Lune

It’s been a while since I had a trip over to Lancaster so I thought I’d make a day of it,  built around a double header of football at Lancaster City’s Giant Axe ground.

The early train across over the tops was fairly quiet and most passengers were masked - it’s a very scenic route so I definitely consider it part of the day out rather than merely getting there.

To fit in a walk before the match I wandered down the canal to Aldcliffe and then back along the estuary path into town. This used to be one of my favourite little walks when I lived here but it’s 28 years since I left and I haven’t done it since. There were plenty of birds about in the salt marsh, especially Greylag and Lapwing. As it was overcast butterflies were thin on the the ground but I saw a few. And the flora was very different to my usual, as you’d expect in a coastal, salt marsh environment.

Today’s view looks down the estuary, with Heysham nuclear power stations on the skyline. The power stations were the focus of my four years as a research student - this was in the period immediately following Chernobyl and I was examining the emergency planning arrangements for an accident in the UK, with Heysham as my case study. 

Getting back into town it was clear there had been quite a lot of changes - in particular a lot of new housing in what had been industrial areas. Getting closer to the football ground I was soon exploring old haunts - two of the houses I lived in backed onto the pitch (including one seen in extras).

The football was the culmination of a pre-season tournament. The first game saw Burnley U23s defeat North West Counties team Ashton Athletic. The final featured two Northern Premier League teams;  hosts Lancaster City beat Clitheroe in a penalty shootout after a goalless game.

There was still time for another wander around the city before meeting up with one of my old postgrad office mates, now an esteemed professor of geography, who was coincidentally in town at the same time. This involved me going into a pub for the first time in I don’t know how long, but it was fairly quiet and it was good to catch up on life trajectories - and the beer was good.

The train back was fairly quiet apart from one raucous group between Hellifield and Skipton - I really have no idea what they could have been doing in Hellifield to end up so raucous but they were the embodiment of their song (Bradford boys making all the noise.)