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The ancient valley's, shrouded in mist.

Decades had passed since the ghost's had shown.

Gliding on, they slowly appeared, the water's tryst.

Now Rainbow's live here, so not alone.

 

The ghost's emerge as stone and fence,

Homes and sheep, long gone.

Breeze drift us towards remembrance.

But there will be no song.

 

The City's needs for endless water.

Valley's gone? Not for ever.

Ladybower may lose it's daughter.

For Mother Nature has no tether.  

 

You can tell that it is the first poem I have ever written.

Managed to catch four rainbows from among the ghosts today :biggrin:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Great PP, I take it the cider went down well !

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I love reading your thoughts about Ladybower, PP ,  especially as you have written them in such a poetic way.  Ever since my parents drove us there when I was little, I've been fascinated about 'what lies beneath'.  I still find it an interesting place to visit but will look at it with fresh eyes now I've read your poem.   Thankyou

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Thanks for the link WB. We let our boat drift past the pump house pictured. In April I was catching fish in the area that the Lancaster was flying over. The reservoir was full then. When boat fishing close in to the bank it was hard to imagine that there was over fifty feet of water underneath.

Access to the boat was tricky yesterday. Quite a slope when carrying fishing clobber. The view from a boat is so different than from the bank. The abandoned, sometimes almost vertical bank sides are a little sinister and a stark contrast to the surrounding countryside. Hopefully the res will fill up again over Winter and I will be back for the Spring fishing.

 

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Talking of Lancasters, my wife’s uncle, Tadeusz Szuwalski, told me once of when he had the task in the 1950s of piloting a Lancaster over Ladybower at less than 40ft with a cameraman hanging out the side, for the Dambusters film.

 

It should have been 60ft, in line with the original raid, but the director thought it would look more effective at 40ft. (At least he was allowed to do it in daylight!)

 

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That’s incredible RobL, not for the faint hearted either.  Having recently been on a 737 attempting to land at EMA in high winds and only managing on the third attempt, to actually fly a Lancaster at that altitude along the dam took some skill to be sure. 

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Ah, but a Cherokee is a bit smaller than a Lanc!

 

I must admit that when this doddery old bloke told me, I was a bit sceptical, especially when he also said that he was the first pilot to land a helicopter on the roof of a building in Britain, but it’s all documented here - http://www.ww2rafcollection.co.uk/RAF_Collection/Ted.html#0

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12 hours ago, LizzieM said:

That’s incredible RobL, not for the faint hearted either.  Having recently been on a 737 attempting to land at EMA in high winds and only managing on the third attempt, to actually fly a Lancaster at that altitude along the dam took some skill to be sure. 

It's in those conditions where a pilot has to actually fly the aircraft hands on rather than use the auto land. In a light aircraft it can be just as exciting. Normally you wouldn't take off if the weather conditions were beyond the aircraft's published limits but during a flight the weather can change and what would have been a landing virtually into wind turns into a crosswind one. The wartime airfields generally had three runways so you always stood a chance of landing approximately into wind but modern airfields generally have one runway (two directions) which are attenuated to the average prevailing wind conditions. Thus the EMA runway is approximately east/west. With a cross wind landing the aircraft on final approach can't line up with the runway centreline as it would be pushed off course. The technique is to point the nose into wind and make the approach crabwise. At the crucial moment when the aircraft has crossed the threshold, the pilot has kick the rudder pedal to point the aircraft along the runway. Judging this is crucial and is done just a few feet from the ground. This can be even more hairy when the wind is gusting and the controls virtually have to be wrestled with. Obviously pilots are well trained to manage such conditions and accidents are rare. Any landing you can walk away from is classed as a good landing!

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Yes, a few losses in the mud would be most welcome ! :flyswat:

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Is it really? In the grand scheme of things how bad is it really? Defacing walls is now considered 'art' and worth a lot of money. Graffiti on Roman walls is now seen as a precious historical resource along with crude pictures on cave walls. I have no doubt that some bearded weirdy in the future will write a dissertation on the meaning of 'Shaz L Tony' he found scratched on a wall somewhere. In my youth I've carved my initials on a tree - who hasn't?

Pulling bricks out of walls is a no no I'll grant you but I really can't get over excited because some dickhead scratched his name on a wall.

 

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I went on Friday. Quite startling the difference when you compare with old pics on the Web!

 

Now

 

D4.jpg

 

Then

 

D1.jpg

 

And a closeup of Derwent Hall from a similar angle

 

D2.jpg

 

This is a shot from slightly further downstream of the village. The hall was just to the left of the photo.

 

D3.jpg

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Some bits were retained for use elsewhere. The bell from the church is now in St Philip's Church in Chaddesden. The packhorse bridge was re-erected stone by stone further up the valley at Slippery Stones. Bits of the hall were recycled too, including the oak panelling, gateposts and other fittings. One pair of gateposts was re-erected next to the Ladybower Dam.

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