Category Archives: West Yorkshire

Where does the time go?

12 Tuesday Nov 2019

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Yesterday was our second wedding anniversary, but it didn’t go entirely to plan due to the fact Dawn’s gone down with the lurgi. Of course, this follows straight on from a fantastic weekend with friends where we (belatedly) celebrated my 60th birthday, which was last month. 15 of us congregated in London at Café Spice Namaste for what was a lovely evening.

On Sunday we made our way back from London to Yorkshire. Sadly, it was all a bit of a rush, but that’s because a few of us had a lie-in after staying up until 02.30. We were staying in a hotel in London’s Eastern Docklands and the weather was so good on the Sunday Morning we couldn’t resist taking a minor detour on the Emirates Airlines cable-car across the Thames to North Greenwich. This left us with little time to get the train our friends had booked from Kings Cross to Yorkshire, so I ended up doing my best London travel guide impression, using my knowledge as a former Londoner to navigate our way across the city’s public transport system. Here’s how things looked from the cable car.

The O2 arena in the foreground with Canary Wharf behind it. To the right in the background you can see the City of London and skyscrapers like the ‘Walkie-Talkie’ and the ‘Gherkin’.
The ever changing face of East London and the area around Bow Creek, with Stratford in the background.
Where Bow Creek joins the Thames is another hive of construction activity with the skyline dominated by tower cranes.

Our trip back home was made easy by a straight-through trip on Grand Central to Halifax, where we caught up with our friends for a last drink in the Big 6 before home. Yesterday was far more relaxed as, apart from slipping out to get some shopping, we stayed in all day. Dawn wasn’t feeling 100% and the weather was filthy, so there was no incentive to venture out apart from me having a dental appointment to pick up a shield. It seems I’ve started grinding my teeth in my sleep. After nearly four years of the shambles that is Brexit I can’t say that I’m entirely surprised. Biting my tongue during the day and grinding my teeth at night seems entirely normal behaviour under the circumstances! To prevent excessive wear and tear I’ve now got a shield for my lower teeth which is to be worn at night. If only a solution to the Brexitshambles was that simple…

So, instead of the pair of us venturing out we spent the evening cooking. Dawn prepared a Flemish beef stew with beer before retiring to her sick bed, leaving me to take over and prepare all the veg and finish the cooking. I have to say, the stew was delicious!

We fell in love with this rich dish when we were in Bruges last month. With the weather being so miserable it seemed like the ideal comforting food to prepare, although we eschewed the traditional chips for a mixture of roast potato’s and red cabbage as an accompaniment.

Today I’ve been on nursing and shopping duties as well as working from home. There’s been plenty of news to catch up on, hence this blog on HS2 I penned this morning. I even managed to venture out for an afternoon constitutional, although I’ve not been breaking any records today! Hopefully tomorrow the weather (and Dawn) will begin to pick up…

West Yorkshire weather woes…

08 Friday Nov 2019

Posted by in Railways, Weather, West Yorkshire

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Yesterday’s torrential rains are causing ripples (if you’ll pardon the pun) today as rail services in the Calder valley are still disrupted. For once the line didn’t flood at Walsden but over in Lancashire. It finally reopened earlier this afternoon, but services are still chaotic with many trains cancelled. This morning, trains from Leeds were being terminated at either Hebden Bridge or Todmorden and nothing was running at all East of Manchester Victoria. This screen at Todmorden says it all…

I’ve ventured out as far as Walsden to have a look and get a few pictures (which I’ll add later). We’ve had very little rain so far today although the skies are constantly changing and threatening another deluge. Sadly, Valley folk are having to become accustomed to floods nowadays. Climate change is here and it’s real, and local human activity up on the moors is exacerbating it by allowing the rain to run off much more quickly.

Trying to protect our Victorian rail network from Climate Change is a huge task. What were once considered once in a century events are now happening with monotonous regularity – and there are no quick fixes or easy solutions as land around railways has been buried under roads or encroached on by housing and commercial developments. This is one of the reasons I’m such an advocate for building HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail. We cannot expect to rely on Victorian infrastructure forever.

OK, as promised, here’s a few pictures from today.

