June 24 - Day 81 - I'll love you till the ocean Is folded and hung up to dry And the seven stars go squawking Like geese about the sky. W. H. Auden
Before you say it - I know this might not be the prettiest stage of the goslings’ development but at least there are still 3 of them. I thought I better include a second picture to prove this (the other adult was further up the slope keeping a careful watch on them all - and me!). It has been really good to watch their development, with each gosling appearing to be at a slightly different stage and size.
Cycling away from them this morning, I, of course, had to think - Waddle I write about today? Well, I had to look no feather than what had happened on this day in history because on June 24 1981 (I had thought it was earlier than that - must be my age!) traffic first crossed the Humber Bridge. It took 13 years from approval to work beginning and a further eight years and over one thousand workers to build it. In the same way that Thomas Telford’s bridges marked a new approach to engineering and incredible solutions to problems, so the Humber Bridge at the time, became the longest single-span suspension bridge in the world, holding the title for 16 years. Whether we look at the structure of a feather, a beak, a tree or a bridge, we can’t but be drawn to the similarities that exist in terms of strength and flexibility. Apparently the road is itself designed like an upside-down aircraft wing to keep it stable during high winds.
The most interesting piece of (I know - useless) information about the bridge, however, is that the 510 feet tall concrete towers are nearly 1 and a half inches further apart at the top, than at the bottom. This was designed to allow for the curvature of the Earth - how amazing is that!
Finally, you might be interested to know that if I were to complete the same number of miles for my 30th Anniversary Challenge by riding over the Humber Bridge, it would mean crossing it 3214 times! I have already cycled 2415 miles so at least that would only be 1489 crossings left. I think I’ll stick with Derbyshire and Sheffield and bridges closer to home.
