So on we go over the dinosaur rib cage and back towards the lake, alongside a rivulet where we watched a swan doing it’s thing
Oooh look at me!!!I’m so pretty!
Back at the car park we came across a hound meeting
Eau de Beagle
I think they were Beagles after googling doggy pictures.
Corporal BeagleyReflecting Penshaw’s Folly
Saw this cute little lad at the cafe while we had lunch
counting
and then after lunch, back to the lake for more birdy shots
We watched a seagull fighting a tern for some bread
OY! That’s my bread!gimme gimme!
Birds on a buoy
In the distance the sky did a thing over the standing stones,
And that’s the end of our day at Herrington.
all images can be clicked on for bigger versions so you can appreciate their magnificence so much better 🤣
Full album can be found HERE for more birds and stuff.
Stay tooned, though god knows what for, the constant rain has put paid to Sophie and I going anywhere since this day, but we’ll be back! Meantime I’ll be over at The Other Place, click on that and I’ll see you there 🙂
After we’d finished at the standing stones, Sophie and I made our way down the hill and went on to the next hill where there appeared to be a big rock.
The rock has square metal engravings fastened to it, as you can see, each one bears the face of a miner (not sure whether living or dead)
I think if you had some paper and charcoal or crayon you could do like a brass rubbing in churches and get a better idea of the face. Each panel had a different face and a letter in the bottom right corner that when put together spelled out Johns Rock. No relation. 🙂
On the far side of the rock we discovered these,
there’s a story there somewhere but I don’t know and can’t guess what it is.
When we were back at the stones, we had seen some big wheels in the distance, so headed back down the hill in the general direction of where we thought they were. Passing a curve of trees
and found the lichen shot of the day
I ♥️ lichen
we came across some more miners houses
before reaching the wheels, and a cracking puddle for the reflection.
These are old pit wheels flanking a path leading to a Miners’ Memorial Garden, though the garden was pretty bare at this time of year.
We continued walking, heading back towards the lake and passing some more watery sections of the park, and some more swans
I think this sculpture is based on a ribcage, but of which animal I am not too sure, and I could be completely wrong!
We are almost back to the lake from here, where we go to lunch, meet some hounds, see more majestic swans and capture a birdy fisticuffs, so stay tooned for the next episode!
all images can be clicked on for bigger versions so you can appreciate their magnificence so much better 🤣
We left the lake behind and went off to walk around the park. It had been raining quite a lot in previous days so the ground was a bit soggy, but the paths not too bad. There are seating bits all around the park which are decorated with scenes supposedly celebrating the heritage of the area. The first, I presume, is to do with Sunderlands ship-building industry. They made some great paper boats. 😉
Sailing ship seat
This next one I’m not too sure about, sunbathing I think is not part of Sunderlands cultural heritage, nor indeed is any sunshine much at all, but I guess it’s good to dream..
Sunbathing seatFlipflops and lovely lichen
The other seat we came across also doesn’t really have anything to do with cultural heritage, though it’s closer in weather conditions,
Snowman seat
Plenty of dog-walkers about of course, and this little Chappy at the back here jumped up at Sophies legs, the bottom of her new red trousers nicely splotted with muddy paw prints, she isn’t keen on dogs on the whole. 🙂
the three mudkateers
The old colliery had miners cottages for the workers, some of which are still lived in today
Miners Homes
The park is just opposite the Penshaw Monument, and as I took a few photo’s of it I’ll fill you in on the history…
it is a folly built in 1844 on Penshaw Hill between the districts of Washington and Houghton-le-Spring, and is dedicated to John George Lambton (1792–1840), 1st Earl of Durham and the first Governor of the Province of Canada and affectionately known as Radical Jack. It was built as a memorial to the Earl’s work on the Durham report which was commissioned by Lord Melbourne in 1838 to seek direction on how best the British Empire should manage its colonies around the globe. The report recommended nearly complete self governance for advanced colonies and became one of the most important documents in the whole of the British Empire, formulating a new relationship between London and the colonies.
Penshaw Monument
Turning around from that view, we could see what looked like a standing stone circle, being held up by some kind of robots,
The standing stones
so we made our way up to it.
Standing stones and metal Mickys.
The robots seemed to be viewing places, if you stand and look through the rectangular spaces at the top of them you get a kind of photographic view.
Penshaw Monument through metal Micky’s eyes.
I think I’d have preferred the metal things not to be there, they looked ugly and out of place to me. And really you don’t need to have the views pointed out for you, the stones are on the top of a hill so views all around were good.
Penshaw Monument and the amphitheatre
In summer they have concerts and things going on in the amphitheatre. If they get a summer I suppose.
All the photo’s click through to bigger versions so you can get the full view if you are so inclined.
Stay tooned for the next instalment, when we visit the next weird sculpture thing.
Last weekend, Sophie and I got together and this time went off to Herrington Country Park. It sounded promising on the website- an adventure play area, skate boarding, Nordic walking, model boat sailing in the lake and a variety of sculptures that celebrate the heritage of the area. Wasn’t sure if Nordic Walking involved Viking re-enactment groups having a stroll, but according to Wiki it’s walking with poles, a bit like ski-ing without snow. Anyhow it all sounded very interesting so off we went.
The History Bit
Back in the days when England had industries the North East was a mine of ..well..mines really. And shipbuilding, but heaps of mines. The park was made on the grave of the Herrington Colliery, which closed in 1985, and had a waste heap of 11,000,000 cu. M. of shale, which must have looked like a mountain to the surrounding villagers.
For the transformation of the park, only the coal was removed, the minerals left behind went into making the park, sandstone for the sculptures, red ash for the walkways and clays to line the lakes. Over a hundred different species of birds have been sighted since it’s inception, and many events are held there.
The weather wasn’t too bad, at least it was dry, but the promised-by-the-weather-forecasters sunny day never happened. No matter, there was a big lake and loads of birds on it. We couldn’t believe how close the swans allowed us to get to them, no hissing or chasing us off, and I assume that is because of all the people who go there and feed them.
Good Morning. Feed me now!
drippy
Tufty Duck
Black headed gull (1st winter plumage)I see no ships!
As well as birds, a couple of chaps were sailing remote controlled boats
Seawind24 (maybe a Jack Bauer fan!)
Swanning off
After a while at the lakeside we went for a walk around the park, and we’ll set off in the next episode to have a look at the sculptures, so stay tooned.
fraggle ~ rocking a camera across the Universe 
You must be logged in to post a comment.