The old Pacer’s still soldier on. Here’s 142079 which should have been working to Manchester but was terminated at Hebden Bridge instead
Nearly 30 mins after the Pacer, this arrived. Optimistically bearing a Chester destination, this service was only going as far at Todmorden, where it would reverse and high-tail it back to Leeds.
12.55. Journey’s end at Todmorden as the driver changes ends and prepares to head back to Leeds as the flooding in Lancashire precluded getting any further West for the next few hours.
Finally, at 13.30 this pair (150118 and 156459) were sent West on an exploratory mission to see if the line was safe to reopen and all the signalling systems worked. They’re seen here approaching Walsden station
The first passenger carrying train to make it through was this, 150102 working 1D76, the 1138 Leeds to Chester.

Rain, rain, go away…

07 Thursday Nov 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, Musings, Sowerby Bridge, Weather, West Yorkshire

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It’s been a wet and miserable day here in the Calder Valley, the leaden skies have been unloading on us since early this morning. If I had plans for an Ark I’d be tempted to dust them off, but then we live high up on the valley side, so if the flood waters ever reached us an ark is exactly what we’d need!

Earlier, I donned my waterproofs and took a stroll down into Sowerby Bridge in order to pick up some shopping and also to get some exercise. I try and walk 5 miles most days in order to keep fit and get away from staring at a computer screen. Today it gave me the excuse to check on the River Calder which runs through the centre of the town. It’s not at Boxing Day 2015 flood levels but it’s way above normal. Here’s the view from the bridge across the river looking East.

This is a still from 2014 showing how this stretch of river normally looks like!

Here’s another view taken from the left hand side of the first video clip, looking towards the railway. The river that joins the Calder under the railway bridge is the Ryburn. It was just the other side of the railway that the 2015 floods happened due to the sheer volume of water being pushed back from the Ryburn by a flooded Calder – just where Sowerby Bridge is at its lowest level.

Apparently, the railway line is closed due to flooding at a familiar weakpoint today, Walsden, to the West of Todmorden, where a culvert passes under the line, so the pair of Pacers you see in the video were the last train to make it through. I also hear that the road between Sowerby Bridge and Todmorden is closed due to flooding!

I’m now back at home in the warm, hoping that the Amber flood warning the Met Office has issued won’t cause us any more problems, but more rain is something we certainly don’t need.

Easy Sunday…

03 Sunday Nov 2019

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– well, sort of! I was actually up early as our cat insists that on a weekend it has the right to sleep on the bed. How it knows it’s the weekend we’ve never been able to work out, but the moggy can. This meant I was given an early morning alarm call when Jet decided he needed to be fed. As I’d given in to him and Dawn was happily sleeping I sloped off into the office to scan some more old slides I’d prepped.

With such an early Sunday start we both decided to ‘carpe diem’ and make the most of the day by having an early breakfast and going for a long walk through along the canal into Sowerby Bridge, then up through our local woodland (Scarr woods) which is looking superb at this time of year. What was lovely to see was the way some people place Halloween pumpkins in the woods, which can either delight – or scare the shit out of you!

Back at home we continued our productive time as Dawn got into ‘domestic Goddess’ mode in the kitchen to produce a fiery Thai Green Curry from scratch (no pre-prepared pastes here) plus a gorgeous Lemon Drizzle Cake. I spent my time on household DIY (yes, I know – the bathroom) before ploughing on with the never ending job of mounting and scanning more old slides. I’m currently doing an album from 2003 which contains a lot of stuff from Virgin Trains days. I’m looking forward to having them done now that the franchise is about to come to an end as it will be an appropriate tribute to a company that really did a lot to improve the image of the railways in the publics perception.

In the meantime, here’s one of the other slides I’ve been scanning. This is a view across London Waterloo taken from the London Eye back in 2003. The city’s skyline has changed a bit since then, as have the rail services. In those days the old BR built slam door stock was still in use and Waterloo International would be in use by Eurostar for another 4 years.

All change…

23 Wednesday Oct 2019

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Today’s really been a mixture! My plan was to spend most of it at home catching up on picture editing and paperwork but the weather was so good this morning that I kiboshed that idea after a few hours. Admittedly, I was in the office at 6am, so I didn’t feel too guilty as I’d got a lot done already.

I stayed locally as there’s enough of interest at the moment because of the new trains we’ve got in the area, plus the abundance of woodland which makes for a fantastic backdrop this time of year. In fact I was in two minds about which locations to choose, but a changing forecast made my mind up for me.

