#coalville

[unteriors]

Jackson Street, Coalville, Leicestershire.

[niclace]

The former Snibston Colliery. Closed as a working mine in 1985. The subsequent award winning museum and 100 acre nature reserve were closed down by the county council in 2015, despite a long public fight and a High Court case and the museum demolished, to be replaced by houses. The park as it is now was re-opened in 2022.

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

Not an exhaustive list, but for any Brits who see this, there's expected rioting tonight in:

Cleveland, Thornaby. Likely to be at the mosque in Westbury Street at ~5pm

Durham. Both in the city centre and apparently at the Bishop Auckland Town Hall.

Leicestershire, Coalville. Potentially starting at the clock tower.

Manchester. Potentially the police station in Salford.

Peterborough. Some talk about gathering outside the prison.

Rochdale. Outside the Broadfield Hotel on Sparrow Hill.

Scunthorpe. Reports of it starting at Scunthorpe Museum on Oswald Street moving off to Frodingham Road. Late to posting this as reports said it would start at 12.

Sheffield. The Holiday Inn is a suspected target. I believe it's off of Victoria Station Road.

Stoke-on-Trent. Potentially at the Best Western Hotel on Audley Road.

Also in Northern Ireland, there's expected to be one at Chimney Corner in Belfast, and in Newton Abbey.

[cheeseheadmedia]

Down into the Canyon by Brian Hechel Via Flickr: UP 8538 and UP 7994 lead a stack train at the top of Echo Canyon on the route of the original Transcontinental Railroad.

[footloose-travel]

Plan B

        We were hanging around Montana for almost 6 weeks waiting for the Canadian border to open so we could cross over and slowly make our way up to Alaska. The original plan was to start around June 1st but as we know the best laid plans and all that. When Canada made the decision to extend the border closure until mid July we decided it was too late for us to go to Alaska this season. We always talked about Plan B as our option if the border wasn’t opened by June 21st but to be honest we didn’t really have a concrete Plan B. I think we both felt for sure things would work out the way we hoped since they almost always do, so it was with some reluctance that we accepted that this time Plan B was actually going to be what was next for us. We loved Montana but had been there before and once the decision was made to wait on Alaska, it was time to leave. Montana is one of the states least affected by Covid-19 so we were insulated from the worst of it and barely had any impact on our lifestyle at all. Another thing to love about Montana.         We started by backtracking into Idaho and spent time in Idaho Falls. I had never been there before and found it to be quite nice. The city hugs the Snake River with a Greenbelt system of trails with parks and waterfalls. The hydroelectric plant originally built in 1902 provides the electricity for the city and surrounding areas. We were glad to find out the Museum of Idaho was partially open (history part was closed for renovations) and we enjoyed the science section immensely. From there we went to the Idaho side of Bear Lake. This natural freshwater lake is 109 square miles in size and is split about equally between the 2 sIdes of the Idaho-Utah border. We drove the scenic route around the lake and stopped several times to take photos and appreciate the beauty.         We had a nice shady spot in the campground we stayed in and the overall place had a nice comfortable vibe. John was asking a local couple about things to do while we were there and they had several suggestions, one of which was to take a drive up to Bloomington Lake. This lake they said was quite beautiful but to get there you had to drive on a gravel dirt road for about 7 miles through dense forest following a stream, and then park and hike in about a 1/2 mile to actually get to the lake. We thought this would be a fun adventure so got in our trusty pickup truck and headed out. The road turned out to be a single lane that got gradually more pot-holed the further in we drove. There was only one vehicle we encountered coming the other way and were fortunate we were in a spot that was wide enough for both of us to get through. We finally got to a part that was gated closed 3 miles from the lake due to mud from snow melts that previous tourists made impassable by vehicle. Unwilling to make the 6 mile round trip hike to the lake and back we decided to turn around. That’s where the fun began. As we made our way slowly down the road we encountered several more vehicles and always had to do some slow maneuvering between us to get past. Every time we had our windows down and exchanged greetings along with the information that the road to the lake was closed. Some kept going willing to make the hike while others turned around. We then encountered 3 pick up trucks traveling together, the third one having dual wheels. We pulled up as close as we could to the edge of a drop off to the creek and the first 2 got past. The third truck apparently pulled further onto the upside embankment and disturbed a large boulder that went under the truck. The driver tried to proceed further lodging the boulder forward of the rear axle so he was stuck. There was only an inch to spare on either side of us between his truck and the dirt embankment. A guy got out of the truck and said he would guide us past. At first we didn’t want to try it because the embankment was not sturdy and we really didn’t want to end up in the creek. He assured us he would guide us and John said, “If I go into the creek I’m going to kick your ass”. The guy said, “It’s on me”, with a smile. So we slowly proceeded following his instructions. I was worried and my heart rate was up but we slowly inched past. As we drove on I felt a little bad for the guy that was stuck because he was not going to go anywhere with that boulder lodged under his truck. Plus there were people behind us in a van that had turned around when we told them about the closure. They had a baby with them and I was hoping they wouldn’t get stuck for long. We were still several miles in before getting to a main road and we felt quite fortunate to have gotten away from the cluster it became. Going around a blind curve we came head on to an older guy in a Quad going way too fast. He had to jam on his breaks and actually looked a bit annoyed. We didn’t bother telling him about the issue up the road. We then came upon a local couple who we relayed the story to and he shook his head in amusement and said it wasn’t the first time someone had to be rescued from that road. Fortunately he had a winch and said he knew the road like the back of his hand since he grew up there. They continued on to offer their help and we felt a lot better about dodging that bullet.         With the 4th of July holiday approaching and knowing campgrounds fill up, we needed a place to hunker down during the mayhem. We first spent a couple days in Fort Bridger, WY an important stop on the Oregon Trail before proceeding to Coalville, UT (about 25 miles north of Park City). We found a decent campground close to the Rail Trail that runs from Echo to Park City. It is an old railroad bed that goes by Echo Reservoir and is a great hiking trail. We hiked the trail a couple different ways and the weather has been beautiful. Besides exploring the local area and surrounding towns we went into Salt Lake City where I got my first time view of the huge lake. John went skydiving one day at SkyDive Utah and got to see the Lake from the air that he said was quite magnificent. Also drove through Kamas to Mirror Lake and it felt more like Colorado than Utah with lots of evergreens and mountains. From here we are heading to Elko, Nevada to the beautiful mountain range area. So far Plan B is working just fine.        For all the photos see John and Charlotte’s flickr sites. Just click on either of our names.

[wetherspoonscarpets]

‘The Monkey Walk’ - 1 Marlborough Square, Coalville, Leicestershire 

(submitted by Stealinghome via Twitter)

nb fantastically lurid

[coalville-martial-arts]

[coalville-martial-arts]