Earlier posts

Earlier posts
This blog is a continuation of an older one. To explore previous posts please click the photo above.

Monday, 18 August 2025

A linear walk #5


Saltaire to Bingley Five-Rise Locks

Above the Three-Rise Locks, after rounding a bend in the canal, you get a first glimpse of the engineering marvel that is Bingley's Five-Rise Locks - the steepest staircase locks on the longest canal in the country, built in 1774 and rightfully considered one of the wonders of our waterways. They lift the canal about 60 feet (16 m). It's very quiet at the moment owing to the water shortages leading to restricted opening times for the passage of boats. When working, it takes a boat about 45 minutes to travel up the staircase, assisted by lock-keepers because inevitably it's rather a complicated exercise! 


At the top, there's a small canal basin to allow boats room to manoeuvre and wait for passage. Beyond that there are always a lot of boats moored so it's a colourful spot to visit. Crossing the swing bridge, I called at the Locks Café for refreshment and a welcome rest. It's only a walking distance of about three miles from home but it always feels much further, no doubt because I stop so often to take photos! 




I then walked on just a little further to Hainsworth's Boatyard, where there's a track down to the main road. I decided I'd get a bus back, as I'd have been very weary walking the whole way back. As you can gather from my photos, it was quite a dull day. It was okay for mono photography but not so wonderful for colour. 


Saltaire to the Five-Rise is an interesting walk with varied scenery and lots to see. I achieved my objective of taking some decent black and white photos for our club project, so it was a good exercise all round! 

 

Sunday, 17 August 2025

A linear walk #4


Saltaire to Bingley Five-Rise Locks

Beyond Park Road, a short and rather boring stretch of canal between two high walls leads to the Three-Rise Locks, a staircase that lifts the canal about 29 feet. You can see from my photo that the approach has a sharper turn than it would have had when built in 1774, because the canal below the locks was moved over to the right (north east) from its original position to make room for the new road. On the left of the photo you can see a pedestrian bridge over the new road. 

Below, looking back from near the top of the lowest lock, you get a reasonable view of both the canal and the road, with Park Road bridge in the distance. 



Alongside the locks, a wall has been painted with a mural depicting various local places of interest along the canal. (It was an attempt to deter the frequent graffiti sprayed on the blank wall - and it appears to have worked.) 


Just above the locks, a swing bridge provides an access point to the canal towpath for pedestrians and cyclists. There's another mill conversion here, with flats and townhouses. 


Looking back towards Bingley town centre, the tower you can see in the middle (below), with a red structure at the top, was until 1972 Bingley's fire station, now a bar. 

Saturday, 16 August 2025

A linear walk #3


Saltaire to Bingley Five-Rise Locks

The new road bridge over the canal here is quite a dominant feature, a little tunnel that separates the semi-rural outskirts of Bingley from the denser urban centre. Immediately beyond is the fairly recent mill conversion of the former Britannia Mills, a large scale wool worsted factory, built in the late 1800s, one of several mills and industrial premises that existed alongside the canal in Bingley in the 19th and 20th centuries. I don't know when it ceased production but it lay empty and some of the buildings were demolished, until it was revived as apartments in the old three storey shed with a couple of new apartment blocks added on the site too. 

The pattern of old industrial buildings interspersed with newer residential builds continues along the canal. 


Leading up from the canal, some of the rows of Victorian terraced housing still stand, gradually giving way to newer and less dense residential areas as you progress up the steep valley side. 

There's a family of swans living in this area (not the same ones that hang around in Saltaire). 


Some of the old mill chimneys have been left standing, proud monuments to a different era. 


Around the Park Road bridge, the vegetation in the canal is particularly dense, with a large patch of reeds encroaching on the navigation. They look quite pretty but will soon make the canal impassable if they're left to proliferate. This is the section of canal that was lifted and moved several yards. Just over that wall on the left, the bypass speeds through and right beside that is the railway, those steps leading down from Park Road to the station platform. There really wasn't a lot of room to slot a dual carriageway through, so hats off to the planners and engineers that squeezed it all in! 



The vibrant mural that now decorates a gable end just beside the Park Road bridge has only recently been painted. It depicts moorhens, many of which frequent the canal. It is by Misc.Etc, sponsored by Bradford City of Culture 2025. 

Friday, 15 August 2025

A linear walk #2


Saltaire to Bingley Five-Rise Locks

Just beyond the changeline bridge (see yesterday) is Dowley Gap Locks, a two-rise lock lifting the canal by about 5.6m (18'4"). 


A short way beyond the locks is Scourer Bridge that carries Primrose Lane over the canal. These original canal bridges, dating to the 1770s, have a very narrow roadway suitable for a horse and cart, not modern vehicles. Thankfully, because it's on a slope, it's relatively easy to see what's at the other side of this one when you're driving! My photo is looking back through the bridge towards the locks. 


The Fisherman's Pub sits alongside the canal here, a good pitstop for hikers, cyclists and locals looking for a drink and a meal. It's a popular spot for boaters to moor too. The canal is a bit wider here - what's called a 'winding hole' where boats can turn round. The pub's premises are actually separated from the canal by an old track that leads to some houses (and another old mill, now flats) but there are pub tables on a bit of grass alongside the towpath so it's a nice place to sit and rest. 