My first port of call was half an hour’s walk away, which was a really pleasant stroll as the weather was so balmy. I headed down to an overbridge near Dryclough Junction which is where the line from Halifax splits into two routes. One heads West through the Calder Valley, the other heads to Brighouse and Huddersfield. Here’s how it looked today.

A splash of autumn colour as 195107 passes Dryclough Junction whilst working 1D77, the 1238 Leeds to Chester. Timekeeping’s improved today, this was only seven minutes late! The lower lines in the background lead to Greetland Junction and the route to Brighouse. Halifax town is behind the train.

This time of year the sun doesn’t hang around. I only had a 30-40 minute window at Dryclough before heavy shadows crept in, so I moved on to a very different location and a completely different kind of shot in the hills above Halifax, helped by the fact the weather completely clouded up in the afternoon, otherwise I’d have been shooting straight into a low winter sun. I do like the views around Halifax and beacon Hill as they can really reflect the era when the Industrial revolution (and a colonialist empire) transformed the landscape in both Lancashire and Yorkshire.

The first of the class, CAF’s 195001 leaves Halifax, past the famous confectionary factory in the background that produces such well known items as ‘Quality Street’ before the unit disappears off the Beacon Hill viaduct into the 1105 yard long tunnel of the same name. Back in the 1980s this picture would have been impossible as all you’d have been looking at was a huge multi-storey mill that was blocking the view. It’s long gone and the site’s now occupied by a low height ‘Matalan’ shop.
Here’s a slightly different view as 195104 arrives into Halifax station whilst working 1D79, the 1438 Leeds to Chester which was (almost) on time! To the right of the picture you can see the old Halifax signal box which was decommissioned last October. The stone wall in front of the white van was once the start of the series of viaducts that carried the old Great Northern Railway line to Bradford via Queensbury. It closed to passengers in 1955 but remained open for goods traffic until 1963.

Tomorrow we shift tempo – and country – as Dawn and I are off to Belgium by train from Halifax with a small group of friends from our local pub, the ‘Big 6‘. Six from the 6 are off to Bruges for three nights of fun and frolics, food beer and culture – as well as some history, so expect a rolling blog tomorrow as we make our way to London by train before catching the Eurostar to Brussels, then an internal service to Bruges. It’s going to be wonderful to be back on the European mainland in a civilised country and away from the continual and utter shambles that’s Brexit – which I promise not to mention, (well, not much, anyway) Stay tuned!

Calder Valley rail travails

22 Tuesday Oct 2019

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After yesterday’s excitement about the arrival into service of the new trains, today’s been back to business very much as usual with lots of late running, trains terminating short and cancellations. I popped down to Sowerby Bridge for an hour to see what was happening. It wasn’t great. Several Leeds – Southport and Chester services were cancelled with some Southport trains terminated at Wigan Wallgate. Here’s a look at some of the days services.

195119 worked 1E60, the 1124 Chester to
Leeds which was one of the few trains I saw that actually ran to time. The 195s superior braking and acceleration should help when there’s only a few minutes delay involved, as there was on this service earlier in the run.
This service wasn’t so lucky. 195107 passes at speed whilst working 2M14, the 12:18 Leeds to Manchester Victoria. It got as far as Hebden Bridge before being cancelled with a door fault. Door problems appear to be a recurring theme with the new units. This seems to be a mixture of mechanical and human problems. Hopefully, the bugs will be ironed out quickly.
The next 195 to appear was 2-car 195002 which had been allocated to 1D77, the 12:38 Leeds to Chester. It also suffered from late running, arriving at Sowerby Bridge 3 mins down. It dropped another 5 mins before arriving in Manchester.
Another service with problems was 1J10, operated by a pair of 2-car Class 158s, 158859 and 158851. This should have been the 11:24 from Southport to Leeds but it was terminated at Wigan Wallgate on its Westward run, so formed an 11:57 Wigan Wallgate to
Leeds.
Close on the heels of 1J10 was 195007 working non-stop through Sowerby on 2E15, the 12:58 Manchester Victoria to Leeds which was running 10 minutes late. On its return it formed a Chester service.
The last observation of my short stint was 195111 non-stop on 2M16, the 13:18 Leeds to
Manchester Victoria which was only a minute late!

