Charlie notices that dad is still in bed as the sunlight shines through the bedroom window and he starts to get excited as he knows it is a day for us.

Mum and dad hoped they would maybe have a bit of a sleep in but paddle paws decides otherwise and starts charging around the house all in a tizzy.

Richard Rose Academy building

After the normal waking up routine is accomplished, Charlie sits looking hopefully up at our leads, hung by the side of the fridge. As if mum or dad needed a hint that we needed to go on an expedition.

Although the sun was shining the sky looked a bit overcast so it was decided we would go to Rickerby Park.

We have been here a number of times and it is a great place to let off steam and not too far away.

Debris left on fence

Walking along the edge of the River Eden the sky is dominated by the high rise cranes still in use above the new school being built nearby.

Bright white concrete contrasting with the dark sky clearly showed off the modern obelisk to education.

Further along the river,  much of the wire and wood post fence has been removed or still has river debris stuck to it.

This fence was installed early last year but the floods in December seem to have taken their toll.

Numbered post in park

We reported in December on the amount of debris left behind as millions of gallons of water cascaded past this location and out to sea.

Depending on the weather we can either go all the way around the park or if the grass is a bit muddy stick to one of the paths that cross the wide green spaces.

Snowdrops were much in evidence on the banks of the stream that flows through the top part of Rickerby park.

Although it has not rained for many days, the ground was still a bit damp so as we started our return we made for the nearest path to help dry our paws.

Rickerby Park War Memorial

Sticking out from the base of a large tree we spotted a marker post with a red and white label stuck to it.

Do you know what it marks? Let us know via the comments section below.

Memorial

We have walked through Rickerby Park many times but we have not, I don’t think, mentioned the large stone War Memorial.

Our walks frequently seem an excuse for mum and dad to get photographs for one or other of their websites and this walk was no exception.

St. Michael's and St. Marks's Church in Carlisle

Many photographs were taken of the memorial for one of mums websites called Gravestonepix.com, so as we rest this afternoon she can be busy writing it up.

Up the hill

Just as we thought our walk was over we headed straight past the car and towards a new set of steps built into the bank.

We were heading for a place called Stanwix and the church where, as we drove past the other day, dad had spotted a clock he had not photographed by civic-time.com.

Bench Mark on side of Stanwix Church

St. Michael’s church is set in some lovely grounds with thousands of small crocus flowers providing a carpet of colour on the south facing bank.

Photograph of clock taken we were just about to leave when dad spotted carved into the wall near the entrance this benchmark and bolt.

Consulting the bench-mark database, as we did last week, it appears that this is quite an important mark as it has been used in the First  Primary levelling done between 1840-60.

It was levelled with a height of 110.9510 feet [33.8179 metres] above mean sea level.

Alongside the cut mark was also a square reflective tag which also looked as if it was from some kind of mapping exercise.  A number of these tags were stuck to the outside of the church. Do you know why?

Images taken and information recorded, we head back down the hill and to the car, arriving home just in time for mum to watch the Formula 1 Grand Prix qualifying.

Celebrations are the order of the day as we clock up one hundred posts on this version of our blog.

Long term readers will know that actually the number of posts we have published is a lot higher than this but the clock was reset when we moved to this software called WordPress.

Did you know you can follow us on Twitter?  Our username is ablogfrommydog

Looking back over the last 100 posts we have done quite an amazing amount of stuff and explored some fantastic places.

Cranes of Richard Rose Academy

Today we have been on a walk taking full advantage of the overnight frosts hardening the ground and in turn making them un-muddy.

Our circular walk started at the Stoneyholme golf course car park just off Victoria Place in Carlisle. Here is a link for  Google maps.

Cranes

Leaving the car park and golf course buildings behind us we crossed over the bridge  and entered into Rickerby Park.

The River Eden was still flowing quite quickly and had the colour of whipped hot chocolate.

Two cranes dominate the skyline as they keep watch over the new Richard Rose Central Academy on Lismore Place.

Flood debris in Rickerby Park

Costing about £30m to build it is hoped the new school complex will be complete by  January 2011.

The cranes – a Potain and a Liebherr – were supplied by Kier Plant and are 34m and 24m high with a 55m radius.

Debris

Following the edge of the River Eden towards the town we pass this debris covered wire fence.

Flood damage near Sands Centre, Carlisle

Many tonnes of grasses, twigs and litter have become lodged against one side of the wire.  It is not hard to work out that the river flows past this location from right to left.

Log balanced on Eden Bridge

Looking across the river and towards TheSands sports complex some damage looks to have been caused to these railings.

Ahead of us and balanced on one of the Eden Bridge supports is this very big log.

Maybe this former tree was carried down stream during the last flood and became stuck here.  Let’s see how long it lasts?

Restored

Our path now leaves the river edge and after climbing the bank we take a look at Eden Bridge Gardens.

You may remember that earlier this year a programme of restoration and renovation was undertaken on the gardens which are locally known as the Chinese Gardens.  You can find out more about the work done here over at heritageandhistory.com

Flood defences in Sands Centre area, Carlisle

We leave the park via the steps and exit onto Stanwix Bank crossing over the River Eden via Eden Bridge and onto the path by the side of The Sands.

Flood defences

A new sign has appeared around the town recently marking the 2005 floods in the city. Bright red with an outline of the River Eden in blue the sign simply says ‘Flood January 2005′.

Five years have almost past since the horrid floods of 2005 when all of this area was underwater. The new flood defences will hopefully make this a thing of the past.

Keeping The Sands  Centre to our right we make our way down a few steps and onto a path by the side of yet another golf course called The Swifts.

Eden Riverside trail sign

Golf

This facility  was one of the first official PGA Golf Starter Centre’s and features a tight par 3 course, 16 bay driving range, grass hitting area, practice bunker and a chipping facility. Whatever that means:-)

Hidden in debris on this side of the river dad notices this post marking the Eden Riverside trail.

Not exactly a modern sign, we wondered how long it had been in place and doing it’s duty.

Golf club in tree

Also lurking amongst the branches mum spotted this golf club.

Resting high up in a tree we puzzled for a while how it would become in such a position.

Given it would not float easily we concluded that it must have been placed here by a frustrated golfer who had lost his grip and thrown his golf stick high into the air.

Four years growth of bushes

Maybe it is waiting for next autumn to get down from the tree along with the elephants.

Four years

What a memory my dad has for images, maybe he is an elephant?

As we rounded a bend in the river dad spotted a row of bushes and commented that he had a photograph in the archive, which currently contains over 60,000 images, of when these bushes were planted.

Canoe or Kayak on River Eden

Sure enough he was right and here is the proof.  Interestingly the image was taken almost exactly fours years ago to the date (27 Dec 2005).

The large image is from 2005 and the inset is now.

Kyack

Floating down the River Eden to our  left was this man in a kyack. Had he travelled far and what had he seen on his travels. Given the high water he possibly had travelled for many miles.

If you were this person then please get in touch so we can find out about your journey and what you had seen?

Our journey now ended where we began.  It had taken about an hour but had been great fun. Thankfully we would not need a bath as we had kept very clean if not a little damp from the damp grass.

Until next time and post 101

Buster and Charlie