Companies like the pottery manufacturer Josiah Wedgewood, were losing money on small cargo's and breakages of goods being transported by horse drawn cart to the sea ports for export.
A narrow barge could transport 80 tonnes as opposed to 6 in a cart with very few breakages so exporters heavily promoted the construction of canals.
Due to the size of Great Britain and the need for speed of building these canals were built narrow, in prime conditions a builder could make a mile of canal in a day. Consequently narrow boats were built, commercial traffic has now long gone and these narrow boats are used for leisure only.

Photo's.
1,2,3,4. Narrow boats in Willington marina. Because of the nature of these canals and locks all narrow boats are all made of steel.

5, Covered dry dock.

6,7. When they get it wrong and some buck eejit empties the wrong sluice gate, very embarrassing.

Incidentally the men who built these 'navigations' were called 'navvies' a slang term used today for a manual worker.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Correction.
If I could ask you to look back one post to the Colin Grazier memorial photo's.
The 3 anchors depict the 3 men who captured the Enigma machine and are joined for eternity by the chain which came from a Royal Navy warship HMS Petard on which they served.
I also referred to the civilian man as Brown, I apologize, his correct name is Tommy Brown. The 3 men were awarded medals, Lt Anthony Fasson and Colin Grazier were posthumously awarded the military honour of the George Cross and Tommy Brown being a civilian was awarded the George medal.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Along our route we visited a service station.
With all the hype about electric cars I thought you might like to see this.

Photo's.
1,2,3, Tesla charging station, there are 15 in total.The only car on charge is a rented Tesla. No other cars came to use it whilst I was there.

4, This Eco warrior bought an electric car and the battery ran flat and he needed recharged. Ironically the breakdown van and generator are diesel powered !

 

[Irish Rambler]

Running down the centre of England there runs a spine of hills, these are called the Pennines and our next visit is to the Derwent valley in the Peak district in North Derbyshire at the southern end of the what's known as the Pennine chain. In particular our visit takes us to the towns of Darley Dale, Matlock and Crich.

This region was at the forefront during the industrial revolution in England and boasted linen, woollen and silk mills.
Lead and Blue John were mined here and one of the large caves held a 'ropewalk' where hemp ropes were made for the Royal Navy.
Most of the pasture land around England have random oak trees growing, the tradition was that oak seedlings were given out by the government in the 1700's, for the farmer the benefit was that they acted as windbreaks and gave shelter to animals from the sun and rain.
The trees themselves however remained government property and once grown to maturity were felled and harvested by contractors to supply oak for building the navies warships and civilian cargo ships. Warships are now made of steel of course but the presence and planting of oak trees by farmers continues to this day, despite all modern materials oak wood is still a prized and valuable commodity.

Photo.
The round deciduous trees you see in the fields are oaks at various stages of maturity, the coniferous trees on the skyline are also harvested, a long term, but very profitable investment.

 

[Irish Rambler]

We chose for our stay in Darley Dale a hotel with a bit of history, we see enough of the modern variety.
In the 1800's a man called Joseph Whitworth (later Sir Joseph) who was a great engineer had a house called Stancliffe hall which he shared with his wife Louisa.
During the harsh winter of 1875 Louisa was concerned for the welfare of the locals and distributed tea, beef and butter to help them through the hard times..
Sir John made his money through engineering/toolmaking and invented the 'Whitworth' thread, anyone who's worked on old British machinery/engines will be familiar with it.
During the great exhibition in London he had 23 exhibits on display and collected more honours than all the other exhibitors.
He also invented the Whitworth snipers rifle which was popular in America.
He was instrumental in pushing the British board of trade to accept a set of standard measures.
After his death his wife donated Stancliffe house to a local trust for the local peoples use, the trust still administers it today, it contains a swimming pool, libraries, reading rooms, Billiard rooms, a natural history museum and a hotel.
The Whitworth hotel portion was sold off and to avoid confusion with the Whitworth centre which is part of the same building he renamed it 'The Barrington hotel' after the owners family name.

Its this hotel that we used as our base to visit the local sights.

Photo's.
1,2, Our room.

3,Oak panelled breakfast room.

4, Quote from the French heiress to the Bollinger champagne company.

5, Sadly the inscription on the mirror is unclear due to lighting.

6,The dining room.

7, Stancliffe Hall, now the Whitworth centre, the hotel is the right hand portion.

8,Peacocks are a common sight in the 10 acre grounds, this one is of course for decoration.

9, Everywhere you go there are memorials to the fallen soldiers.

