Tag Archives: Musings

4th March picture of the day…

04 Tuesday Mar 2025

Posted by in Photography, Picture of the day, Politics, West Yorkshire

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Today’s been another busy one here at Bigland Towers. Nearly all of it has been spent wading through hundreds more pictures to edit and caption. I’d foolishly thought I’d broken the back of things yesterday. Then I opened up another couple of picture files. Oops! I’m now far more confident that I’m where I want to be as there’s just a handful left from my Asia travels. I’m not going to post loads of links again, I’m merely going to do what I did yesterday and post one to my ‘recent’ page. I doen;t take long to work out which galleries the new pictures have gone in to.

Whilst sat at home I’ve been keeping one eye on the news (and social media), watchin the American political binfire burn. Vice-President JD Vance has done a fabulous job alienating most of Europe – and especially the UK and France with his comments about the military. He’s tried to deny it of course, but that’s just added fuel to the fire as no-one likes being taken for a fool (well, unless you’re a Reform voter: Ed).

The furore has become more interesting as it’s revealing fault-lines between various right-wing commentators, media outlets and political parties. Some, like the Daily Mail and Sun have been outraged at Vance’s words. Suddenly, the world has turned upside down and I find myself agreeing with the likes of Julia Hartley-Brewer and Dan Hodges (don’t worry, I’ve had a bath since). Even Andrew Neil is taking sense. Then temporary Tory leader Kemi Badenoch completely misreads the mood and defends Vance , who’s a ‘friend’ of hers, apparently! An amazing take when even Nigel Farage (who was better at seeing which way the wind was blowing) didn’t support him.

These are interesting times for Reform. They’re becoming split between those who slavishly support Trum p and those who can see the danger of being exposed for what they really are – Russian assets and little more than ‘surrender monkeys’ who’re riding on the back of Putin and Trump’s coat-tails. Reform MP (and millionaire) Rupert Lowe being a classic example with this tweet, which has already aged like milk.

I’ve no doubt the row will continue, stocked by the trolls and bots on social media under the command of Putin (who must be laughing his socks off).

But this row’s about to be overshadowed by the latest Trump disaster. Tariffs. Trump is starting a trade war. The world’s markets have already taken fright at what he’s doing, but – undeterred – he’s proposing to bring in more. The poor saps who voted for him are about to find out *exactly* who it is who pays for tariffs. One American TV channel has just pointed out that (overnight) a Dodge pickup has increased in price from $80,000 to $100,000 – and it’s American consumers who’ll be picking up that tab. Now American farmers are about to find out where much of their supplies come from (Canada). Of course, it’s not just the US who suffers. But I’ll tell you who doesn’t – Trumps millionaire friends who’ll be playing the stock market as they knew in advance what was coming. This is likely to be insider trading on a gargantuan scale. As the old saying goes – follow the money….

We are living in very dangerous times. The one ray of sunshine is that this is forcing Europe to unite and get its act together. There’s some very welcome signs on that front. In the meantime, batten down the hatches, the world’s in for a rocky ride…

I’ll be taking a break from the computer tomorrow as I have a dentists appointment. Weather permitting, I may venture further afield as a result.

On a brighter and more peaceful note. Here’s today’s picture – a Balinese Hibiscus flower.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

3rd March picture of the day…

03 Monday Mar 2025

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Travel, West Yorkshire

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There’s not much of a blog from me today as nearly the whole day’s been spent glued to a computer screen as I try and complete a photo editing marathon. I’ve broken the back of it now, having edited and filed 80% of the pictures I’ve taken so far this year, which cover five countries (if you include the UK). I did get diverted into an archive search too, which took up some time, but I’m pleased with what I’ve got done as one more day should leave me free to get on with other projects.

There’s far too many galleries that have been updated to add individual links on my Zenfolio website, but if you click on this link it’ll take you to the ‘recent’ section, which shows you (by date) all the galleries that have had pictures added to them.

