Sunset over the Flashes

Tuesday
A cold, breezy but sunny day today. I had been wanting to go to a candle shop near Frodsham that stocks Yankee candles - I haven't come across them yet in France. We decided this morning would be a good time, as afterwards we could go and walk on the Sandstone trail which runs along the hills above the town. The candle shop turned out to have an excellent choice of Yankee candles and all the accessories - it was tough choosing! The view from the top of the hill extends across the Mersey estuary towards Liverpool and the visibility was very good. In the afternoon we went walking at Ashton's and Neumann Flashes, part of the Northwich Woodlands. The flashes are reclaimed waste lime lagoons and land above old salt workings. The nearby market town of Northwich was the salt-producing capital of the UK. At its peak there were at least 74 mines in the Northwich field producing approximately one million tons of salt a year. In salt mines nowadays, 30% of salt would typically be left as pillars, but in earlier centuries mine owners extracted the maximum amount of salt possible leaving as little as 5% as precarious support. In addition poor mining practice often resulted in flooding, hence uncontrolled "wild brine" pumping became more profitable. This caused yet more water to penetrate into the mines ultimately leading to severe subsidence and massive ground collapse, to form large meres or "flashes". The flashes now provide wonderful habitat for birds and other wildlife and there are several bird hides along the waters edge. As we were nearing the end of our walk, the sun was beginning to set and I got this shot across one of the meres. The day ended with a Watch-night communion service at Janet and John's church, welcoming in Christmas Day.