Grassington

Grassington is approached by a sturdy road bridge over the River Wharfe, and the village, slightly higher up the hillside, clusters around a cobbled square, with a network of streets and alleyways branching out. It's a tourist honeypot even in winter and (although there's a massive car park some distance away) the centre is plagued by cars, both parked and trying to navigate their way through. It would be very pretty if it weren't for all the people! I should hate to live there. It has been made even more famous because the TV series 'All Creatures Great and Small' about the Yorkshire vet has been filmed there. 

There are plenty of cafés, so it met my need for a leisurely lunch and a stroll but I find it a frustrating place to photograph (and I'm not very motivated photographically right now, anyway).  Sometimes 'detail' shots work better. I was much taken with this little twisted-stemmed bush outside a house - but imagine having the road so close to your door and windows! At least we have pavements in Saltaire. 

Linton Falls

After all the rain we'd had, I wanted to see Linton Falls near Grassington. When I went last summer, the Wharfe was merely a trickle but after rain it's a gushing torrent - noisy and exhilarating. 

The lower falls (above), where the footbridge crosses, tumble over natural shelves in the rock, below a weir. There used to be a mill there, and the bridge made it easy for the mill workers to walk down from the village to work. The upper falls cascade over another weir, and there's a hydro-electric plant there.  

Nature (and fitness!) notes

It's a tad unnerving how a few weeks of inactivity, having been unwell, has impacted my strength and fitness. Muscles seem to atrophy at an alarming rate! I'm now determined to build back to where I was but it is easy at first to overdo things. 

Take yesterday for example...  It was a lovely sunny start to the day so I decided I'd go out for a walk, which I hadn't really planned. (Though by the time I'd had breakfast and changed my clothes for something more suited to mud (!) the sun had more or less disappeared.) I opted to go across to the little mill dam at the bottom of Shipley Glen. It's a round trip of roughly three miles, so I don't think of it as 'far'... but I was cream-crackered by the time I got home! I was puzzled, since I thought I'd walked much further a few days previously without any problem. When I checked my phone health tracker I found I'd walked almost as far in about half the time, so maybe it was the pace that did me in. It just shows how one's perceptions aren't always accurate. I'd have sworn that the earlier walk was a lot further but, on checking the distance, it was only half a mile more. It just took me a lot longer, with stops to take photos and a sit down whilst I had a packed lunch. Luckily, I wasn't planning on doing anything else energetic when I got home so I was able to rest. I'll be fine. I just need some patience. 

The mill dam walk wasn't especially scenic. We're at that time of year where most places look a bit scrappy, mucky, muddy and dull. Some over-excited dogs running around near the dam ruined any chance I might have had of seeing the kingfisher that is sometimes there. There were a few mallards on the pond, looking beautiful in their breeding plumage. 

On the canal there was a swan, one of last year's young by the look of its mottled feathers.  I reassured it that it wasn't just an ugly duckling. I don't know if it understood me. 

Up the track by Trench Meadows nature reserve, a length of holly hedge has been newly 'laid'. Hedgelaying is a historic method of caring for our old hedgerows. You cut through the hedge stems almost completely, then lay them at an angle to the ground. Laying the branches (‘pleaches’) down like this invigorates growth where they’ve been cut, so gaps in the hedge fill up and the hedge looks younger and fresher. Some of the cuts looked fairly drastic, so I will have to check in a few months and see how and if it is regenerating. 

 

Love Brownies

What with the weather and my unusually fragile state of health since Christmas (though I'm much better this week), I haven't been getting out as much as usual, and there have been more 'drives' and coffee stops than walks. A drive, however, is most pleasant on a sunny, crisp winter day up in Wharfedale. We turned off the main road to visit a coffee shop that my friend knew of. It's well tucked away in a hamlet called Howgill, between Barden and Appletreewick and was a delightful surprise. It has scenic views, lovely on such a beautiful day. 

'Love Brownies' is fundamentally a small bakery, making award-winning chocolate Brownies (you guessed!) here at Howgill, which they send out mail order and supply to shops. I understood that the company had recently gone into liquidation, as a result of rising costs and the downturn caused by the Covid pandemic. I suspect too that they had been expanding at a faster pace than was sustainable, opening this new larger bakery in 2019 and a number of cafés/shops in high end locations. I'm not sure whether they have been restructured or not, but they seem still to be continuing with their bakery at Howgill and a few outlets. Some of the shops are, I think, franchises. 

The brand has a modern vibe and sells associated merchandise, as well as the eponymous Brownies. The cakes are gluten-free so I can eat them - and they are delicious - but this time I was self-disciplined and just had tea, served in a cheerful yellow tea pot with a stylish cup and saucer. 

