Old haunts

[Hagar]

Very hot this morning so Grumpy's Mystery Tours headed for the hills. Mill Hill overlooks Shoreham Airport with nice views of the Adur valley. I spent a lot of time up there in the old days flying my model slope soarers. Not been near the place for years & it was very pleasant with a nice cool breeze.

View from the bridge across the main A27 looking north west across the river towards Lancing College. Not much traffic this morning - yet. The airport is out of sight to the left with Lancing Clump (another of my childhood haunts) in the background.


Right, we're now at the top of Mill Hill. This used to be a familiar sight but it's changed a bit over the years. Looking across Shoreham flyover (our mini Spaghetti Junction) with the old Toll Bridge behind it. Then the airport & the Channel.

I remember the flyover being built in the 1960s. Before that the main road ran across the old wooden bridge. If I remember correctly it cost a tanner (sixpence) for a return ticket for cars & 3d (thruppence) for motorbikes. Believe it or not, double-decker buses & heavy lorries could pass each other on that bridge which was originally buit for horse-drawn vehicles. A freak tornado swept down the valley one night in the 1950s. It turned right a headed across the old bridge lifting a bus over the railings & depositing it on the mudbank below. Fortunately the tide was out & nobody was hurt. When it reached Lancing the tornado turned sharp left again & disappeared out to sea, taking the roof off our house in the process. Freak weather is nothing new.

Looking south-west towards Lancing where I was brought up. Reputed to be the biggest village in England in those days. The Sussex Pad pub in the centre has a long association with the airport. The first commercial flight in the UK took off from just south of the pub in 1911. The green dome just across the road was built for air gunnery training during WWII. I think it's now a protected building.


I think Felix will like these. Lancing College basking in the sunshine. If you look closely you might see the lads out playing cricket.



The view to the north-west across the Adur valley. The ancient ditch & ramparts are stil visible in the foreground. This would have been dug by hand using primitive tools made from flint & deer antlers. Amazing to think of it. Not exactly a mountain but the hill is higher & steepr than it looks.


Hope you enjoyed my little tour. I took lots more photos but this is all I can fit in the thread.

PS. I cheated & took the first shot on my way home. Artistic licence.

[Felix/FFDS]

Niiice!

Is there any angle from which the Lancing College chapel does NOT look good?  :)

[ozzy72]

Beautiful photos Doug, I'm getting homesick....

[Craig.]

beautiful Shots Doug.

[beaky]

That is a pretty spot all right, with some interesting history... and  I've gotta say I never heard of tornadoes in England- is SimV educational, or what?

[Hagar]

Glad you like 'em.

Is there any angle from which the Lancing College chapel does NOT look good?

Now you come to mention it, not that I've noticed.

I've gotta say I never heard of tornadoes in England- is SimV educational, or what?

Probably cos we used to call them whirlwinds. BBC weather "expert" Michael Fish still insists we didn't have a hurricane in 1987. Not possible where we are apparently. I don't care what he likes to call it, he wasn't sitting where I was.

PS. http://www.stvincent.ac.uk/Resources/Weather/Severe/oct87.html

[Felix/FFDS]

Just a wee bit of high winds.... We don't start calling them hurricanes until the *sustained* winds are at least 75mph (120kph)

However, I can see that if you're not "used" (does anyone ever REALLY get used to these storms?) to a hurricane from time to time, then the construction, etc., isn't really set up to withstand even a "tropical storm" ...

[Hagar]

Just a wee bit of high winds.... We don't start calling them hurricanes until the *sustained* winds are at least 75mph (120kph)

Well, I'm used to judging wind strength. We get a lot of gales along here. I've even flown model slope-soarers in winds gusting up to 65 mph. I don't care what anyone says, those winds were well over 100 mph on that night. There was even a typical eye which passed right over us, then it started all over again. That was a hurricane or my name's John Wayne. I've never forgotten it.

[Jared]

Another fine and interesting set of pictures with some background information as well!

Superbly done!

[Ben_M_K]

Why are all the cars driving the wrong way?
Nice shots Doug! Loved them all!

[chrisco17]

Wow, what a beautiful country.
Great pics Hagar  :)

[Rifleman]

Always love to see your local shots there Doug.........breathtaking scenery....

[FLYING_TRUCKER]

Wonderful shots Doug

I was wondering if there are many hardwood forests in England, Scotland or Wales or all of the forests mostly softwood?

Over here they are getting away with planting softwood trees as they grow much quicker and the companies that log have to be forced to do reforestation.

We are trying to plant more hardwood here but it is a battle with the large logging companies all the time.

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

[Hagar]

Wonderful shots Doug

I was wondering if there are many hardwood forests in England, Scotland or Wales or all of the forests mostly softwood?

Thanks Doug. I hadn't given it much thought. To be honest I know very little on the subject. I'm told that most of England was once covered in trees. I don't know whether this was forests as you know them in Canada. I very much doubt it, more likely what we call woodland. The famous New Forest to the west of here is not a forest in the modern sense of the term.

"Forest" in a medieval sense was a legally defined area - subject to special laws - where the "beasts of the chase" (deer & wild pig) and their food were protected for the pleasure of the monarch. It was not necessarily a wooded area in the modern meaning - nearly half the New Forest is open heath, grassland and bog. http://www.hants.org.uk/newforest/

It's quite possible that this also applies to the Sherwood Forest of Robin Hood's time. Don't quote me but I think what commercial forestry there is in the UK goes on in Scotland & would be mostly softwood. Hardwood takes so long to grow & we lost many of the established trees in this area in the 1987 "hurricane" I mentioned. Even if these were replanted it will take many years to recover.

[C]

Why are all the cars driving the wrong way?
Nice shots Doug! Loved them all!

Now now Ben... Who is it who drives on the wrong side of the road?