Spring was certainly in our paws as we headed to the park yesterday for a really big walk alongside the River Eden in Carlisle.

We had heard of some new musical instruments that had appeared in Bitts Park and were eager to try them out,  but first we had to  get there.

The daffodil bulbs are growing quickly

Recent rain, and there has been a lot of it, has made many cross country paths soggy and not really good to walk on. So we had to keep to the dryish paths avoiding any puddles alongside the river.

This was not an easy challenge at times, especially around the back of the Sheepmount athletics and football pitches.

Arriving in Bitts Park we noticed that the green shoots of the daffodils were a good leg length high.

Charlie had good fun running over the leaves as they tickled his tummy. Mum wondered if they were not a few weeks early and may get nipped by any overnight frosts.

Quick, whilst mum is not looking

The weather is such a contrast to that we reported on in January 2011 when we visited Linstock near Carlisle and the ice was just melting after many weeks of cold weather.

A red bracelet

The musical instruments we were in search of have been installed near to the children’s play area behind Carlisle Castle.

To get to them we had to quickly pass the monster infested swamp and cross the troll bridge. Well that was the story mum told us as we approached the Chinese garden and the nature pond.

Charlie sees if he can make music with his nose

Floating on the pond was a large round red ring. Mum said it was a wrist bracelet left behind by one of the trolls that lived under the nearby bridge.

Sadly it was just out of reach for us to check her story, so we quickly moved away from the area just in case one of the wart infested, wrinkly blue trolls appeared.

Musical instruments

Running over the bridge and into the gardens we soon found our first musical instruments.

Built with metal frames and bolted to some very big rocks we had a lot of fun woofing at the sounds they made.

Charlie soon worked out that if mum tapped a tube or wooden block with the provided hammer, he heard a noise. He even tried to tap one of the metal tubes with his paw to see if he could make a sound.

Sadly we were running out of time and the clouds were once more gathering around us as we made our way, this time on the pavement back home.

Until next time

Buster and Charlie

The Irish Gate Bridge in Carlisle was closed this morning with barrier tape and signs preventing access.

Spanning Castle Way, the white bridge is used by many pedestrians travelling between a nearby car park and the city centre.

It is also used as a vantage point for many photographers and film crews wishing to take images of Carlisle Castle.

Debris litters the ground near one of the elevators

At this time it is not known why the bridge, designed by  Jane Darbyshire and David Kendall Architects was shut to pedestrians.

Since installation the bridge, also known as the Millennium Bridge,  has been the subject of many lift closures. However, it is unusual for the main walkway to be shut.

White debris could be seen this morning at the foot of the castle lawn elevator tower. This may, or may not, be related to the closure of the bridge today.

Grubby coloured paintwork and general dirt were clearly visible on the underside of the bridge.

Carlisle City Council discussed spending about £35,000 on bridge improvements in 2001/2, these including shuttering for the lifts and anti-slip paint for the steps.

Looking up to where the bridge span joins the Castle side steps

You can see images of the bridge, taken this morning, further down this page.

Irish Gate bridge

A competition was held to design the bridge, with the winners announced in February 1989.

Ove Arup were appointed lead engineers, RNJ scheme quantity surveyors and Kier Northern lead contractors.

Bridge statistics

• The bridge deck, which is 33m long and weighs 30 tonnes, was installed in April 2000.
• The deck mast is 20m long and weighs 10 tonnes.
• The north tower is 12m high, the south tower 13m high.

The Irish Gate Bridge was created on the site of the original medieval Irish Gate – the western portal in the walls that formerly encircled the City of Carlisle.

The bridge received planning permission on 7th August 1998. It was officially opened 9 October 2000.

The Irish Gate project website currently redirects to the City of Carlisle – Licensing Office

Irish Gate Bridge Gallery

Further Information

Millennium Bridges

Wayback Machine – Irish Gate Bridge project website

Fort dig reveals downside of life on Hadrian’s Wall – The Telegraph

City’s millennial bridge project gets the wobbles – The Independent on Sunday

How many times can we start a blog entry by saying it is raining again?  We make a quick dash today, between the showers,  to Bitts Park so that we can get out and stretch our paws.

Bitts Park, Carlisle

Finding a car parking space was difficult for dad as something must be going on at the nearby Sheepmount sports complex. Interesting and just an aside, the Sheepmount description from the link above says that the site has two cricket pitches and a cycle track, where?

The number of times we have visited the area and we have never seen anyone playing cricket or getting on their bikes except on the public paths through the park.

