Sunday, 20th March 2011

   

            

 

Walk: Scout Scar
Start Point: Car park Underbarrow Road (Mast) Grid Reference: SD 489 924
Distance: 8+ miles Ascent: 1,100 feet
Time: 4.75 hrs    
Weather: Misty with short periods of drizzle
Comments: 21 of us set off in mist (low cloud really). Quite a lot of mud as well but not much complaining until hunger set in. Fields, woods, green lanes and a short steady climb onto Scout Scar, missing all the spectacular views. Visibility deteriorated to about 25 metres as we found our way back to the quarry car park.

There were no photographs of this walk due to the poor conditions.

However, Norman has provided a series of photos showing an unusual sight encountered on the Ribble Way at Penwortham.

 

Barge spanning the River Ribble (former Preston Dock on right)

 

The tug that towed the barge

 

Preparations for unloading the transformer . . .

 

complete with photographer

 

Unloading begins

 

The pulling truck

 

Eighty wheels per bogey

 

The transformer (blue)

 

One of the two steersmen

 

Unhitching the pushing truck

 

The now empty barge

 

A path between the Ribble Way and the A59 at Penwortham

 

St Mary's Church, Penwortham

An Unusual Sight on the Ribble Way at Penwortham

On two recent occasions an Electricity Transformer has been shipped by barge up the River Ribble to Penwortham. Each transformer is said to weigh three hundred tons, and because of their weight, they couldn’t be transported all the way by road. The solution for the last part of their journey was to bring them up the River Ribble and unload them on to the Penwortham side of the river. This part of the river bank carries the Ribble Way.

The transformers were then taken along Holme Road, which forms part of the Ribble Way, to the A59 Liverpool Road. From there they travelled for a mile or so to an electricity sub station where they will be incorporated in the Grid System.

NB: At one time the River Ribble was a busy shipping route in and out of Preston Dock which was one of the largest inland docks in England. The point where the unloading took place is the site at which the now demolished Penwortham Power Station once stood.

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