Traipsing the Tawd

The weather hasn't been that great in the UK since I've been back for the holidays. Whilst the brunt of it has hit further south causing flooding, travel disruption and power outages, up in the northwest the wind has been the main problem. Thankfully causing no damage round my way, the 40km/h winds are more of a noisy nuisance than anything, howling between the plastic cladding outside of my exposed room walls on the corner of the street. Earbuds have been a frequent accessory to my nights sleep these last few days.

So when today yielded calm clear conditions with a bright blue sky, I seized the opportunity to go and play with my camera again, something I am always eager to do. It also gave me a chance to convince myself that Skelmersdale still has something to offer when it comes to spending time outside. Inspired from a conversation with a dear friend over tapas (and some cheeky sangria) where we reminded ourselves of the fact that we hail from a relatively rural part of the world, with access to beautiful countryside not even outside of the town borders, I donned my wellies, gave the dog a biscuit to ease his impending loneliness, and wandered down towards the river.

Skelmersdale is dissected by the River Tawd, a tributary of the larger Lancastrian waterway of the River Douglas, and a much neglected part of town. Shopping trolleys are a prominent part of the river load both near to and far from the shopping centre. Litter is liberally sprawled along the banks, especially so now thanks to redistribution from the wind. Despite its deserved bad rep, I still enjoy walking along the trail system that runs alongside it, set up in a long forgotten past age. I have fond memories of walking down to the river on a class trip in primary school to explore the environment, and to play Poohsticks at one of the bridges. So while the light was dwindling in the late afternoon I thought the tall trees would offer long shadows and reflections on the river would make for some interesting photos. And I was pleasantly surprised with my results.

Long shadows. Tick.

Rushing waters.

Walk 2 minutes in that direction to end up in a housing estate.

The Poohsticks bridge.

Fabulous reflections. Tick.

Maybe my favourite photo of the outing.

Long shadows of the trees on the overpass foundations.

An artistically discarded Mini Cheddars packet.

Chasing down the light I emerged from the riverside woods into the grassy fields adjacent for some more open landscape shots. Seeing planes in the skies above West Lancashire isn't an uncommon sight with Liverpool and Manchester airports nearby. Whilst watching Cash Cab back in Canada (a fabulous quiz show where you catch a taxi and answer questions for money with the fear of striking out and being kicked out before your destination) I learnt that the stream of white smoke from behind a plane was called a contrail (condensation trail, duh!), and fittingly I saw some wonderful contrails, changing from straight to more chaotic but well preserved lines with distance from the planes due to atmospheric eddies. 

Love the curved projection of the sky in this panoramic.

Contrail may be my new favourite word.

Crossing paths.

Dispersion.

Making tracks.

Tumultuous geometries.

The above photos were taken from the grounds of my old high school, Lathom High. I have excellent memories of high school and walking across the school fields the outline of the rounders pitches brought a reminiscent smile to my face. The subway that essentially marks the boundary of the school premises have seen a dramatic face-lift since I last saw them, with vibrant commissioned graffiti, not ancient local graffiti marking the walls. Super vivid mode was not required.

Framing the sunset with the goalposts.

Trapped leaves.

Inspiration.

My alma mater.

Blues showing my allegiance to Lathom, as opposed
to our green neighbours at Our Lady Queen of Peace.

An hours walk had provided me with some lovely photos of my old stomping grounds, and had succeeded in restoring some hometown pride. So much so that I decided to share the photos as a blog instead of just posting them on Facebook. The photos I took today had a story, one which may only be important to me, but one that I felt worthy of telling. While Skem has more than its fair share of faults, it does have some redeeming features.