Our walk

Back to our walk and after parking the car and avoiding slipping in the muddy grass we finally got onto long leads and a scamper about.

In a previous update we mentioned that areas of Carlisle had been flooded in the recent storms well it looks like the new moat by the side of Carlisle Castle has now vanished.

Victoria Park, Carlisle

Silt and mucky puddles line the path and it wasn’t long before the tidemark around our legs became visible.

Mum suggested that we should get some wellington boots.

We meet biscuit

Victoria Park, next door and along the same path, had not dried out and the calm duckpond reflected the sky like a mirror.

Biscuit goes for a swim

Previous visits to this park had revealed a number of burrows in the plant borders possibly made by rabbits or maybe a badger or two.

Mum and dad wondered if they had found new homes or had possibly drowned as the waters rose.

Bounding along, stick in mouth, came biscuit. Straight past us and into the pond he ran loving every minute of his walk.

Winter Cherry blossom

We have met biscuit a number of times on our walk around the park and her human. Charlie gets fussed over as a fellow nutter and did make a bit of a collection of paw prints on his trousers, for which he can only say sorry.

Blossom

Many of the plants in the park have now hunkered down for the winter after loosing leaves and shedding flowers. However, some love this time of year including a winter flowering cherry.

Bright white flowers with pinkish centres contrast brilliantly against the dark grey sky and brown tree trunks.

Fallen Willow tree, Victoria Park, Carlisle

Nearby, spreading scent across a wide area is a viburnum. Small white flowers dispense a perfume in to the cool breeze similar to jasmine.

One of the casualties of the flooding is a very tall willow tree which now has its roots above ground.

Willlow usually enjoy their feet in damp soil but the soft ground has given way allowing this tree to fallover.

Paw prints

Maybe the grounds staff will be able to replant it once the waters go away but more than likely it will be turned into chippings.

Let’s hope a new tree is planted in it’s place.

We return home and entering the house it becomes apparent that we may have picked up quite a bit of mud and debris from our walk.

The entrance hall floor quickly becomes covered with small mucky paw prints and as is so much the procedure these days, we go straight to the bathroom.

Yipee not a full bath, but a washing of our legs and tummies to remove the grit and dirt.  I think a few hours infront of the warm fire is needed now to dry off and chill. It is a weekend after all!

Until next time

Buter and Charlie

To the woods near Carlisle today for our big walk of the week.

The Kingmoor Nature Reserve to the north of the City was to be our destination as dad didn’t fancy going to far with rain clouds circling overhead.  He thought that at least the trees would provide a bit of cover if it did start to rain.

Kingmoor Reserve sign

Parking in the car park just off Kingmoor Road, once dad had negotiated the tight entrance with the car, we put on our leads and started getting aquainted with our surroundings.

The 33 hectares that make up one of the oldest nature reserves in the country has recently been awarded Green Flag status.

This area has been enjoyed by the public for nearly 700 years, only becoming a nature reserve or is reported on some websites a bird sanctuary in 1913.

Bridges, dry paths make for a good walk

King Edward III gifted the original moorland to the citizens of Carlisle in 1352.  Granting grazing rights and allowing peat cutting for fuel.

Following a quick glimpse at the notice boards at the entrance to the woods, our adventures started along a well made and dry track forming part of a circular 800m route suitable for buggies and wheelchairs.

Wooden Sculptures

We decided however, after a few yards  to follow our noses along some side pathways and off into the woods.

Scattered all over the woodlands are sculptures, seats and things to see.

Tall marker posts indicate what trees can be found nearby, so a visit would keep children interested.

Oak Tree Trail

One of the oldest suviving horse racing prizes used to be contested on these moors. A tradition which dates back to 1599.

The Carlisle Bells are still fought over every year at the racecourse at Blackwell towards the end of June and can be seen at the local Guildhall.

Many little signs.

What do these signs indicate and where do we find out more information, as yet again on a walk we come across new signs?

Cows come to say hello ...

Mum finds it very frustrating when she can not find out about routes, paths or the history of why someone has taken the trouble to waymark a route.  Here are two examples of trails we followed in part today but even searching the web we can not find out about them.  Can you help?

Our path takes us into an area known as Kingmoor Coppice and a woodland planted between 1992 and 1995.

Here we meet up with these bullocks who are very friendly and say hello through the bars of the gate.  We keep our distance so as not to scare the young things.

A very naughty Charlie

Charlie is being kept on a very short lead today,  as mum is not happy with the way he is behaving. Constantly pulling on his lead he is always out in front but mum has had enough, and his wings, so to speak, are being clipped.