It was a cold day and the barn is 'airy', let's say, so we were happy to bag the table right next to the wood-burner. Cosy. They thoughtfully provide rugs and cushions for comfort too. They have tables outside and a large-ish group of hardy walkers were enjoying a break there. Hopefully the company can continue, even in a slimmed-down form, as they seem to have 'hit a spot' and to be providing something quite desirable. Let's hope their poster speaks the truth: 'Be Reyt' - a good Yorkshire phrase.  ('It'll be alright.')

Van Gogh Alive (2)

Here are a few images from the 'Van Gogh Alive' immersive exhibition (see also yesterday). Stills don't really do it justice as the pictures were constantly moving and changing, so I kept missing the picture I actually wanted! Sometimes there were different images on each screen, sometimes all the same, and they changed at different intervals. It was very cleverly done. Such vivid colours too, with a swelling classical music soundtrack and even evocative scents wafting in the air. It was quite something, just standing/sitting trying to take it all in. It was also illustrated by quotes from Van Gogh's writings, a few of which I have printed here. 

'I am seeking, I am striving. I am in it with all my heart.'

'When I have a terrible need of - shall I say the word... religion, then I go out and paint the stars.'

'I can't change the fact that my paintings don't sell. But the time will come when people 

will recognise that they are worth more than the value of the paints used in the picture.' 

'I dream my painting and I paint my dream.'

'I would rather die of passion than of boredom.'

'Close friends are truly life's treasures. Sometimes they know us better than we know ourselves. 

With gentle honesty, they are there to guide and support us, to share our laughter and our tears. 

Their presence reminds us that we are never really alone.'

  'I put my heart and soul into my work and I have lost my mind in the process.'

Van Gogh Alive (1)

I'd seen the 'Van Gogh Alive' exhibition in Bradford advertised for a while and was unsure whether to go, as it was quite expensive. At almost the last possible moment, and in view of the cold weather making outdoor pursuits less attractive and the fact that tickets were being discounted, I took the plunge. I'm glad I did as it was quite an extraordinary experience.  

The exhibition was staged in what is now the Regency Hall. It was built as St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, in 1876, and used to have congregations for Sunday Mass of around 1200 people. It was eventually closed around 2006 due to declining attendance, I guess not helped by the fact that the six-lane Shipley-Airedale trunk road was built right outside its front door. It lay unused for several years and in 2017 was bought and refurbished as an events and banqueting facility, often used for big Asian weddings. 

Most people are, I think, familiar with the Dutch-born Vincent Van Gogh's story. He had a somewhat restless early life, working for an art dealer and then training as a missionary, before discovering in 1880 his true passion for art. He became what we now recognise as one of the greatest Post-Impressionist artists. Although he produced over 2000 paintings between 1880 and 1890, living in Paris and then Arles in France, he only sold one painting during his lifetime. Increasingly tortured and volatile, he entered an asylum but continued to experience bouts of mental disturbance, until eventually he shot himself and died, aged just 37. 

It was only after his death, in the early 20th century, that the significance and legacy of his work (chiefly his output of the final three years of his life) began to be recognised, and (to some extent romanticised by his life story as an isolated and tortured soul) he has become one of the most recognised artists in the world, with a few key pieces: Sunflowers, Irises, Starry Night - being especially widely known. 

The 'Van Gogh Alive' exhibition was a multi-media 'immersive' experience, with a chronological sequencing of paintings and photos - some still, some animated - from different periods of his life, projected onto huge screens all around the hall. They were constantly changing, accompanied by quotes of his thoughts, with a soundtrack of classical music and even with scents pumped into the room evocative of the herbs and flowers of Southern France.  It was impressive and quite moving at times. Part of the delight also was watching children interacting with large mats on the floor, onto which images were projected. They danced and jumped and one tiny crawling tot was visibly delighted at the colours and shapes swirling all around her. Very cute to watch. 

On the way out there was a room full of mirrors and sunflowers, so that you felt as though you were in an endless field of yellow joy. And of course, a shop where you could buy anything from prints of Van Gogh's pictures to jigsaws, fridge magnets, scarves and even face masks printed with sunflowers, starry skies or irises, and not forgetting the rubber ducks!  

All quite a memorable experience! I'll show some photos from the exhibition itself tomorrow.

Fog on the Aire

Here are a few more photos from the freezing, foggy weather we had recently. 'Fog on the Tyne' (1971, Lindisfarne) was a hit song in my youth but this was 'fog on the Aire'. 

The river beyond Saltaire was calm and the hint of gold from the willow trees was picked up in the water. I didn't walk right down to the aqueduct - it was too cold for me to want to stay out long. 

There were not many people in the park. Even Hirst Weir seemed more muted than it sometimes is. It's funny how fog literally has a blanketing effect, not only visually but sound too. 

Freezing fog

This winter is throwing all sorts of weather at us - freezing fog persisted all day. I wrapped up well and went for a walk anyway, and it was interesting to see how unfamiliar things look in those conditions. The canal towpath walk had an air of mystery, as though one might enter through a portal and find oneself in some other place.   

