The Hoad

Wifie and Gus are ascending Hoad Hill to the Sir John Barrow Monument above Ulverston, night is falling and the Monument is lit like a lighthouse. Indeed, the monument is a replica of the third Eddystone Lighthouse, built in 1850 to commemorate Sir John Barrow, a son of Ulverston who was a founder member of the Royal Geographic Society and who in Government served as Second Secretary to the Admiralty.

In all the years I have lived in Cumbria I have never previously walked up to the tower which sits on the Hoad at 436 feet above Morecambe Bay, and commands amazing views through 360 degrees. If we lived closer, this journal would doubtless regularly feature the monument at sunrise and sunset.

We were on the way home from an afternoon at Kathy and Howard's, where we were joined by Sue and Jamie. The pretext was to see Howard's photographs of his trip to the Himalayas, and though he claims not to be a photographer, they were very good indeed. Whetting the appetite a bit too much, alas. But the appetite was otherwise fully sated by Kathy's excellent and generous buffet lunch that lasted us through to 8 pm. Hence why the sun was set by the time we took Gus for his evening walk. What a great way to spend a Saturday.