After Thursday’s ‘grand tour’ around West Yorkshire I had a day off from blogging yesterday in order to spend time editing and adding captions to the dozens of pictures I took on the trip. You can find them on my Zenfolio website in the following galleries;

Northern trains

Trans-Pennine Express

Infrastructure and engineering

Railway stations

Railway people

Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade (TRU)

Social issues

To be honest, as Friday was a crap day after the glorious weather we’d had 24 hours before it really wasn’t a bad time to be stuck behind a desk! I’d have been happy to have sat through a good storm but all we got was cold, wind and desultory rain, which was troubling as we need so much more due to the fact we’re experiencing a dry year with minimal rainfall.

Today was more of an Easter celebration. Dawn was up early as she was helping her parents who had to come over to Calderdale in order that her mum could see some hospital specialists. I won’t go into details (it was nothing to worry about) but the plan was that after all it was over the four of us would go into Halifax for a late lunch at a place called ‘La Luna’ – an establishment where Dee and I have often enjoyed brunch. Maybe because it’s Easter or maybe because the weather had picked up, but Halifax was buzzing. The Piece Hall was hosting a variety of artisan market stalls which were drawing in the crowds – as we found out when we walked to and from the restaurant. There’s no doubt the town’s fortunes as a tourist destination are on the up so I was glad I’d booked our table at La Luna in advance as it became very busy after we arrived. La Luna’s in an excellent location only a few minutes from the Piece Hall. The restaurant’s well-designed with plenty of room and lots of attentive and friendly staff. Funnily enough, us two couples ordered the same food. Dawn and I went for the lamb kofta whilst John and Norah (being gluten free) both ordered the sea bass risotto. All four of us enjoyed our meals although we struggled to finish them. Admittedly, the fact chunky chips were supplied as part of the deal didn’t help – other than as a carb overload!

Back at Bigland Towers the Platt’s collected their own car whilst Dawn and I went for a local walk to try and work off some of the food! Our local woods are bursting into life right now with the first bluebells starting to bloom making it a lovely place to walk. Admittedly, we did end up in our local pub for a ‘swifty’ before returning, but hey – it’s a holiday!

This evening (back at home) Dee and I are finding that eating so much red meat is laying heavily on us as nowadays our diet is mostly vegetarian, although both fish and white meat do feature, so the surfeit of lamb is having unfortunate side effects. Just as well we’re on our own really, whilst we recreate the bean eating scene from ‘Blazing Saddles’!

Tomorrow we have a day to ourselves. The weather’s looking good so the plan is to get out for a walk – although we’ve not decided where yet. Tomorrow we’ll be taking sandwiches – but they won’t be lamb…

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