pierreluc

Continuing our regional review, we come to the area located south of Blyth. It contains three small settlements, for a total population barely exceeding 2000 sims. On the overview map, you will notice the tiny hamlet of Ormond (area 1), built along Orms Creek, as well the two small villages of Carmyllie (area 2) and Cluffdale (area 3). Enjoying the fertile land of the delta, as well as the traffic passing along Routes 43 (the North-South one) and 115 (the East-West one), these communities are poised to thrive over the coming generations. Cluffdale, as its name suggests, lies in a shallow valley. This picture of dusk over some farms, with the hills rising behind, was taken from the top of a grain elevator: Despite their charms, these settlements are far from exciting, as can be seen from the excerpt from the diary on one Betsy Chapman, age 14, from Carmyllie (note that her entry was edited for spelling and the protection of the involved youth): "I'm bored, real bored. What can we do at 9 on a Saturday here? Well, J***, S*** and I went to the convenience store at the gas station to get a slushy. As it got dark, we climbed over the fence of the kiddie's school and sat on the old swings while we tried to see who could drink their slushy the fastest despite the ice headaches! Like, radical fun! Then, on a dare, S*** added one more bar of colour on the graffiti on the back of the tire and muffler store. It seems pretty bold, but I won't kiss him despite our bet since we both know that Sgt. Vincent was nowhere near the police station at the time; we'd seen him drive off to Cluffdale to referee a pumpkin-growing contest just a little while before..."

The village of Blyth, straddling the river, is a small agricultural community of roughly 1000 people. Upstream along the Blyth (area 2 on the overview map above) lies the hamlet of St-Aegestha, along with its namesake church. According to legend, one Good Friday many centuries ago, a group of bandits happened upon a fair maiden minding her flock of sheep. Fearing for her virtue, Aegestha, for that was her name, fled from her lewd pursuers. Alas, she stumbled and fell into the swiftly flowing river and drowned. Shortly thereafter, shepherds and peasants began reporting visions of a golden woman who would guide them to lost sheep, or ease their gout. It was only a matter of time before Aegestha was canonized, and locals built a lovely chapel in her honour. Credit to haammergold for the BAT

Today's short update takes us to the Blyth river, which flows quickly between the hills, westward into the Lanner Bay. The confluence of the Lanner and Blyth rivers (just off the western edge of the map, by area 1) results in some pretty tricky boating conditions, especially when the tide's effects are felt as far up as their estuaries. For most of the year, the Blyth is a joyous, if minor, river. It roars, however, for a couple of weeks every Spring when, all of a sudden, it struggles to carry the melting snows of the surrounding hills.

The pier (credit to Pegasus), with the Loan Shark office next to it (a pure coincidence as sharks are otherwise unheard of in the Lanner river)

Taking a closer look at Alweston, we see Thorps road coming in from the top, skirting the bridge and angling West to a roundabout. Alweston, unlike Norbury and the other hamlets around it, has diversified its agragrian economy a little, thanks to the odd manufacturing establishments. Lying on the North side of the Lanner river, hemmed in by hills, Alweston was not on track to a rail connection to the modern system running on the South shore. It was simply impossible to economically justify the construction of a rail bridge to a community of only 3000 souls. In fact, Alweston did not even have a foot bridge across the river; people either crossed by small boat (not even a ferry service existed) from the pier at the foot of Stoddard street or drove up to Rainford to use its bridge. A compromise was found when Barnaby Baxter, who owned farmland along Thorps road offered to donate his land for a bridge, for free, with the condition that the bridge would be named after his late wife (or at least what he called her). The Lady Margaret bridge was thus built. This southernmost span across the Lanner allows Alweston to truck produce to the main rail line across the river. Below are closeups of the pier and bridge.

Next we come to Alweston, where the Lanner river finally opens up towards the sea. However, rather than expand into a vast bay, the river pours into a shallow delta, filled with islands, reefs and shoals. The Lanner river, as a result, is virtually closed to navigation, as nothing but the smallest fishing boats can handle its tricky mouth. Sea traffic, if any, will need to be located further down in the delta, where enough open water enables it. Right at the mouth lie the Cutters (area 1 on the map), so named for their ability to cut up the hulls of daring ships. The first sizable island of the delta is Praine Island (area 3), which is so far very sparsely inhabited; only small personal crafts can dock there. Between Praine Island and the mainland is a narrow channel filled with treacherous shoals, which can only be crossed at high tide, and only by skilled fishermen. These are called the Blundering Shoals (area 2), as people tend only to end up amongst them by mistake.

Thanks everyone for your feedback and patience; often real life interrupts the Simlife! Today, we travel Southwest along the Northern shore of the Lanner river. Leaving Rainford, we run across three small farming communities: Blackfield, Gowan and Norbury. We'll take a closer peak at the latter two. The tail end of Blackfield is seen at the top right corner, but Thorps road quickly runs past it before curving around Gowan creek, finally angling South again through Norbury. Gowan, in the center of the picture, consists of but a handful of farms. Buttercups abound in Gowan (note that Gowan is a local name for these flowers) but they are poisonous to cattle, so their ubiquity in the area hindered most local farmers, who moved to better land. Still, Gowan can be a charming place, especially every April and May, when it is awash in a sea of gorgeous yellow flowers. Some say that, oh, maybe a generation ago, a famous impresario came down from the capital and turned the following local ditty into a pop hit: Buttercup, buttercup, Butty cuppy, Buttercup Buttercup!!!

I must not forget to give thanks for comments and tips! And the resemblance to Africa, which I had never noticed myself, is purely coincidental (I think, unless flamesrock who designed the map hid it in there!).

However, the Jolliff pride was short-lived as the industrial revolution swept SimNation, notably through the construction of a network of railways. While the Lanner Valley remains, even today, a bit of a backwater, city engineers did extend a minor railway line into the valley but, alas, chose to do so on the South Side, where the lay of the land was more favourable and where construction would be less disruptive to farming. As a result, industry developed on the South Side of Rainford, in particular around the Baltic Flour Mill (courtesy of Simgoober), where local farmers could separate the wheat from the chaff, and yield quality flour. Poor, disposable labour consequently settled near this hub of industry, no matter the disturbing colour of the air.