 

[Irish Rambler]

In post 103 I explained my connection with 'The Sherwood Foresters' regiment and one of the reasons we came here was for me to pay my respects to my fallen comrades.
Our hotel is but a short journey by car to the nearby village of Crich and the memorial. There's also a tram museum there which I'll cover in the next post.
The first beacon was built on this hill and was part of a beacon chain covering the whole of England in case of invasion, especially in 1588 when the Spanish armada (with French help) tried to take over Great Britain (not much has changed 5 centuries later).
It was felt to be a fitting place to build a memorial tower to the local regiment. The Sherwood Foresters. A flashing light at night shines over the countryside from where the soldiers are recruited to remind everyone of the sacrifice brave men made. that they may sleep safe in their beds.

Photo's.
1, Before the amalgamation of The Sherwood Foresters with the Worcester regiment this regimental badge was affixed to the tower.

2,3,4. Self explanatory.

5. Regimental badge.

6. Self explanatory.

7,8. Fallen comrades, there are many more.

9.The surrounding countryside from which the regiment is raised.

10. This is the place of the original beacon and it has been rebuilt several times due to the ravages of time. The last time the beacon was lit was for the Queen Elizabeths silver jubilee.

 

[Irish Rambler]

The tram museum is also in Crich and here are some photo's for those of you who have any interest.

Photo's.
1 This is an open air tram from Blackpool, used to enjoy the sea air and the illuminations at night.

2. 3. Tram locomotive.

4. Covered Blackpool tram.

5. This ones from Glasgow.

6. These two are from New York.

7. This one from Portugal.

8. This is an American tram built to sweep snow off the tram tracks, unfortunately it wasn't a success as the British weather gives a wet slushy type of snow that was difficult to sweep away.

9.This is a Dutch tram from Amsterdam.

10. Before electric the faithful horse was used as motive power.

 

[Irish Rambler]

A few more interesting photo's from the museum.

1. Tram bogies.

2.Self explanatory.

3.Open topped tram for summer time.

4.5. This diesel powered bus was the start of the demise of the tram.

6. This photo is 'turned' to show the controls, what no GPS !

7.8,9. Self explanatory.

10. If you ever read my book 'The Wolf's Lair' from Amazon you would know that the Germans used the same system moving submarines for servicing when they came in off patrols during WW2.

 

[Irish Rambler]

The last nostalgic photo's of the tram museum.

1. Ornate bridge built in the 1800's.

2. This is how the trams arrive and its a testimony to the craftsmanship of the various specialists that they are refurbished like new again.

3. Tram bogey. The first use of the double bevel gears were attributed to early sketches by Leonardo Da Vinci which showed similar gears.
A Yugoslavian Milosevic was also credited with inventing and producing the double bevel which gave a greater surface area and ran quieter, which Citroen apparently plagiarised. Citroen produced these in in 1927 and even supplied the Titanic with these for its steering gears.
Whatever the truth of its origins they were a success.
Citroen use the double inverted V on their cars, and as a company trademark to this day.

4.Facade of an old Victorian pub which was demolished and then rebuilt here.

5. Inside an old sweetshop.

6.Tram conductor checking his route timing.

7.We rode this open top just for the fun of it.

8. Ancient American built plate printing press.

9.Precursor to the ubiquitous British red telephone box.

10. Fancy changing a set of brushes on this ancient generator ?

 

[Irish Rambler]

We were in a field having a picnic on a nice sunny afternoon, picking juicy sweet blackberries, blanket on the ground, birds singing.......censored...…...
Then later as we lay there I thought I was dreaming. I heard the distant sound chuff...chuff....chuff....chuff and I thought bloody hell its a bit late for the rhythm method now !
I asked the admiral did she hear it ? ''Yes, I'm not sure what it is though''. I did, it sounded like a steam train so pack up the picnic and lets go.
In Darley Dale unbeknown to me was a steam train preservation society and they'd refurbished and engine and carriages and were giving train rides to the nearby town of Matlock.
Here are some photo's of a big boys toy.

1, Darley Dale railway station.

2, The architects original inspiration (bearing in mind this is hilly country) was to build a station in the style of a Swiss chalet.

3. Stationmasters and ticket office.

4. Old style waiting room.

5.The farmers would deliver these milk churns (full) to the station and they would be loaded on a goods wagon for transport to the creamery.

6. This is a 0-6-0 tank engine, so called because the tank is wrapped around the boiler and of course its 6 wheel drive.

7,Compartment carriage with comfortable seating.

8. Railway preservation society staff having a gossip.

9, Beautifully restored, the hours of work by unpaid volunteers must have been colossal.

10. Hmm now where's first gear ?

 

[Irish Rambler]

A great day out.
Here are a couple more photo's of our steam train trip from Darley Dale to Matlock. These train lines were very busy during Victorian times, both for transporting goods but also with lots of visitors to the thermal baths in Matlock.
Today its still very busy with tourists who arrive by car instead.

Photo's.
1. This is the railway crossing signal box, the operator also controlled the track points to nearby sidings.

2.Level crossing.

3.Sidings with wagons waiting for renovation.