As this is early days and there’s always teething problems with new fleets I’m hoping these issues will be sorted out quickly. What’s harder to sort out is the cancellations and delays that have nothing to do with the new trains. After the heartache and hassle passengers and businesses have suffered over the past few years due to the rail strikes, punctuality needs addressing as a matter of urgency. It’s easy to see how the Northern TOC can become a political football when the service is so unreliable. It could be very tempting to politicians desperate to curry favour and secure a ‘cheap win’ and political plaudits by taking back the franchise. Add in the fact that Sowerby Bridge and Mytholmroyd are due to lose many of their services from the December timetable (I understand they’re due to be cut by a third during the week and by half on Sundays) and you can understand local displeasure.

It’s disappointing on another level too. Network Rail have invested in the route, having spent over £100m on new signalling track upgrades and line-speed improvements in the past few years, but this isn’t reflected in punctuality improvements. Why? What’s the route cause of the problems? I’d love to know…

Rolling blog: new trains enter service in the Calder Valley

21 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, New trains, Northern Rail, Photography, Rail Investment, Railways, Rolling blogs, Sowerby Bridge, Transport, Travel, West Yorkshire

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Northern’s new CAF built Class 195s have entered passenger service through the Calder Valley today on the routes from Leeds – Chester and Leeds – Manchester Victoria. Needless to say, I’m out with the camera to capture pictures of this important milestone. It’s the culmination of improvements to the line that have seen the route resignalled, linespeeds increased and platforms lengthened.

I’ll be adding pictures throughout the day. Here’s the first as 195123 picks up passengers at Sowerby Bridge whilst working the 10:22 from Chester to Leeds.


10.35.

I’ve caught a late-running Chester service which is worked by 195110. These trains are certainly a step-change to the old BR built units we’ve been used to since the 1980s! They’ve far superior acceleration and braking, not to mention all the facilities that passengers have come to expect nowadays, such as power sockets and free wifi. They’ve also got far more seating bays with tables.

22:36.

Sorry folks, It didn’t turn out to be much of a rolling blog as I was too busy taking pictures! Since I got home earlier this evening I’ve been busy editing them, so here’s a small selection. You can find the full gallery here on my Zenfolio website.

1J06, the 0957 Wigan Wallgate to
Leeds worked by 150275 and 158901 passes 195002 just outside Todmorden. The 195 was working 2M10, the 1018 Leeds to
Manchester Victoria. 1J06 should have run from Southport but was cancelled due to late running. Sadly, that’s something the new trains are having no impact on!
A few hours later 195002 passes Gauxholme whilst working 2E13, the 1158 Manchester Victoria to Leeds
3-car 195123 arrives at Walsden with 2M12, the 1118 Leeds to
Manchester Victoria.
Another late runner was 195103 on 1E60, the 1124 Chester to
Leeds which was 21 mins late by the time it reached Todmorden at 13.06.
Meanwhile, at Halifax, here’s a couple of shots of 2M20, the 1518 Leeds to
Manchester Victoria, worked by 195110.

For the number crunchers, the list of units seen in passenger service is as follows. Two car 195002 and 195007. Three car 195103. 195110. 195111. 195119. 195121 and 195123.

Rolling blog: rest day working…

20 Sunday Oct 2019

Posted by in Food and drink, Manchester, Manchester Victoria, Railways, Rolling blogs, West Yorkshire

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10:50.

It may be Sunday but it’s no day off for me. RAIL magazine have asked me to cover todays 175th anniversary events at Manchester Victoria station. Train services through the Calder Valley are disrupted by engineering work, so ‘bustitution’ from Hebden Bridge Westwards is the order of the day so So Dawn’s given me a lift to Huddersfield so I could catch the 10:52 direct to Victoria. Weatherwise it’s a glorious sunny day and the autumnal colours of the trees look stunning. Let’s see how the day goes…

12:54.

The event at Victoria’s worth a visit. Outside the front of the station there’s two old Manchester buses and a vintage tram.

Insise there are stalls on the main concourse and upstairs on the mezzanine entrance to the arena. They include the East Lancs Railway and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway society who have an excellent display of old pictures of Victoria station. Many more are included in this commemorative book which can be bought for £5 from their website.

