Tag Archives: road

Monsoon moment, Todmorden

Tuesday 3rd June 2025, 4.35pm (day 5,031)

Todmorden monsoon, 3/6/25

April and most of May were very dry but the last few days, though not entirely wet (Saturday was a pleasant day, for instance), have generally exhibited the characteristics of the North European Monsoon which we are all in denial about but is a regular Weather Phenomenon round here in early June. Here, it is seen in action at Todmorden, on my way home from a stint in Manchester. Pictures like this don’t always work but I’ll give this one a go, as it is the road which is in focus, rather than the raindrops on the train window.

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Rain, is what it is

Tuesday 4th June 2024, 4.15pm (day 4,667)

Rain and road, 4/6/24

I still have one walk left to do in my Lake District project and today might have been a day to go — but no. Good weather in 2024 has been at a premium. And so, that particular milestone will have to wait another three weeks at least.

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Struggling up Shy Road

Thursday 9th May 2024, 2.10pm (day 4,641)

Truck on Shy Road, 9/5/24

With the only relatively easy road out of Jamestown temporarily closed due to being covered in stones after Wednesday’s storm, there is a need to find alternatives. You’d think that being used in a very challenging transportation environment would have imposed a kind of evolutionary process on the local vehicles, a sort of natural selection if you like. But if it has, this truck hasn’t benefited: that’s not dust it’s raising. And look at the bend that is about to come.

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The storm drains

Wednesday 8th May 2024, 9.50am (day 4,640)

Storm runoff, 8/5/24

Depending on how I count the days in transit, today could be reckoned the 50th day I have spent on St Helena across my three trips — and it was, certainly, the one with the worst weather. Jamestown, on average, gets 9-10mm of rain in the month of May, yet at least that amount fell today. It started overnight, and this morning there was already a dirty brown stream running down Main Street and debouching into the sea. It carried on, too, heavy showers every few minutes all day, really quite foul weather. And at points up in the hills, correspondents reckon there might have been some 100mm (4 inches) of rain through the day. Not normal…

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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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The Hitcher

Saturday 20th April 2024, 4.50pm (day 4,622)

Damaraland Hitcher, 20/4/24

This is a hell of a place to be waiting for a ride — then again there is no public transport this far out. I did feel sorry that our tour vehicle didn’t stop, but we didn’t carry on very far past this point so at best would have taken him another two miles nearer his destination. In any case, he might have been Rutger Hauer.

Going monochrome here, as is often the case, conceals the colour balance sins: this was taken through the dark green sun filter at the top of the windscreen.

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The road to Fanad Head

Friday 8th March 2024, 3.25pm (day 4,579)

Road to Fanad Head, 8/3/24

After a month at home — well, it seems like a long time to me — a long weekend away was mandated, and why not return to Donegal, which definitely entertained on our last visit here about 18 months ago. There are reasons for this. I never made it all the way to Fanad Head at the end of this road, but the views along the way were of ample quality.

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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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Birchcliffe Road

Friday 24th November 2023, 12.45pm (day 4,474)

Birchcliffe Road, 24/11/23

A bright day, but cold. This was a shot where, contrary to almost all other occasions, I actually wanted a car to come past. The wire annoys, but only a little.

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