FORGET the circus, you could see an amazing high wire act for nothing if you kept your eyes open when travelling around East Lancashire.

These two photographs show engineers working on the power lines high above the ground.

The first picture (right) was taken in 1989 close to a pylon near the Whitebirk roundabout as work was underway in testing the cables and ensuring that there was sufficient space between the various power lines.

The second picture (far right) was taken two years later at Guide when some of the cable spacers needed replacing.

The engineers pulled themselves along the power lines - which had been turned off - in special cradles suspended between the pylons.

They had weights hanging from the cradles to help balance them and the wires also to allow the man below to have something to hang on to if he was making a repair or checking a line. The man at the top didn’t have this luxury!

Not only did you need to know your stuff in terms of the engineering, you certainly had to have good head for heights to do this.

If you were a ‘wire walker’ let us know.Email bygones@nqnw.co.uk