To add to the fun, Queen Victoria herself has dropped in to admire her namesake!

14:03.

Homeward bound! I caught a packed TPE service from Victoria to Huddersfield, where I had enough time between trains for a ‘swifty’ in the wonderful ‘Kings Head’, one of the two pubs the station’s blessed with.

Now I’m bouncing my way home to Halifax on the generously proportioned 13:52 Huddersfield to Leeds via Brighouse. It’s a 3-car 144 and 2-car 150 lash-up, which means I’m the only passenger in the lead car! No doubt the train will fill up later in the journey.

19:46.

After getting back home Dawn and I had some quality time together, enjoying on of our favourite walks from home, down the hill and along the canal into Sowerby Bridge. The sunshine had deserted us, but it’s still a lovely walk this time of year as the leaves on the trees that line our route look stunning. We stopped off for a quiet drink and a chance to read the papers in Williams Bar before strolling back up the hill to home, feeling virtuous having spent Sunday active. Now we’re relaxing at home with a spot of culinary therapy. Dawn’s busy cooking a mixture of chorizo, cannellini beans and spinach which is used as a base for a fish dish whilst I’m waiting in the wings (and a chance at the cooker) with monkfish tails ready to go into a Thai green curry.

Rolling blog: dodging the rain…

10 Thursday Oct 2019

Posted by in Railways, Rolling blogs, West Yorkshire

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11:55.

Having been busy at home this morning I’m escaping from the office for a few hours to get some pictures of the latest investment in rail in the Leeds area. You know, the stuff Joe Rukin of ‘StopHs2’ claimed back in 2018 wasn’t happening as there’s no rail investment for the next 20 years “anywhere on the network” because HS2 had sucked up all the money! You can watch him lie through his teeth here.

It’s not an ideal day for getting out and about as the weather’s pretty crap, but I’m under time constraints as there’s a lot to see in the next month. The changes in the rail network are ramping up as more and more new trains are introduced and work continues to expand the network. On the bright side, the rain means there might be some good shot reflection shots to be had. Let’s see how it goes…

12:25.

As you can see, the weather’s best described as “changeable”!

14:20.

As is my wont, I’m taking the scenic route into Leeds! I changed trains at at Bradford and walked between the two stations. It breaks the monotony of taking the same route all the time and gives me chance to see something different. I’ve added to the detour by taking a trip out to Ilkley, where I’ve not been for a little while.

16:07.

I’m heading to Leeds, honest! I’ve just got sidetracked as it were. After Ilkley I stopped off at Baildon, which is a station on the single track link from Guisley to Shipley. The original station building still survives, although it’s been vacated by the tyre company that had been using it. Despite that, the stations environs are kept looking smart by the local station friends group. I’d not been here since 2010 and there were a couple of photo opportunities (despite the weather) so I decided to stop off.

18:30.I’ve finally made it to Leeds after even more detours and an Aire valley rail service that’s suffereing from lots of delays. It was worth it. The new station concourse may still be a work in progress, but it’s looking good! As well as the cleaned up concourse the old gateline has been removed and a new oone comissioned which-whilst it might be slightly smaller, provides much more room for folk as they flood off trains in the morning rush.

19:21.

Having got a selection of useful shots I’ve called ot a day and I’m heading home, bouncing my way from Leeds to Halifax aboard a Pacer bound for Huddersfield. With the teething problems associated with the new CAF built units, I wonder how long these sets have left?

On October 21st the CAF 195s are meant to take over the recently introduced hourly Leeds – Chester service, which will see the first of the units operating passenger services through the Calder Valley. This should free up a few 150x type units to displace more Pacers.

22:10.

I’m back home in the warm and dry and not a moment too soon! It’s a foul night! The rain started the minute I got off the train in Halifax and it’s not stopped since, the wind’s sprung up and all I can hear is the rustling of the trees and torrents of water running off the terraced garden walls outside my office window. To finish, here’s a small selection of shots from today. You’ll be able to find the full set on my Zenfolio website tomorrow.