For a dog that has had lots of hours training spent on him, he has just lost his head today.

He even got right out at the full length of his lead only to take a right into the dirtiest, muddiest trickle of a stream before mum could reign him in.

Buster enjoys his walk

It could be because of the millions of new smells or maybe it is a ‘moon thing’ that is making him have a ‘trying day’.

Either way, he is in the naughty books and mum is not pleased.

The walk for me however, is great.  The soft woodland floor is great for my dodgy hip and the dry paths keep us both clean and reasonably tidy. The overhanging branches kept out the heat of the sunshine and help keep us cool.

Cuckoo carving

We did miss a bit of a paddle and a slurp of water from a flowing stream as they had all dried to a claggy mess.  So we were glad when our path swung around and we headed back to the carpark for a well earned drink.

It was here that we spotted this gigantic woodpecker. We missed him when we first arrived possibly due to our excitement but he is is carved into an old tree.

See if you can spot him when you go for a walk in the woods.

Until next time

Buster and Charlie.

What  a busy weekend we have had.  We have already mentioned our inspection of the flood defences and the works going on at a nearby garden but we also got involved in a world record attempt.

Charlie sits by his stone

Towards the end of last week we got a message from the Britglyph project who are trying to recreate a very big image out of stones.

The idea of pictures marked out on the ground, a geoglyph,  is not new and dates back thousands of years, but for this piece of art it is set to be one of the biggest.

People throughout the country have been traveling to a number of set locations with a stone and a camera.

Once in position they record their visit as a photograph and leave the stone behind.

Once all the stones are in place an image, based on  John Harrison’s Chronometer H5, will be visible on a map.

The project is being supported by by Shozu and Moblog

We get involved

It was decided that our stone should be placed in Carlisle near to the castle.

Charlie sat next to the stone we had chosen and had his photo taken.  This photo would join the many others on the Britglyph website when we returned home.

My dad had to help us upload the image to the website. He had a few problems until Alfie, from the website, got in touch and sorted things out.

You can now see Charlie sitting next to his rock just next to Carlisle Castle on their website.  

Once the photo was taken we moved the rock to the side of the castle wall, so that it is out of the way of any grass cutting equipment, but still nearby for the world record attempt.

Get involved

You still have time to get involved as a few of the stones have not been placed.  Go along to The Britglyph Project and Own a Moment.

We will let you know as soon as we know if the record attempt has been successful.

This morning my Dad noticed that the Carlisle blister has returned.  

In sight of Carlisle Castle the cover offers dry facilities for tennis players on the public courts.

According to the Carlisle Council website  the Bitts Park tennis air dome was put out of operation after vandals slashed the polythene around 30 times on Monday, 10 March, causing it to deflate. Vandals appeared to have scaled a protective nine-foot high fence to cause the damage.

The local Newspaper, The News and Star, say that a 17-year-old boy, who caused the damage to the dome, was spoken to by police in March.

The £280,000 Carlisle City Council project, which included the dome, was made possible after £125,000 funding from the Lawn Tennis Association and other partner funding agreements was secured.

Fireshow

Last minute preparations

Under clear blue skies,and with the air ambulance flying overhead, the final preparations are being made to the city bonfire.

With the theme of ‘Wheels on Fire’ the bonfire set to be a roaring success.

Carlisle City Council staff, local volunteers and firework experts – the Black Powder Monkeys – are currently setting the scene for the explosive event and are laying hundreds of pallets to create the bonfire.

This year’s Carlisle City Council Fireshow is themed around some dazzling ‘Wheels on Fire’. Staged in Bitts Park, the sparkling spectacular will be the 22nd Fireshow event.

The giant bonfire will include a car, with flaming wheels.

More than 2,000 spectacular fireworks will also make sure the event goes with a ‘bang’.

The Fireshow will start at 7pm. Admission is free, although collections will be made for the Mayor’s Charity Fund and Rotary Club Carlisle (South).

Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service is giving their support for this year’s City Council Fireshow alongside other local businesses and is advising people to attend organised bonfires where safety is a priority.

They will also be using the event to promote their free home safety check service and their free installation of smoke detectors, both of which can be organised by telephoning 0800 358 477.

Due to last weekend’s heavy rainfall and conditions under foot, visitors are recommended to wear suitable footwear such as wellingtons and walking boots and to take extreme care when they are walking in and around Bitts Park. They are also recommended to arrive early to ease traffic congestion.

More than 35,000 people are expected to attend the City Council organised event.

The Bitts Park spectacular is organised by Carlisle City Council in conjunction with the Black Powder Monkeys.