The weather’s not been up to much here in the Pennines so it’s hardly been an ideal day to be going out with the camera. It’s made looking at pictures of sultry climates and the streetlife they enable rather frustrating! Still, there’s no doubt that spring’s is in the air here in the UK. The days are noticeably longer compared to when I left for Asia and our garden is on the cusp of breaking into life – which is a bit of a bugger as I’ve not had chance to move things around beforehand. Ah well, there’s still time…

Whilst I’ve been editing and captioning a lot of pictures there’s one thing I’ve struggled with. Ships? Easy. Planes? No problem. Trains? Simple. But, our feathered friends? I haven’t got a clue! So, today’s picture is of one of the critters I’m struggling to identify. Can anyone help? I saw this beautiful creature feeding off the plants around our swimming pool in Bali.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Adjusting to life back in the UK…

22 Saturday Feb 2025

Posted by in Food and drink, Musings, Photography, Pubs, West Yorkshire

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My first full day back in the UK has been rather busy, although this morning was the opposite through catching up on my sleep whilst adjusting to a very different time zone. Thankfully, the day produced some sunshine which lifted the spirits after yesterday’s wall to wall gloom.

I did manage to some of the morning editing pictures from my travels. Right now I’ve been concentrating on railway images from Jakarta, which you can find here. Once those are finished I’ll be moving on to other images from Indonesia then gradually retracing my footsteps through Malaysia and Thailand – although that may take a while as there’s more travels in the offing.

This afternoon we had an appointment with Dawn’s parents in order to celebrate Norah’s 84th birthday. Dawn drove over to Huddersfield to pick them up and take the four of us to a pub restaurant I’ve not visited before in its new incarnation, the Dunkirk in Denby Dale.

We had a lovely afternoon with some excellent food off a menu that offered far more than standard pub grub. Oh, they also have 8 different real ales in the bar, which was a bonus! The food was both delicious and well presented. John and I had Ox cheek whilst the ladies had the fish and chips.

None of us had much room for dessert but we did see one thing on the menu which intrigued us which was the rice pudding brulé served with home-made jam.

We ended up ordering one to share between us all. As it was a generous portion that was more than enough to give us a taste of an original dessert which was both unusual and very tasty. Whilst the others stuck to ginger beer my meal was washed down with some well kept pints of Abbeydale Deception, a NZ pale of 4.1% strength.

Now the pair of us are back at Bigland Towers having an evening to ourselves. I’ve managed to get a few more pictures edited, so all in all, it’s been a very good day. Tomorrow’s going to be more home-based as we’ve both got things to sort out, although hopefully we’ll get out for a walk although the weather forecast isn’t looking optimistic. If it’s as wet as is threatened I may just end up editing more pictures and pack ready for my return to Manchester Airport on Monday…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Back in Blighty…

21 Friday Feb 2025

Posted by in Musings, Travel, West Yorkshire

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This won’t be a long blog from me as I’m slowly adjusting to life back here in the UK generally and West Yorkshire specifically. Right now, it’s just past 21:00 but my body clock is still working on Jakarta time, so it’s set way past 04:00. Awkward.

After catching the train back to Halifax Dawn very kindly offered to pick me up from the station so I was home not long after 09:00 UK time. My first task was to unpack and get lots of clothes in the wash, then have a shower. Thus the smell of Asia (and me) has quickly faded into memory! I’d hoped to try and stay awake for as long as possible in order to reset the body-clock but I retired to bed just in case. As I’ve a huge backlog of pictures to edit I managed to keep busy and stay awake until 14:30, by which time my eyes were on fire and my eyelids felt like they were made out of lead, so I gave in and had a couple of hours peaceful sleep – where nothing was moving, there was no engine noise nor anyone sounding their horns. Bliss!

I woke up in time to venture out this evening It’s Friday, so the quiz in our local pub (The Big 6) was on the agenda – along with the chance to catch up with old friends. Dawn joined me and the pair of us spent a couple of hours answering questions and laughing, as the banter always flows between the quiz participants. It was almost like we’d never been away, leaving the past month feeling like a blur.

Now we’re back at Bigland Towers. Dee’s cooking some spicy prawns whilst I’ve retreated to bed to write this blog before curling up for the night. We have a social day planned for tomorrow and I need to be bright-eyed and bushy tailed!

In the meantime, here’s a few pictures from today.