4.5.6 Memento's of a bygone era. 6. The photo was taken sideways to get the full shot.

7. The admiral enjoying the afternoon.


8,9. Matlock Station.

10. Matlock castle.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Florence Nightinghale was a local lady and came from a small village just outside Matlock.

 

[Irish Rambler]

As I mentioned in an earlier post we are in Darley Dale which is a small town in the Derwent valley through which runs the Derwent river.
Sir Richard Arkwright had invented the production line method of manufacture in 1720.
During the industrial revolution there were 5 very large mills built around this region for weaving cotton, these mills were roughly 6 football pitches square with between 10 and 12 stories high, ancillary buildings took roughly the same area and they all copied Sir Richard Arkwrights production line principle for speed and efficiency of manufacture.
4 of these massive mills have since closed but one is still in full production.
Joseph Smedley Knitwear is the oldest working factory in the world here at Darley Dale and has been continious production in since 1746 and is still producing world class knitwear.
The power to drive these mills came from the river Derwent.
Factories need support services and before the advent of railways horse and carts were used, these were superseded in the new age of canals and a canal was built to service these massive cotton/woollen mills bringing in raw materials and taking finished products to the ports for export around the world.
Coming with the age of steam the railway engineers were quick to realize that the canals followed easy gradients and so they copied them and ran alongside. Ironically they used barges to transport the stone, wooden sleepers and rails etc.

Photo.
1, This is the narrow gauge canal that serviced the cotton/woollen mills in Darley Dale. When it was being built the mill owners would only let the canal engineers fill the canal on Sundays so they would not lose any production as the river Derwent drove the water wheels to power the factory machines.

2, Small swing bridges were quick and cheap to build. Horses were first used to pull the barges and it was easy for them to pass.

3,Self explanatory.

4,With the age of steam and (Stephenson's Rocket, the worlds first steam driven railway engine) came rail way mania, these new fangled rail ways were faster and could carry heavier loads.

 

[Irish Rambler]

The next leg of our journey takes us to Whitby and the Captain Cook Museum.
If you read of our travels around Australia you will remember many references to the exploits of Captain James Cook.
I've always regarded him as one of my naval heroes, come with me as we take a look around the house where he was apprenticed.

Photo's.
1,2, Self explanatory.

3, Portraits and spyglass. John Walker James Cooks mentor was a Quaker so the house is spartan.

4, Captain James Cook.

5,Replica of James Cooks ship 'Discovery' moored in Whitby harbour.

6, James walkers house was built on wooden piles on reclaimed land in the harbour in 1688.

7, This is the actual kitchen space the young apprentices would prepare their food.

8,Dicovery, all the artefacts are brightly lit and many are in glass cases and that has an influence on the photo's.

9, Navigation instruments.

10, Latitude could be calculated but Longitude was uncertain until the arrival of the ships chronometer.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Some more photo's from Whitby.

1, Furniture was simple and practical.

2, The feared 'Cat o Nine' tails was normally kept in a red velvet bag so as not to show any blood. Capt Cook rarely gave the order for this type of punishment where the offender was stripped and lashed to the mast and given the designated number of lashes by the quartermaster. He would then be cut down and salt rubbed in his wounds to prevent infection, this was often as painful as the lashes and gave rise to the term 'Don't rub salt into the wounds' sometimes shortened to 'Don't rub the salt in'.

3,Tattoing needles from Hawaii, sailors had tattoo's to show their travels, nowadays the young have 'tramp stamps' applied by electric needles.

4, Captain James Cook and his wife.

5, Self explanatory.

6, This is the attic where the young James Cook and the other young apprentices slept.

7, A sample of food used on his voyages.

8,9, Self explanatory.

10, Toilet facilities, some vessels had this 'seat of ease' at the very bows of the ship (hence the terms 'ships heads') where any soil was washed clean by the bow waves.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Having sated my curiosity about Captain James Cook it was time to move on, this time up over the border into Scotland to honour another hero, Lt Anthony Fasson. In posts 103, 104 and 106 I referred to the heroism of 3 men and the capture German WW2 Enigma machine.
Some searching revealed Anthony Fasson's origins and I decided to go and 'touch base' as it were and got quite a surprise when I was told by the kindly rector that the church would be left open for me to go and pay my respects.
Churches in Great Britain were always open but are kept locked nowadays due to the younger generation and some ethnic minorities having no respect and vandalising them.

Photo's.
1,2 Crossing the border from England into Scotland.

3, the surrounding terrain.

4, the church where Anthony Fasson attended as a local worshipper.

5, 6, Memorial plaque and his action.

7,This region produced many military heroes, not all officers but also many rank and file who fought with distinction.

8,Very pretty rural church in Bedrule, Anthony Fasson's memorial plaque is on the left hand side halfway along the wall.

9, Click on this image to enlarge it for a full description of the action.

10, Bedrule place of worship.