331110 calls at Baildon whilst working 2D64, the 1516 Bradford Forster Square to Ilkley.
The 322s won’t be around for much longer but for now they’re hanging on. Here’s 322481 working 2D63, the 1451 Ilkley to Bradford Forster Square.
Inside the leading vehicle of 322481, showing the rather dated moquette and 3+2 seating layout.
There was a lot of late running on the Aire and Wharfdale services today. Here’s 322482 approaching Shipley. It was running empty as 5S40, the 1640 Bradford Forster Square to Skipton as was taken off the service it was diagrammed to work due to the driver turning up late.
Here’s 5Z75, the 1636 Skipton Broughton Rd C.S. to Skipton driver training run seen at Bingley on the return trip. These diagrams run to Shipley before reversing.
One of TPE’s new Nova 3 sets at Leeds this evening
Journey’s end. My Pacer’s a blur as it pulls out of Halifax on its way to Huddersfield

Rolling blog: Pennine travels…

08 Tuesday Oct 2019

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10:06.

I’m out and about with the camera today, hoping to make the most of a spell of sunny weather to get a selection of client and library shots. Dawn gave me a lift into Huddersfield which was basking in beautiful sunshine but right now I’m ln a Trans-Pennine service heading West into Lancashire where I seem to have hit a weather front. The entrance to the Standedge tunnel appeared to be in fog, so my plans may have to be fluid. Let’s see how the day goes…

13:00.

Perhaps I was a little too optimistic with the weather, but for once, the rain Gods have smiled on me. After leaving Huddersfield I headed for Mossley, a station on Trans-Pennine line in Greater Manchester. There’s some great photo locations around the village, so I headed for a couple of familiar locations where footbridges cross the line with rather scenic backdrops for the pictures. I ended up playing hide and seek with the sun, but for once it played ball just as the train I was after appeared. Here’s the shots.

One of Northern’s new CAF built Class 195s passing Mossley whilst on an empty stock movement, 5Z07, the 0915 Allerton Depot to Huddersfield Sidings.
The one I was waiting for. One of TPE’s new Nova 3 sets which was working 1F60, the 0941 Scarborough to Liverpool Lime Street. It was signal checked right in front of me, allowing me to get several shots. Just as it arrived, the cloud cover broke and the sun arrived!
The signal check allowed me to ‘leg it’ to another nearby bridge an get a different shot. Here’s 68030 bringing up the rear.

Within a few minutes of getting these shots the sky turned dark and threatening, so I decided to beat a hasty retreat back into Mossley. It was a wise choice. I was within 200 yards of the station when the clouds burst and we were treated to yet another torrential downpour!

Right now the skies are clearing again and I’m deciding on the next move – possibly back towards Huddersfield. Let’s see…

15:31.

After a brief foray to Manchester to check out the light I’m now back in Mossley where I’ve grabbed a couple of useful shots of trains passing along the back of the homes and shops on the main road. The fact the railway is literally knocking on people’s back door causes such space constraints that you get scenes like this!

Whilst waiting for photo opportunities I made the mistake of checking the news too see the latest on the Brexitshambles. It is not good. The British (or more correctly, the English) have humiliated themselves in the face of European unity and the unwillingness of the EU 27 to cave in to Johnson’s unworkable ‘plan’ – and I use that word in the loosest sense. So now the blame game is in full swing, as it was always planned to be. Now we have the pathetic sight of the Leave campaign resorting to crude nationalism and German bashing. It’s sickening, but entirely predictable. Most Leavers don’t have the nous to see this is Schrodingers Brexit, where we can simultaneously have “taken back control” and be ‘bullied’ by the EU (and especially by Germany). It’s the ultimate in fcukwittery, but nothing surprises me about this country anymore.

18:15.

After crossing the bider back into Yorkshure I tried for a few shots around Marsden, then Slaithwaite, onky to find locations I used just a few years sgo are now obscured by tree growth. It’s one of those things that makes me laugh about the Woodland Trust’s scaremongering campaigns. I’ve been living in Yorkshire for less than a decade, but in that time I’ve seen tree growth rise and spread. Look back at old photos of West Yorkshire from the 1950s and the growth of woodland is even more apparent. I was left with just one option, go higher up the valley side. I’ll add pictures later. Of course, by the time I’d climbed a sodding great cloud appeared, but at keast kniw I know where I need to be in the future!

Right now I’m heading back to Manchester to get a few blurry night shots to add to the library. There has to be some advantages to the nights drawing in…