I’ve not travelled on one of these for a while. In fact, it’s only the 2nd time this year! CAF built 195023 waits to lead a sister unit from Manchester Victoria as the 07:57 to Leeds.
After drinking nothing but fizzy beer (aka lager) for the past month and a bit it was lovely to return to the ‘Big 6’ and have a range of beer styles to choose from. Then there’s the free pork pie…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Asia day 30. Border crossing….

13 Thursday Feb 2025

Posted by in Food and drink, Malaysia, Musings, Photography, Thailand, Travel

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Surprisingly, I had a really good night’s sleep on the train last night. It wasn’t that it was undisturbed as the track quality can make it a bit of a rocky ride sometimes. Plus, early in the morning, a large Chinese family got on somewhere to occupy the berths around me – but when I slept, it was deep. This is a very familiar journey to me in both directions, stretching back to 1998, so I feel very comfortable with it. It’s familiar.

Not long after 6 am, the train reaches Hat Yai, where it’s shunted and split. Our two sleeping cars plus a day coach are chopped off and parked in a platform awaiting a new SRT loco to take us forward (pics later). Meanwhile, morning ablutions take place in the toilets and washroom aboard, and the process of packing away beds begins.

10:50 (Malaysian time).

Well, that was painless! We arrived at the border crossing of Padang Besar on time and detrained straight into the queue for immigration. Both getting out of Thailand and into Malaysia was easy as you go through one set of controls after the other. There’s around 90 minutes to wait for the connection to Butterworth. Plenty of time to sort out an onward ticket. The KTMB office accepts Thai baht and there’s two ticket machines which take foreign credit cards to pay for the 11 ringgitt 40 sen ticket (around £2).

The 10:35 is worked by a 6-car, Chinese built SCS Electric unit so there’s normally no problem getting a seat – especially as most people crowd together at the entrance to the platform. Head to the rear of the incoming train and you’ll probably find it looks like this!

Don’t assume it’ll stay that way though, this is a local stopping train, and at Arau (the 2nd stop out of Padang Besar), it quickly fills up with people.

14:30.

By the time the train had got to Butterworth it was packed – but fine. People are well-behaved here. Well, unless you count mobile phone etiquette but the UK’s just as bad nowadays only with added  levels of stroppy entitlement.

The new passenger ferries have started running since I was last here (2023). I’ll post pictures and an initial verdict later. The bizarre thing is they no longer take cash, but the kiosk at Butterworth accepts Mastercard or Visa. All for a fare of 2 Ringgit (less than 40p).

Thankfully, the buses do still take cash, so my RM1:40 trip to Lebuh Chulia was paid for in ‘slummy’ from my last trip here!

I’m now having a breather before it’s time to check into my hotel in Jalan Muntri. Cheers!

17:20.

Having had a break at the room to download the camera I’m adding a few more pictures from the trip before venturing out now the day is cooling down. It ‘only’ got up to 32 degrees today with Humidity of 64%. I’ll add captions later…

Our train from Bangkok was split at Hat Yai where the last 3 coaches were taken forward to Padang Besar in Malaysia. 5226 backs onto the train to do the honours.
Checking tickets in the 3rd class coach from Hat Yai to Padang Besar.
One of the new ferries that ply between Butterworth on the mainland and Georgetown on Penang. Call me a nostalgic if you will, but I prefer the old ones.

23:20.

Time to wrap things up. Georgetown is one of my happy places in the world, and I can’t believe I’ve been mad enough to only give myself less than 24 hours here. Plus, I was gutted to find that the really good travellers bar is closed for a holiday. When I say bar, it’s really a shop that spills out every evening, taking over the backstreet outside with tables and chairs. I’ve met some really interesting people there in the past.

Instead, today I stopped to buy a beer from a local shop on Lebuh Chulia (and that shop has a history!) where I met a local who was missing the same place. We ended up chatting for ages.

Meet Eric. A local chap born and bred here but with an international interest. One of those really nice people whom you bump into by chance and one of the reasons that I love travelling.
Here’s where we should have been sat outside

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Indonesia day 4. A cultural interlude at the palace…

18 Saturday Jan 2025

Posted by in Art, Indonesia, Photography, Travel

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Today we visited the Kraton, the palace of the Sultans of Yogyakarta. It’s an impressive, sprawling place where it’s easy to get lost in the multitude of courtyards. The buildings are impressive, but what was even more so today was listening to the gamelan musicians playing. Javanese gamelan music is much more formal than that of Bali (which is far more exuberant) and – as you’d expect from musicians playing in a palace – it’s more formal. That said, it’s also lovely to listen to. Here’s one of the shots I took of them playing.

