Posted by Ed Kiser on July 17, 2014 at 06:39:17 user Kisered.
In Reply to: Udal Bridge posted by Andy on July 10, 2014 at 07:31:15:
In the photo of the Yewdale Bridge (Udal Bridge) I see the
ubiquitous Iron Railing. This kind of fencing has appeared
in quite a few photos of the Lake District as shown by
the Tony Richards' website:
www.lakelandcam.co.uk
for which I have been most grateful as those photos help to
bring a reality to the fiction of Ransome's imagination making
his story settings even more realistic.
It is interesting to note that this kind of iron railing played
an assortment of roles in his stories:
1. The fireplace at the iglo had one from which to hang the kettle.
2. And old railing was taken to the blacksmith's to be formed into
runners for the sledge for the D's.
3. In PM, a railing was scored and then twisted until it broke
to form the # pattern to hold the crucible in the blast
furnace when making that gold ingot
.
Those railings certainly were a challenge for the simple file that
was a part of the pocket knives that John and Nancy normally
carried with them, as it was those files they used to cut the
sections. Sounds like a lot of rubbing with those files which
probably were woren out in the effort.
As for claiming that photo is the UDAL BRIDGE, perhaps we could say
it is the modern version, with that iron railing added. When Jackie
was getting the D's interested in fishing, he hunched himself up on
the edge of that bridge to drop the ants off to the trout below.
There was no mention of any railing there, and its presence may
have presented a problem to his getting on that railing. But upon
closer look at the Yewdale Bridge with the iron railing on the near
side, I do NOT see any similar railing on the far side, so maybe
it was on that side that Jackie was leaning. Not sure why it would
have a railing only on one side however.
As for needing photos to "see" what Ransome described - my mind's
eye has some great images created just from his words. They form
all the "reality" I need to enjoy these stories. They became "real"
places; they were "real" people. They were my childhood friends
that I grew up with them, but they never did. They have remained
young and take me back to my young days when once again, I am with
them, sharing the adventures with them. So with them, I, too, can
remain forever young. And I am forever grateful.
Ed Kiser, Kentucky, USA