Rain stopped play

A scene fairly typical of the past few weeks: chilly, damp and with heavy cloud and misty rain. There were no children in Hirst Wood playground and no adults using the fitness equipment. All a bit of a wash-out! The blue telephone box is a little free library where you can borrow books and return them for nothing.

Rain-drenched Kilnsey

A friend and I set off recently, planning to walk along the river in Grassington and then have lunch somewhere... but as we drove up through Wharfedale the rain came down hard. We ended up driving to Kilnsey Trout Farm - a beautiful spot even on such a dreadful day - and had a lengthy coffee stop in the café there. Kilnsey Crag, at the far side of the fishing lakes, is more visible through the trees in winter. The little beck that flows down to the Wharfe was in full spate. 

It was so full that it was flowing over the old clapper bridge, though the more modern wooden bridge at the entrance to the farm park is slightly higher and was just about clear of the water. The fields around the Wharfe were boggy but not completely flooded; a lot of the water has moved further downstream to Ilkley and beyond. As we drove up, the Aire valley flood plain around Silsden and Skipton was saturated. It looks very different - and not unattractive - when fields become lakes and the flood plain does its job of soaking up the excess. There's really nowhere to stop along the trunk road, or I might have taken some photos there. 

It wasn't really the day out we'd planned. I feel I may be turning into my mother, going 'out for a drive' rather than a walk! We even ended up at the Keelham Farm Shop outside Skipton, to complete the 'retired/elderly people' trope! But I am retired and also still trying to return to my usual self after Covid, so there's no point in being sad about it. I don't think I'm really in much danger of becoming 'elderly' yet!

Health and beauty

After sitting at my computer for quite a long time yesterday, I decided I had better go out for a short walk for health reasons. Sitting is so bad for you! I have to admit I didn't really feel like going out but I forced myself. I'm still full of 'cold' or whatever the aftermath of Covid actually is, with a paradoxical nose that manages to be at the same time bunged up and also streaming! (I was wondering if I could call it 'Schrödinger's Nose'... though I'm definitely not dead yet.) 

It must have been getting on for 4 pm, and round here at this time of year that means the sun is going down fast. It was chilly but dry and, as I walked down towards the park, I could see an attractive pink tinge in the sky. 

I enjoyed watching the colour deepen and change and observing what that did to the scenery. Being in the valley bottom and surrounded by hills the sun actually disappears from view well before its advertised 'sunset' time and often there is little colour. It just depends on the clouds. I was lucky and my 'health' walk served up a good dose of 'beauty' too. 

The sky looked quite a lot different as I returned over the footbridge, compared to when I set out. There was a huge - and very noisy - gaggle of geese that flew in to roost too. They seem to spend their days in the surrounding fields and then return to the water at night. 

Streetlights were coming on as I walked past the church up Victoria Road, heading home for a nice mug of tea. I can't go out and then return without making myself a drink. It's a ritual. Am I the only one that does that? 

Don't feed the horses

A few horses live in the fields bounded by Saltaire's allotments, the canal, the railway and the nature reserve. They have shelters and a wide area to roam in so I rarely see them up near the footpath. As I went past one day, two of them were standing there in the pouring rain, looking wet and forlorn. Despite the sign, perhaps they were hoping for a titbit of some sort, or maybe just a friendly pat on the nose. The field is double-gated; there is another strong barrier where I was standing so there is no chance of getting close to them. It seems their owners take security pretty seriously, with good reason. A campaign aims to educate the public on the dangers of feeding horses without their owners' permission, which can unwittingly result in illness or be fatal to the animals. 

Hirst Wood Nature Reserve

From its beginnings in 2015, in a boggy field adjacent to Hirst Lock on the canal (see HERE), I think it's fair to say the Hirst Wood Nature Reserve has become a resounding success. It was envisaged as being 'a haven for wildlife, a delight for visitors and an outdoor classroom for youngsters.'  I think it has probably met all three criteria as it has matured. 

It obviously wasn't looking at its best when I popped in the other day, as everything is dank and decaying, but it has been well planted and soon there will be spring bulbs emerging and blossom on some of the trees. 

Even as I strolled around I saw several birds: various tits, blackbirds, a nuthatch and a woodpecker - fairly common ones, granted, but pleasing to see nevertheless. I might have seen more had they not been scared away by a rather exuberant toddler haring around! He was enjoying the space and the birds would come back when the family had gone. There is a well-stocked feeding station, and - I imagine - few predators apart from the odd local cat hanging out there.  

I think the site suffers a certain amount of vandalism, sadly, but the volunteers are tireless in their dedication to keeping it clean and safe. Since I last called in, there have been many more areas landscaped and planted, with this rather lovely willow tunnel, more seating and several interpretation boards. It really is lovely.