Later, the orchestra provided the music for a dance troupe who appeared to be re-enacting stories from Hindu times. Not quite what you’d perhaps expect to find in a Muslim Sultan’s palace. The dancers costumes were incredibly colourful and the dancing reminded me of some of the Balinese traditional dances, where eye and finger position is paramount.

They were a delight to watch, even if you hadn’t got a clue what the story was! You can find more palace pictures by following this link.

We stayed for several hours, then retreated back to the hotel to relax, enjoy some sun and (in my case) spend a few hours picture editing before planning more of the next phase of our trip. I also booked tickets for a visit to Borobodour and Prambenan in the morning. We’ve an early start, so this blog’s only short as a consequence, but expect more cultural pictures tomorrow.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Indonesia day 1. The adventure kicks off in earnest…

15 Wednesday Jan 2025

Posted by in Indonesia, jakarta, Photography, Travel

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It’s 05:00 UK time and midday here in Jakarta. We’re currently kicking back in the lobby of our hotel after a looonnngg journey of over 18 hours. Our flights with Qatar were both excellent. Clean, modern aircraft (a Boeing 787-9 and Airbus A350-900, reg A7-ALS) with great food, good entertainment and lovely staff. As expected, we had no time at all on the ground in Doha. We were straight off one plane and onto another. I binge-watched movies and survived on a couple of hours sleep whilst Dawn did better on the snoozing front.

Landing at Jakarta was an interesting experience as a lot’s changed since I was last here in 2017. Now it’s an airport run by apps and QR controls, Both immigration and customs are done via QR codes. Want a taxi? Download an app. For once, I did. We had plenty of time to get into town as our plane had landed at 07:05, so we made a leisurely exit and had a coffee in a cafe outside the terminal whilst we adjusted to the temperature and plotted our next move. having sussed out the ‘Grab’ app we ordered a taxi whilst we waited at their stand. I’d normally have used public transport but as we were tired, loaded down with luggage nd this was all new for Dee I decided a taxi would be the more relaxed option. Grab staff were both courteous and helpful, even plying us with free bottles of water. Last time I got a taxi to the airport it was in a battered old IC engined thing. Today we had a modern EV with the driver navigating his way through the torturous traffic and diversions due to construction work on sewers and metros by satnav.

Our hotel’s in the Glodok area, not far from the old Dutch quarter and Kota station, I could have sworn I stayed here back in 2017 but I don’t have my records to hand. Reception’s on the 8th for skyscraper. The floors below are packed with little shops selling electronics, steel and engineering widgets. I dunno what our room will be like but I’ve booked an upper floor with a view although the one we have from the bar and outdoor seating area isn’t bad!

Jakarta’s another sprawling SE Asian megopolis an all its vibrant, chaotic sights, sounds and smells…

Once we can get our room my first priority is making sure Dawn (who’s not as used to these long days) does is get some sleep. I might join her for a little while, but after that I’m keen to reacquaint myself with the city.

15:30 (UK time) 22:20 Java time.

We managed to get out for a long walk around the old colonial part of Jakarta, but now jet-lag is catching up and it’s time for a decent night’s sleep. I’ll talk more about what we got up to tomorrow, along with more pictures.

When the roads are blocked, just drive on the pavement! Construction of the new line 1 MRT outside Kota station’s causing a lot of problems for road users, hence scenes like this.,
Kota station’s a fine example of colonial transport architecture. It’s still a busy transport hub today.
In Dutch times the Kali Krukut canal would have been lined with sailing barges and Godowns (warehouses) as it was massive commercial area. Abandoned and decaying for many years the canals recently been restored with the banks becoming tree-lined walkways. Here’s a picture of how it looked in 2017.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Goodbye UK (for a while)…

13 Monday Jan 2025

Posted by in Indonesia, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day

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This will be a a short blog as the pair of us have got to be up at silly o’ clock to get a taxi to Manchester in order to catch our early morning flight to Jakarta. Thankfully, the snow which has blanketed West Yorkshire for the past week is finally melting so we shouldn’t have any problems getting to the airport. We’ve had a busy day packing and arranging all sorts of last minute stuff before we leave (in my case, that involved filing a tax return!).

