08:39.I was up at 06:00 this morning to make Dawn’s coffee as she’s on a course in Liverpool today. This gave me time to scan another batch of old slides from 1995 which I should have on my website tonight. Here’s a taster from Warrington Bank Quay.

Right now I’m off out to make the most of the sunny weather and try and catch up with some pictures for clients that I got side-tracked from on Friday. More soon…09:39.Despite the sunny interludes it’s a bit of a nippy day so I was glad the walk down to Sowerby Bridge warmed me up a bit! I arrived a couple of minutes late to catch the train I was aiming for, so now I’m hopping to Hebden Bridge to pick up a Fast train to Manchester from there. My steed is 158845, one of Northern’s refurbished Class I58s that’s had the full make-over. It has new seats, tables and also USB power sockets as well as an improved Passenger Information System.

11:05.I’m back on track as I decided to stay on the Blackpool train and take a detour via Burnley. This was for several reasons including the fact I hadn’t got pictures of the new station building and that I’d always meant to see if I could get a shot across the town showing a train traversing the viaduct on the Colne branch. I managed to achieve both aims with the added bonus that my return trip was on a stretch of track I’d not previously travelled on: the Todmorden curve.Whilst I was at Burnley I spotted this unique planter on Manchester Rd station which celebrates the town’s links with an earlier form of transport, the canals.

17:10.Ok, it’s a long story what I’ve been up to since I crossed Manchester. I visited a location I’ve wanted to check-out for years – and I wasn’t disappointed. After getting the train to Goostrey station on the line from Manchester to Crewe I walked to the Twemlow viaduct. I’ve passed over it hundreds of times, but you only appreciate its magnificence when you see it from the ground

22:15

I’m happy with the pictures I managed to get today. Hopefully, the client will be too! So much has happened between now and then to blog about at length as I’m now taking it easy at home. Well, when I say “easy”, I’m actually on tenterhooks, trying to follow what’s happening at the EU summit in Brussels. Will the unanimity of the EU 27 finally break? The UK’s pushed its luck and it wouldn’t be any surprise if one or two countries finally ran out of patience with us. Brexit is an utter shambles, even some of it’s cheerleaders are admitting that now as they don’t want to be left carrying the can when the inevitable happens. God, what a mess this country’s got itself in…