As the canal wends its way towards Bingley, you pass under Maud's Bridge, a bridge that is actually an aqueduct, carrying water pipes that bring water from reservoirs up in Nidderdale to Bradford's water treatment works at Chellow Heights. (Yes, the same pipe system that crosses the River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey). 


Shortly after that, you arrive on the outskirts of Bingley. In 2003, a new road, the Bingley Bypass, was constructed through the valley, to avoid all the traffic having to pass along the main street through the town centre, which up to then was a real bottleneck. Unlike many bypasses, it doesn't skirt the town, but goes through the middle at a lower level, squeezed between the railway and the canal. To build it they had to shift the canal over in some parts, as well as build new bridges. It was a huge engineering challenge, but gradually these things 'bed in' and you forget what it all looked like before. 

My photo below shows one of the slip roads that runs down from the town centre and allows traffic to join the bypass. The new bridge carries Ferncliffe Road over the canal. 


 

Thursday, 14 August 2025

A linear walk #1


Saltaire to Bingley Five-Rise Locks

You'll perhaps remember me mentioning a project I'm involved in with my camera club, to document the entire length of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, in black and white photos. As part of my 'patch', I've been intending to do the linear walk from Saltaire to the Bingley Five-Rise Locks for a while, and finally managed it. Some of these photos have converted quite nicely into mono for the project but I'm choosing the colour versions for my blog. 

The first leg is a familiar one, from Hirst Lock to Dowley Gap, and I've shown lots of photos of this stretch before on my blog. The walk through Hirst Woods (above) is the greenest part of the whole route, the reflections in the canal doubling the effect so it's like a green tunnel. It's a popular bit of the towpath but always feels quite peaceful. 

Then you come to the aqueduct that carries the canal over the River Aire. The towpath here has been resurfaced in concrete at some point in its 250 year history, so it's not very attractive as you walk over it. 


At the end of the aqueduct lies Dowley Gap Mill, a former worsted mill and now a residential complex. I wrote more about this a few weeks ago HERE . 


The old mill sits beside the changeline bridge, where the towpath moves from one side of the canal to the other and horses towing barges could pass over.


Looking back from the bridge to the mill complex is, I think, quite an attractive view. (This is the photo I should have had for my previous post about the mill, haha! But not a lot has changed really. ) 

Wednesday, 13 August 2025

Playing with light and shadow


Whilst I was exploring The Mercer Gallery in Harrogate, I became fascinated by the shadows cast through the blinds, which had a pattern on them that echoed the chandeliers in the main room. I've been playing with them in my editing software. I've made several variations on the theme and I think I like this one the best. It's a composite of a few layers.

Tuesday, 12 August 2025

God rays


We didn't get a proper sunset last night as there was too much cloud, but I loved the 'god rays' that appeared for about a quarter of an hour around 8.30 pm. Properly called crespuscular rays, they are formed when sunlight is scattered by particles in the atmosphere.

Google tells me they are most noticeable when the sun is low on the horizon, such as during sunrise or sunset, because the light travels through a greater amount of atmosphere, increasing the scattering effect. While crepuscular rays appear to converge at a point, they are actually parallel, like railway lines, according to the laws of perspective. The convergence is an optical illusion caused by the way our eyes perceive parallel lines receding into the distance. So, now we know!

I sat on my balcony with a mug of rooibos tea and just enjoyed the light show. It was so peaceful; a few birds flying overhead, still trying to decide on their roost for the night; the gentle murmur of someone's TV in another flat, not intrusive but strangely comforting. 

Monday, 11 August 2025

H.A.P.P.Y


I went to Harrogate recently to do some shopping and meet a friend. Annoyingly, the car park I usually use has suddenly changed its charging system, so that now you have to pay on arrival rather than on departure, which means estimating how much time you'll need. (I wondered why what is normally a packed multi-storey was virtually empty.) Anyway, I erred on the safe side when paying and had time to spare, which gave me long enough to pop in to Harrogate's civic art gallery, The Mercer Gallery.  

The current exhibition is H.A.P.P.Y by Liz West, created as a counterbalance to the Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D) which troubles her - and many others - in the darker winter months. She 'experiments with colour and light to create environments that inspire joy and curiosity'. She has filled the main gallery space with a vibrant installation of coloured acrylic circles that shimmered in the light from the windows and chandeliers. It was fun, though I felt I'd have liked a winding path through the middle, to better immerse myself in it, rather than tiptoeing around the edges. 


Elsewhere there were various colourful paintings in ink, felt marker pen and paint. Many of these were maquettes (smaller mock-ups of planned larger works). I thought them reminiscent of Bridget Riley's Op-Art work from the mid to late 20th century, though much less precise. West's work is primarily about colour, whereas Riley was exploring the dynamic potentialities of optical phenomena.



As well as paper-based creations, there were smaller experiments with acrylic and acetate panels and sheets, which allow the light to pass through like stained glass. Have a look at her website to see the larger site installations based on these. They're rather wonderful - HERE.