Now we’re packed, everything’s ticked off the list and we can relax for a few hours before beginning the trip. I’ll do as much of a rolling blog as I can, but that will be reliant on airport, hotel and other wifi as international roaming charges cost an arm and a leg out in that neck of the woods nowadays. Still, I’m sure I’ll find time to post pictures and other stuff of interest over the next few weeks. We’ll be on the move a lot for the first week but when we get settled in Bali there’ll be more time to write. In the meantime, here’s a taster of life in Jakarta.

Indonesians are a friendly bunch, including those in uniform. In 2017, a couple of railway level crossing keepers at Tanah Abang in Jakarta were very happy to have their picture taken as a train they were protecting crossed the road behind them. You can find more of my pictures from Jakarta here.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

11th January picture of the day…

11 Saturday Jan 2025

Posted by in Bali, Indonesia, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel

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It’s a short report from Bigland Towers today as I’m in ‘getting away from it all’ mode – although that means life is rather frenetic as I clear the decks before travelling on Tuesday. There’s not a huge amount to report from this part of the world. The snow’s still here. It’s far too easy to break your neck (or extremities) on pavements that have become skating rinks, but the landscape from afar does look lovely, buried as it is under inches of snow (metric measurements are available).

Today was the first day I ventured out of the Calder valley this year as Dawn and I joined her parents for lunch over in Huddersfield. I’d have got some pictures but we were pressed for time and when we returned the the glorious sunshine had been snuffed out by low cloud. Ah well…

Now we’re back at home and I’ve begun the process of packing. I’m determined to travel as light as possible (says a man carrying a weighty camera bag) as I want room in my suitcase for bringing back some shopping from various destinations. Besides, textiles are cheap in the neck of the woods we’re heading to and I’ll be putting money into the local economy.

One of the things I’ve managed to do is clear the hard-drive on my laptop and add a lot more pictures to my Zenfolio website. You can find pictures in these galleries.

High Speed 2

UK travel

Northern trains

Railway stations

Expect something rather different soon. They’ll be added to these galleries (which will give you a taster of what to expect.

Indonesian Travel

Indonesian railways

Here’s a quick taster.

Legong dancers in Ubud. 1994.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

10th January picture of the day…

10 Friday Jan 2025

Posted by in Calder Valley, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel, Weather, West Yorkshire

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Bugger. Another day when things didn’t quite go to plan so I ended up trapped at home. The moral of the story? When you get a new phone, don’t forget the new password you entered for getting into the bloody thing! I did, which set me back as I ended up having to do a factory reset after wasting several hours trying a combination of passwords, all to no avail. These new phones drag out the agony too. Every time to enter a wrong ‘un they extend the time you’ve go to wait before you can try again. My wife, on hearing what I’d done, summed it up thus – “you dipstick!”. Who am I to argue?

Now everything’s sorted and my time wasn’t entirely wasted as I’ve cleared the decks of more old photos which have now appeared on my Zenfolio website. You can find the latest gallery update by following this link.

I did manage to get out for a little while in the evening whilst Dawn was working late in order to wrap up her work before going away. I popped up to our local pub (The Big 6) to join friends for the Friday quiz. It’s an informal gathering where Mel reads out the two quizzes published every week in our local ‘Pub paper’. It’s neither serious, nor competitive – just fun. Oh, and there’s plenty of beer – and free pork pie.

Now I’m back at home, compiling a list of more stuff to sort out before going away. I’m looking forward to being back in the sun and balmy weather rather than the barmy weather we’ve still got here. The snow’s never gone away in many places. Instead, it’s turned to sheet ice thanks to the sub-zero temperature of the past few days. Minor roads and pavements resemble skating rinks. I’ve never known the snow stick around for so long in the 15 years I’ve lived up here so I’ll be more than happy to see the back of it on Tuesday. Today’s picture shows how the Calder valley looks today. This is a view taken with my new Nikon Z series 100-400mm lens, looking out across the Calder valley to Sowerby. As you can see, the snow’s certainly sticking around.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312