Rudyard fisherman

I don't understand angling.  One sits all day (usually completely alone) - in all sorts of weathers - and ... little happens. 

But I understand it's one of the biggest participant sports in the country.  Is it a form of meditation?  A chance to get away from the world? 

Railway for the kids

Ah, it's Easter!  Time for the Rudyard Lake Miniature Steam Light Railway to re-open.
The RLSR does a roaring trade with families at this time - and right through the summer - as you can imagine...

Memorial without dignity

It's Remembrance Sunday tomorrow; a solemn day in this 100th anniversary year of the start of World War One.

There has been some criticism though that people are going out this year creating all sorts of 'unsustainable' memorials, and should think more about how these memorials will maintain their dignity in years to come.
The Memorial Garden at Rudyard Lake is a case in point.  It's simply a nasty mess, and should be dismantled as soon as possible, as it carries little or no dignity.

Time stops on the lake

These long summer days can lead to still & strangely nebulous evenings, especially if there are a few clouds left.  Time stops still a little.
This is Rudyard Lake.

Death by the road

This roadside memorial to a motor-accident victim, Carl Matthews, is unusual, in being screwed into a tree.  The family must come back over the years to re-fix it, I suppose, as the tree expands.

The memorial is by the A523, the twisty and narrow road that runs parallel to Rudyard Lake - not a road I enjoy driving along.
Such memorials do bring home to the observer just how wasteful and pointless road-deaths are.

Rudyard Lake 'Lady'

Rudyard Lake (just north of Leek) is unique in Staffordshire as the one reservoir which has private homes lining its shores. The others are generally reserved for water activities or for wildlife.
Only the western shore of Rudyard has homes, and, as you can see, they nestle into the steep bank that rises from the waterline. It's a great setting for a home, and properties come expensive there.
The building on the far left of the photo is the historic Lady In The Lake boathouse.

The 'disadvantages' to owning a home here are the children who scream in mock-horror as they take boats out (from the sailing club), and the flood of walkers like me, as one five-mile path circumnavigates the lake very neatly.

Incidentally, the parents of the writer Rudyard Kipling honey-mooned here, and named their son after the lake.