A return to Hirst Wood- reflections and railways

More from the pre-Christmas posts, and a return to the old stomping grounds of Shipley and Hirst Wood.  Rather than get the train, I (Ben) thought I'd head back along the canal and through the woods between Saltaire and Bingley, all areas I used to do a lot of photography in.

With a somewhat dull and flat sky, I thought I better try and make the best of the reflections. 

Salts Mill... at least the canal was pleasantly dark and still.

Back into the woods, and a spot on the side of the river I used to regularly photograph on the walks to work about 7 years ago.

Interestingly a bridge had been removed, which isolated one of my old regular paths, though the stream was low enough to allow a bit of stepping-stone use.  It looks like someone got annoyed with the lack of bridge and made their own arrangements.

Not long after I got to Bingley I got a tip off that a special train, an excursion, was on its way, so I swapped to something a little better than my iPod camera and headed back out.  By now the sun was coming out, and lighting the scene a bit better.

Waiting for the train, and a class 333 heading south, just before...

The target, a Northern Belle tour from York to Lancashire and back.  My first photographs of the new Class 68 locos, which was nice... that damned equipment cabinet continues to rack me off though, almost could have been put there to foil railway photographers standing at the low fence at the end of the river bridge.

Nearly missed this, about five minutes later.  Again not the best angle given the surrounding clutter, but hey-ho.  Nice to be able to get back there again though and revisit the old locations...

Rambling Around, and About, Keighley

Since switching jobs to something more flexible, in an effort to stave off unhealthiness I (Ben) have been trying to find some walks back home from dropping off The Childs at school in the morning.  Keighley is not exactly visually inspiring on the main roads, but if you look around there are a few interesting patches of the older Keighley.

There is a path along the side of the Worth Valley Railway from the station in town, which I used to walk along occasionally on one of my previous jobs.  Like many parts of Keighly the later in the day you walk these areas the less appealing they become (you can only be chased by so many angry teenagers before the appeal of an area wears off) but at eight in the morning, it felt safe enough to snap a few pictures.

Adrenaline-inducing meetings with people aside, I like these somewhat neglected backways, especially as (like this one) there are glimpses into the heavy industrial past of the town.  That, and run-down and neglected areas tend to be photographically more interesting.

OK so the lighting was a bit poor, and I was using just the camera on my iPod (the idea to snap some photos was a spur of the moment one, and so I didn't have a 'proper' camera) but there might be some spots to come back to with better kit.  It was struggling with the weird light a fair bit...

The path weaves and crosses the various railway lines (open and closed) which threaded this part of town, back when Keighley was built on the wool and light industrial trades.

This is interesting, the blocked cutting of the old Great Northern Railway goods branch.  It is hard to tell if the cutting is properly part-filled with soil and debris, or just decades of natural growth.

More interesting relics, the old cobblestones showing through the tarmac.

Back alongside the preserved railway, more massive stone-built retaining walls.  Just the sheer effort it must have taken to construct these walls back in the day is impressive to consider now.

The path at this point branches off, and we're back into territory I occasionally visit for railway pics.

I do like this path, at least this lower section just for how odd it is, a jumble of bridges, with the oddity of the fact there is a stream under the concrete which has been covered over to form the path.  You can hear it running under the path, it makes the path so low that you have to duck under the bridges, and looking at it, the concrete channel must carry floodwater too.

Walking up the path just leads onto another estate, so back down to the river path...

Evidence of someone burning their own (or more likely someone else's) homework...

More jumbled mix of building styles...

Old railway sleeper fences.

And finally, the river Worth itself, just before the path ends up back on the main road.

So it isn't too bad a path, and it would be worth going back there with a better camera at some point, maybe whilst filling time between trains during a round of railway photography.  And it makes the healthy walk home in the mornings a little more interesting...

Dean Clough Mills

After the usual Christmas and New Years chaos, time to start blogging again.  First up, a delayed post from before Christmas, and a visit to the Dean Clough Mills in Halifax.  We were there to look at a Christmas Craft Fair, and took the opportunity to have a look around the site too.  Or at least a bit of it; this place is immense... formerly the biggest mill of its kind in the country, it is now a mixed-use development with commercial spaces, offices, galleries, exhibition spaces and more besides.

An interesting mix of architectural styles, with the slightly shoe-horned in multi-storey car park, which is a bit tight for modern-sized vehicles...

 

OK I'll start with the most fun bit, and the under-construction model of the mills in Lego, being built by Lego modellers Michael LeCount and Tony Priestman.

According to the info in the room, it will use around a million bricks when it is finished, and be about 35 feet in length.  Already it is pretty immense...

Certainly set the bar pretty high for our Foster Childs who were with us...

...who also enjoyed a room full of 'retro' video games which was on specially for the show. A little depressing that stuff we grew up playing is now considered retro though...

The permanent art collection is spread both through galleries and along the corridors of the commercial spaces, with the sorts of corridors which look as if Scooby Doo and gang should be running between the doors.

It was only a quick visit, but we reckon we'll be trying for the Christmas Show in 2017 if it is on, and definitely somewhere worth returning to, given that it has good quality permanent and touring exhibitions.