"I wandered lonely as a cloud
that floats on high o'er vales an hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A five mile tailback!!!
I was caught up in the aftermath of a serious accident on the motorway. A 90 minute journey took me 4 hours!
I had intended to drive to Whitehaven to gather information for a post on John Paul Jones, but had to revise my plans.
One of the most momentous historical
facts of a military character, connected with the annals of Whitehaven,
is the daring attempt of the notorious Paul Jones to fire
the shipping in the harbour. He landed here early in the morning
of the 23rd of April, 1778, with about thirty armed men, from
on board an American privateer, the Ranger, mounting 18
six pounders and 6 swivels, which had been equipped at Nantes
for this hostile expedition. Jones, who was a native of Galloway,
had served his apprenticeship as a seaman, on board a vessel belonging
to Whitehaven. These desperadoes set fire to three ships, expecting
the flames would spread through the two hundred then in the harbour,
but being betrayed by one of their companions, who fled into the
town and alarmed the inhabitants, this catastrophe was prevented
by their timely defence. Jones and his crew therefore made a precipitate
retreat, having spiked all the guns in the nearest battery, and
re-embarked in two boats, before any force could be brought against
them. Three of the guns were, however, soon cleared, and several
shots fired, but the adventurous enemy escaped unhurt, and afterwards
landed on the coast of Galloway, where they plundered the house
of the earl of Selkirk. Soon after this rencounter, great exertions
were used to put the harbour in a proper state of defense, and
a subscription for this purpose amounted, in the space of four
days, to £857 5s. 3d., the chief part of which sum was necessary
to render the Batteries efficient. An additional supply
was received from Woolwich, making the total number of guns 98,
amongst which were 12 forty-two pounders, and 18 thirty-six pounders.
I therefore decided to visit Grasmere, home of William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy.
I took a tour of Dove Cottage where he and his sister lived.
"Dove Cottage"
"Wordsworth's Garden"
"View from outside Dove Cottage"
In Wordsworth's day, the buildings on the left did not exist and he would have had an excellent view of the lake.
After this visit I decided to drive to Windermere for some more photos. However, the best laid plans etc.... when I arrived there was traffic chaos!!! The main street was being torn up and re-laid, so I just headed home.
All things considered, it wasn't too bad a trip, the weather was gorgeous and the tour of the Cottage was inspiring.
What fabulous photos. And it sounds like a pretty peaceful day, despite the "issues"
Posted by: Tammi | 03/21/2009 at 11:24 PM
Tammi:
It was a lovely day out.
The traffic wasn't such a big deal, since I didn't have any deadlines to meet, and I could change my destination as and when I liked.
Posted by: bx19 | 03/23/2009 at 08:13 AM