I JUST KNEW THERE WOULD BE A SUNSET

As I approached Arnside today, I felt quote challenged by being on Gladders' turf and making my own imperfect interpretations of the glorious landscape, but as soon as I got off the wee train, leaving it to rattle pleasantly westwards over the viaduct, I was caught up once more in the magic of the place, and ceased to care.

Sixteen years ago, when I met and fell in love with the Professor, he invited me to come to a reunion of guys who, like him, had trained as youth workers at the YMCA College in London in 1960/61. He was the son of miner, working as a railway clerk when the YMCA gave him this opportunity. The group have been meeting almost continually since, in a range of places, including Switzerland and Scotland, but mostly at Arnside. I loved Arnside from the moment I saw it. There is a wonderful quality of light here, even on dull days, when the light is reflected off the huge expanse of water and sand. There is a tidal bore which is treacherous, but incredibly exciting to watch, especially when the Coastguards are called out to rescue anyonewho foolishly thinks they can outrun the tide. There is comforting sound of the little train rattling across the viaduct and the call of the wading birds.

These days, many of the group have passed on to the great youth club in the sky, and others are too frail to come to the Reunion. My Professor is the youngest and fittest of the group, and as I am12 years younger than him, I am a comparative infant. This means that it is a sedentary few days and I could not be as free as I would like to walk and look and photograph. So tonight's spectacular sunset was taken out of our bedroom window.

I searched along the esplanade just in case Gladders was about, but somehow missed him and his wifie - should have been more organised and had a definite blip meet point! Meanwhile, if you want to see what the sunset looked like really, check out Gladders' journal