Thursday 8th March 2012, 4.55pm (day 196)
Have we had a ‘Hebden Bridge sky’ picture for a while? No, I didn’t think so either.
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Category Archives: Landscape
The summit of Barf
Thursday 1st March 2012, 2.00pm (day 189)
With no computer at the moment it’s difficult to work properly so I went on a walk, which I enjoyed despite cloudy weather. 160 Lakeland fells done now – 54 to go (see the other blog for details).
Barf was today’s highlight. That really is the name of this mountain, by the way (apparently it is a version of a word that means ‘a low hill’). While on the summit, this couple placed Action Man here on the cairn, to take a photo of it ‘for our grandson’, Nice idea! So I stole it. The idea, that is, not the Action Man.
Pylon landscape
Sunday 26th February 2012, 2.30pm (day 185)
Run a line of pylons through the Lake District and there would rightly be outrage, but though there will be purists who will not even concede this point, the moors to the south of Hebden Bridge are so bleak that at least these metal monsters make the landscape more interesting. I have no idea where these lines of towers come from, or where they march off to; they just stomp across the land for miles along the road from Cragg Vale to the M62 on Saddleworth Moor.
Today marks the start of the second six-month period of this blog – and thus we are at the halfway point. Yes folks, I am forty-two-and-a-half years old as of today. Because I am something of a statto, I feel obliged to share with you the information that:
- of the 185 photos to appear on here so far, 87 have been taken in Hebden Bridge; 32 in Manchester; 11 in the Lake District; 9 in Moscow; 9 in Bergen; 4 in London; 4 in Morecambe; 3 each in Leeds, Helsinki, Amsterdam, and in unspecifiable locations from aeroplanes; 2 each in Brighton and Littleborough; and 1 each in Lancaster, Tampere, Haworth, Stockport, Wetherby, Dunsop Bridge, Halifax, Walsden, Whalley, Liverpool, York, over the Øresund and – above – near Ripponden.
- Neck-and-neck in terms of the most popular hour for a photo are 11:something and 16:something, with 22 each, then 14:whatever, with 18. Only 3 photos have been taken before 7am, and only 8 at 8pm or later; no photos at all have yet emerged from the hour of 21:00 – 21:59, though three have been taken later than 10pm.
Anyway, so. I have as much to do as I have done so far. We’re halfway through. I’m still enjoying it: I’ll keep doing it if you’ll keep reading it.
Off the coast of Denmark (or is it Sweden)
Thursday 23rd February 2012, 3.10pm (day 182)
Was worried today was going to be a tough one to fulfil, with just a morning sat in an office and then a plane journey home: things to see, but nothing that was going to be particularly new on this blog.
However, the scenes on the journey home were spectacular today, particularly the second flight into Manchester which, with fiery sunset and the glow of the towns below, through the clouds, looked almost like the Day of Judgment. But it was too dark for photography through a plane window. This shot from earlier in the day, however – of the Øresund, the narrow strait between Copenhagen and Malmö – definitely hit the spot.
By the way, this shot is late because I’m having major hardware problems at the moment. Posts over the next week, at least, are likely to emerge erratically.
Bergen, from the plane
Tuesday 21st February 2012, 3.25pm (day 180)
It’s not a bad place to come and work for a couple of days, is it.
The peninsula to left-centre of this photograph is the historic city centre of Bergen. Mount Fløyen, which you saw on 27th November, is the low-looking hill to the far left, below the snowline.
Walkers on Great Dodd
Tuesday 7th February 2012, 12.50pm (day 166)
No, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t sit and let today’s weather pass unused. I’ll catch up on Sunday instead. It was worth it.
Plenty more pictures from today have been uploaded onto my other blog.
Full Moon, from the train home
Monday 6th February 2012, 4.50pm (day 165)
Not much happened today but there was some great light and a stunning full moon (well, one day short of full) in the evening. Had to snap it from the moving train as I made my way home, but even if it is a bit of an odd shot, it will certainly do for the daily pic. That’s the moon’s third appearance on the blog, I think.
Another Hebden Bridge sunset
Wednesday 1st February 2012, 4.20pm (day 160)
Spent the whole day at home grading papers. Ah well, at least there’s the view from the house to keep me (and the blog) going on such an otherwise monotonous – and cold – day.
Spurn Head
Thursday 26th January 2012, 11.50am (day 154)
From Mike Parker’s book, Map Addict (2009, Harper Collins):
Page 3: “I’m the one who will annoy anyone I’m sharing a flight with by repeatedly jabbing at the window and telling them which town we’re flying over, just because I recognised its shape and road pattern from decades of map scrutiny…”
Page 81 [referring to Spurn Head]: “Driving down this tiny thread of land is like walking a tightrope in a gale. The concrete road is poor and rutted, with drifts of sand blocking the way and sea spume whacking your windscreen like a scorned lover. At times, the road is virtually all there is between the two banks of angry, choppy sea falling away on either side. There is no safety net…. It is one of the ugliest, rawest places of beauty I have ever experienced. And it is quite wonderful. Twenty years it had taken from running my eager finger along my first Ordnance Survey map to standing on the point itself, but it was worth every minute of the wait.”
Latrigg, early morning
Monday 16th January 2012, 8.30am (day 144)
Fourth and final day in the Lake District, with glorious weather throughout – a stroke of great luck, seeing as we booked the weekend months ago, taking a gamble. Just proves that the British weather can do pretty much what it wants, at any time. Today I set off early, wanting to get one more walk in but still needing to be home at a reasonable hour. The sun came up as I made my way round the southern slopes of Blencathra and caught this view of the half moon over Derwentwater and the little hill of Latrigg: one I still have to bag for my project. 154 done now, 60 to go.
Being 42 