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BB2323
: Brothers in Arms
Thursday
3rd August 2023
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The
term Brothers in Arms
has been used since the 15th
Century to describe fellow soldiers
and knights, probably deriving
from the Latin "frater
in armis".
It
was the theme of Mark Knoffler's
classic song, written shortly
after the Falklands conflict.
It
is now also used to describe
the strong bonds between civilian
men forged by shared experience.
Some men refer to one
another as Brothers in Arms
to invoke the “ride-or-die”
mentality. That's Tony
but more of that later.
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Click
on picture for song and graphics
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Our
start point was to be the Quaker Meeting
House, Rookhow, in the Rusland Valley though
on the way we stopped at Haverthwaite to
buy butties where we spotted Philip's steam
engine, VICTOR.
It
was with some trepidation that we entered
the short private drive to Rookhow as we
understood it to be a holiday home. As
it happens, firstly the holiday home is
a different building and secondly there
was no one there. Consequently we
were able to give the outside of the Meeting
House a good looking over.
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Unfortunately
it wasn't the first or third Friday of the
month so it wasn't open. On the other
hand, as it wasn't open and the holiday
home was vacant, we thought that no one
would mind us parking there, so we did.
Shortly
after starting walking, we were passing
a house where a man in the garage was working
on an old motor cycle. Inevitably
Tony engaged him in conversation and soon
the two were sharing experiences of great
bikes they had known. It took quite
a while before the two legged means of travel
resumed.
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Next
stop was Rusland's St Paul's Church, a typical
mid Victorian Lakeland example.
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Perhaps
its principal claim to fame is that it is
the resting place for Arthur Ransome- he
of Swallows and Amazons plus some close
encounters with Russian revolutionaries
including Lenin and Trotsky, whose secretary
he married.
By
now it was gone twelve o'clock so you will
know what happened next. Yes, a south
facing seat in the churchyard became the
perfect venue for lunch. After all,
we had travelled nearly three quarters of
a mile and were in need of refreshment.
Once
back on our feet, we passed Force Forge.....
.....then
we spent most of the next two hours either
in woodland or in deep bracken.
At
first it was rather pleasant, despite the
long climb. However after some time,
its charms started to pall and it was a
relief eventually to reach open ground and
views!
Can
you see Blackpool Tower in the picture below?
It's there, honest.
Blow
the picture up and look at the far right
of the horizon.
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Having
returned to the Meeting House and watched
a digger driver skillfully manoeuvre his
machine around my car we set off for the
White Hart at Bouth.
Tony
happily reminisced about our day and in
particular his encounter with a fellow motor
bike enthusiast. Remarkably, both
have a Triumph tattoo below the shoulder.
Brothers in Arms.
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Don,
Thursday 3rd August 2023
Thanks to Tony
for several of the photos
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