Early bird...

Some of you I'm friends with on Facebook will know that my other half gave me a Christmas Jar last year with 52 "tasks" in it, and I had to open one every Sunday and had a week to do it. The aim of the tasks was to get us doing stuff together that was either different, fun, or challenging. It turned out to be a great way to get out and about as well as learning what each of us do and don't like. It also gives us the chance to take loads of nice photos so we can look over them as an album at the end of the year

This Christmas we decided to do a jar each (I make one for her and she makes one for me) with just 12 tasks in each jar, so we each pull one out on the 1st of each month and then have a month to do it.

So, for February, she pulled a task that I'd put in there telling us to go watch the sunrise from Jubilee Tower, in Abbeystead (Forest of Bowland). I've been up there with Smudger (Ste/Smithy) a few times at the crack of dawn, and then on to Devil's Bridge in Kirby Lonsdale afterwards. Given that (a) Vic doesn't get on a bike (whether as pillion or rider), and (b) it was thick fog and freezing cold, we decided to do the task this morning (Sunday) and duly set off in the car at half 6 in the morning.

We didn't hold out much hope. The weather forecast was for thick fog and mist, but we decided to have a bash anyway, and Nel & Lavinia joined us for the trip.

Wow. It's never fun getting up early in the morning (even more so on a Sunday) but what we got to see certainly made up for it

Just thought I'd share some of the pics. My Facebook friends may well have already seen these but it's really to remind people that warmer weather's just round the corner and for those of us who can drag ourselves out of bed in the wee hours to get out on the silent, empty roads, Mother Nature has some staggeringly beautiful scenery to share with us

The drive up to the Jubilee Tower was pretty unpleasant. The temperature was -5 and there was thick fog covering the motorway pretty much all the way there. We got to the Jubilee Tower at 7:35am - sunrise was due at 7:45am. Nel and Lavinia had gotten held up due to an accident on the motorway...


So we walked over to the Tower and climbed up it.


Just before the sunrise, if it's a clear sky, it turns a beautiful blend of orange, red and blue:


Almost....


....aaand there we are


Nel & Lavinia finally arrived just in the nick of time to see the sunrise! (skin of teeth!)


From the Tower you can see over Garstang, all the way to Fleetwood on a clear day and on to the Irish Sea. The forecast of fog was pretty accurate though, as when we arrived there was a thick bank of it rolling in from the coast. It was pretty spectacular to watch, as it slowly crept over the land, swallowing everything it slid over...






So we then decided to head on to Devil's Bridge (in the hope that there was a bacon butty van there, despite the freezing weather). That meant driving into the fog...




As we started to dip into the fog bank it gave the sun a lovely aura


.....and pretty soon we were just waiting for an axe murderer to jump out from behind a tree or hedge :roflmao:


Devil's Bridge was cold but beautiful. Praise the Lord - th bacon butty van was there too






We then headed towards home but still managed to stop off in Garstang to visit The Pudding House at Wallings Farm for some grub


Just thought I'd share some nice photos with you all to whet your appetite for the fast-approaching warmer months, and to strongly recommend getting out before the crack of dawn to see some beautiful sights

 

Fantastic jim .....been up there many times , not at 630 am in the middle of winter I admit .

One of your tasks for next years jar should be to go there mid aug around 930 pm and watch the sunset over fleetwood bay etc . The whole Sky goes Orange on a nice warm day .

Great pics

 

Thanks for the positive comments

Yep was coooooold, although even despite that we still saw one biker heading away from Devil's Bridge. I wonder how he manages to ride a bike with cojones that big!!

The ice cream was awesome. If anyone's ever out and about I can strongly recommend The Pudding House at Wallings Farm in Garstang. Worth going in summer as you can sit inside or out, and they have alpaccas in their field alongside the carpark so it's always amusing to see one of their long necky heads pop up over the hedgerow to stare at you (although in winter they hide in their shelter). Order the triple scoop sundae and you won't be disappointed

@antzx6r we all uses to do the whole "meet up in the cars over winter", mainly at MMC and the Scotch, but people got a bit bored of the same places time and time again, I think, and many of the regulars didn't want to make the effort to travel further afield. I guess covering mileage on a bike for brekkie in far flung places, but doing the same in a car is just a bit trudgingly boring for most bikers. There's no fun or adventure sitting in a car on a motorway for an hour, compared to going to the same place on a vike via the twisty A amd B roads...

That said, am happy to go to new bike places occasionally for a bre and brekkie. Keep thinking I should go try J&S for brekkie one Sunday as I've never been... Who knows - maybe somewhere further afield after that...?

 

It was a great morning. We even saw an albino weasel or stoat bouncing around the field.