Category Archives: Transport

Namibia: the last ride

Friday 26th April 2024, 9.25am (day 4,628)

Ride to HKIA, 26/4/24

Although I will fly back over the country again tomorrow, this was my last morning in Namibia. It gets added to the growing list of countries that I have visited that I hope to return to someday — but lack of opportunity and advancing years means I may well not (let’s include, at least, Fiji, Vietnam, Tanzania and New Zealand alongside it). Either way, it’s been a good two weeks. Here, I am being driven back to Hosea Katuko International Airport — which does not seem to lie particularly near Windhoek, and on arrival, stands strangely alone in countryside like this, typical of the country.

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Zebra crossing

Tuesday 23rd April 2024, 9.25am (day 4,625)

Zebra crossing, 23/4/24

I do not know what you call black-and-white striped pedestrian crossings in your country, but hopefully this associative pun works very well for UK readers. Taken in the Etosha game reserve.

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Ethiopian tail feathers

Thursday 11th April 2024, 5.30pm (day 4,613)

Ethiopian airlines, 11/4/24

Finally, I’m off. This evening, this vehicle constituted flight ET729 from Manchester to Addis Ababa, via (for some reason) Geneva: the service that saved the day back in January last year when everything went tits up due to a few snowflakes, but that is in the past. I like the Ethiopian Airlines logo, which gives it a suitably avian feel. This will be my last photo taken in the UK until 20th May.

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The canal at Mytholmroyd

Saturday 6th April 2024, 2.20pm (day 4,608)

Canal at Mytholmroyd, 6/4/24

My limited experience of vehicles like the ‘Sweet Basil’ (its name is just visible on one side of the prow) is that they are nice, peaceful ways to get around the place — but they take their time. And living on one for a week might be just about doable: any longer and I’d be, like, where’s the bath? Nevertheless downsizing has an obvious appeal, at some gut level.

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Canal bridge

Saturday 30th March 2024, 4.10pm (day 4,601)

Canal bridge, 30/3/24

On the Easter weekend, it’s a good idea to get out of Hebden Bridge — even if it’s only to travel a few miles along the canal. The sun was shining, there were no people…. this is what we want.

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The Forth Road bridges

Friday 22nd March 2024, 2.50pm (day 4,593)

Forth Road bridges, 22/3/24

On the journey to Dundee, whether made by car or train, crossing the Firth of Forth is always a highlight. Today, a mostly sunny train journey was interrupted by occasional heavy showers and one of these kicked in just as we left Inverkeithing, but that didn’t matter, this shot will still do (particularly as to get any picture from the rail bridge itself involves timing it very well to avoid getting big, red chunks of steel in the way). Here, you in fact see both road bridges: the roadway in view is that of the first, 20th century version, since superseded by the 21st century bridge whose stanchion and (just) cables are the ones behind.

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Typical Hebden Bridge wing mirror

Wednesday 6th March 2024, 10.55am (day 4,577)

Wing mirror, 6/3/24

Sadly this is an all-too-common sight around the tight streets of Hebden Bridge, with the only place to park many cars being on the road. It’s not even just the traffic-facing side which gets whacked, I’ve seen (and, years ago when I still owned a car, experienced) enough examples of pedestrians taking them out too. Though admittedly it would take a pretty hefty person to cause this amount of damage.

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Waiting on platform 2

Monday 4th March 2024, 9.30am (day 4,575)

Waiting on platform 2, 4/3/24

A metaphor of some kind? Quite possibly. We are all waiting for something. But at least the sun was shining on Hebden Bridge station this morning.

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The new bridge and the old

Sunday 3rd March 2024, 12.55pm (day 4,574)

Halifax bridges, 3/3/24

This is Halifax, again. Where the Hebble Brook comes through town it was first bridged by the Victorians who liked putting decorations on their stanchions and, hence, the towers seen to the right. The 1960s road engineers who decided the original bridge was no longer manly enough didn’t bother when constructing the larger version. This is taken from inside a bus, and quite how I managed the transition effect down the left-hand side I do not know, but it works for me.

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Haworth station

Saturday 17th February 2024, 12 noon (day 4,559)

Haworth station, 17/2/24

Anywhere in the vicinity of the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway and I seem to have an irresistible urge to whack on the sepia filter. It’s appropriate, at least. A steam train would have been nice to add to the shot but one’s just departed, and anyway, it would have got in the way of the nice curve of the track.

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