Anoraks Corner .. Its another sticky, humid, wet n orrible morning here at Leonard Towers. . I hear the weather over there has been blistering for the past few days .. and violent electric storms have always excited me, so Ive missed out on them, and all! (a bit of yer old Gloucestershire there, moi dears).... During the summer of 1966, I was working as a canoeing instructor on the River Wye. . The company was the then, fledgling PGL Adventure Holidays and was based at the old brewery in Ross-on-Wye. . The summer of 66 was a long, hot one and very often, wed experience fairly brutal summer storms at night. ..Very late one evening, I and a group of visiting girls and boys, staggered out of the Ferry Inn, loaded with extra flagons of Hereford Lightning and made our drunken way through the pitch blackness, along the grassy riverside path, back to our camping site in a nearby field. . It had already begun to rain hard and then the thunder began to roar and roll about us, seemingly from all directions. .Inside our canvas abodes, the lightning lit us up in blinding flashes of pink and mauve and when the bangs arrived, we could hear our ears whistling in their wake! .. Sometime, about 2am, came the biggest peacetime explosion in Europe, when a thunderbolt hit a tree on the opposite side of the river! ..The sound of splintering was bloody staggering! .. In gentle early morning sunlight, a friend and I paddled across the misty Wye to have a beak about. .A short distance downstream, we were amazed to find the blackened remains of what appeared to be a fir tree, still gently smouldering and split, ripped and torn into matchwood! .. Mother Nature can be a harsh mistress on occasions! .. The Forest of Dean and Wye Valley has always held a special place in my heart and without doubt, in my opinion, is the most beautiful part of England. . Anyone familiar with the stunning work of the legendary Gloucestershire railway photographer, Ben Ashworth, will already be aware of his incredible pictures taken in the west of the county! .. Todays offering is probably the finest railway related photo ever taken in the Wye Valley/Forest of Dean! .. Im sure its one of Bens best loved pictures and has appeared in several railway portfolios. . It was a beautiful July afternoon back in 1964, when Ben propped up his bicycle and scaled an ash tree to its summit in order to record this everlasting memory of a working rural railway line for us. . A former GWR, 0-6-0 tender engine, #2287, one of a class so common in these parts, is in command of the daily Lydbrook goods.. The train had travelled from nearby, Ross-on-Wye and would return later that day. . Kerne Bridge, spans the beautiful Wye with its fine stone arches and up to the right, in the distance, youd see the remains of Goodrich Castle! . Can you imagine the warm air, filled with the smells of the forest and alive with the buzz of a million insects, whilst all around, snakes lazily bask on rocks and stones, lusciously warming their heatless bodies! . Dont you just love the smells of the woodlands? .. the exhilarating scent of timber smouldering somewhere far off and a waft of coal dust filling your sinuses, back in the days when the Forest of Dean was honeycombed with collieries! ... Its still bloody raining here and I have to go poxy shopping! .. Oh RATS! .. Have a good Saturday all on DGBiC!
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 07:11:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015