I enjoyed all these pieces. They made me want to get out my paints; I love colour, as you know - so, yes, they left me feeling happy! 


Sunday, 10 August 2025

The new Darley Street Market


As part of the reimagining and rezoning of Bradford's city centre, the council have closed the large, covered markets and brought them all together in a new, purpose-built building lower down in the town, on a site that used to hold a Marks and Spencer store. It opened a couple of weeks ago so I went down to have a look. It's not as big as I was expecting, to be honest, but it's clearly an improvement on the sprawling old markets, though what happened to the majority of previous traders I have no idea. 


They have rescued some of the old market gates, which date back to Victorian times. Inside, it spreads over three floors, connected by escalators and stairs. 


The middle floor has fresh food: fruit and veg, fresh fish, meat, bakery products and a host of delicatessen style outlets. Being such a multi-cultural city, as you'd expect there's a wide variety of food, some of which I wouldn't know what to do with!


The top floor is entirely devoted to a food court, with many different outlets selling food and drink with a variety of ethnic cuisines. 


The lower floor is a conventional market selling clothes, jewellery and household goods, the kind of place you can buy anything from a bucket to a shopping trolley, baby items, a sun hat, a bedsheet or a lipstick. Outside at street level there's a large area available for events and pop-up markets.

It was all buzzing, with a lot of folks about, perhaps because it is a novelty and people were, like me, just having a look. I don't tend to buy much stuff from markets. It seems like a labour-intensive kind of shopping trip, having to select from a number of stalls and pay a number of times, compared to a supermarket where you just throw everything in a trolley and pay once. I don't think it's any cheaper either, though to be fair everything is loose so you can buy just a couple of carrots rather than a whole bag, which appeals to some. I would, however, use the fish stall, which had a wider variety of fish than you'd get elsewhere, all on ice and brought in fresh from the docks, unlike the plastic wrapped supermarket offerings.

I have to say I was favourably impressed, and I do like what the planners are attempting in redeveloping the city centre. 

Saturday, 9 August 2025

Making music


My picture above seemed at the same time happy and sad, a typical Bradford city centre scene. The young man was trying his best to brighten things (and make a bit of cash I guess) with some music. Some of the guys cheering him on looked like the kind you often see staggering around with cans or bottles in their hand, arguing among themselves or wandering around aimlessly - but they seemed to be enjoying the music. 

Just on the corner here, there's a unit that shows some of the developers' vision for this area, what used to be the heart of the shopping centre in Bradford. The city council are managing a wide-scale reorientation of the city centre. Many of the shops have relocated to the Broadway Shopping Centre, lower down the town. The markets, higher up, have been closed and relocated to a new building on Darley Street. The Council has been undertaking a consultation on their plans for a 'City Village': a 'vibrant, inclusive neighbourhood in the heart of Bradford' which will be a key part of Bradford's wider regeneration story, with plans for new homes, jobs, retail spaces and public realm improvements. Whether I shall ever see this in my lifetime, who knows? And whether it will be any more successful than attempts to similarly revamp the city's historic Little Germany area... who knows? At least they are trying. 



Friday, 8 August 2025

Double trouble


The view of Salts Mill on a calm day is doubled in the reflections in the canal and that's no trouble; I think it is an iconic and unique scene. 

But... Trouble #1: The very dry spring and summer, leading to water shortages, has resulted in lock closures and restrictions on boat movements along the canal. This, in turn, is leading to the rapid growth of water plants along the navigation, as you can see here. Though it looks quite pretty, by the time the canal is opened again, I think it will be impassable! 

Trouble #2: This little family of swans, who managed to raise four cygnets this year, have had a tragic bereavement. About a month ago, one of the adult pair was found injured on the railway line, having been hit by a train. Although concerned people managed to get it into the care of the local swan rescue charity, sadly it couldn't be saved and died from its injuries. Swans bond for life, so the bereaved partner must still be wondering what happened to his or her soulmate. Nevertheless, s/he continues to keep the growing cygnets close and safe. 

Thursday, 7 August 2025

Island of....


What's going on in Centenary Square, outside Bradford's City Hall?  
Lots of Bradford 2025 volunteers, with a circle made of rope...


Oh gosh! Foam exploding from tubes...


Spreading out to fill the circle...


Children began to play in the edges, coming out covered in bubbles and colour...


The Island of Foam got bigger and bigger...


When the wind blew, the bubbles went everywhere. 

And then... they lifted up the barrier and everyone rushed in! It was a lot of fun! 


It was a creative art concept by Stephanie Luening, part of the Bradford City of Culture 2025. The foam is 94% water, 5% food colouring and 1% soap, pretty harmless unless it went right in your eye (and there were cleaning stations and first aid staff on hand). 

I wasn't brave enough to get close and get covered in colour, as it was strongly staining. I stood on a wall but then it was hard to get pictures of the whole thing. I needed to be higher; I needed a drone! There were a few flying overhead. 

For better pictures (taken by a press photographer from a large stepladder!) see HERE.