Building bridges

Busy but not a brilliant day at work. I was interrupted several times by either the antibiotics or yesterday evening's herbal tea disagreeing with me.  In the end I didn't feel that great so called it a day mid-afternoon. And despite not feeling great I cycled out to the shops to get the things I forgot yesterday. I also wanted some epsom salts or the paste equivalent, but absolutely no-one has it in stock, including the chemists.

On the way home I decided to ride through the sort of nature reserve at the old Loanhead mine to look for butterflies – I saw a peacock on Monday – but there was none to be seen.  My thoughts turned to this time last year when bestie and I were on holiday and making our way to the south coast. How can it be a whole year?

Heading homewards, the great railway viaduct over Bilston Glen came into view. As you walk or cycle along it you have little idea of the mass of trusses below. I slipped and slid my way down underneath the northern abutment to take this photo.  There is quite a bit of history attached to this viaduct; suffice to say, in 1874 Thomas Bouch designed the original, which mining and poor ground conditions then destabilised, so in 1892 they built this 135 metre long replacement.  It was renovated in time for the Millennium, including new bearings. And in 2002 a teenager fell off and plunged 200 feet into the valley – and survived!

Back home it was a late teatime, and a week's worth of washing up while listening to an interview with Steve Jones, the guitarist and main man of The Sex Pistols. His quite moving autobiography sounds like a good read.