Restorative

There are some magical places that just have the power to 'bring us back to ourselves'. I'm sure you know what I mean. Places that tip an uncertain world back into balance, that soothe and refresh our souls, that provide the respite we need to regroup and go back into the maelstrom of life with a little more strength and equanimity. I count myself lucky to have several such places within easy reach, all involving trees and water. One of the best is the Bolton Abbey Estate, where a walk through the woods and along the River Wharfe nearly always restores me. 

The woods are just beginning to acquire the patina of autumn. The bracken is turning russet, the trees have a slight hint of yellow and here and there a few bleached leaves shine out brightly like stars in a nightscape. A blue sky (a much brighter day than was forecast) dappled the river, which was rushing and swirling with strong currents, thanks to recent very heavy rain up in the Dales. 

The infamous Strid gorge was fuller than I've seen it this summer, the rushing water almost filling the chasm, reputed to be as deep as the height of two double decker buses. This is said to be one of the deadliest places in the world; it looks fairly innocent but several people have drowned by slipping in or trying to leap across. The river is funnelled through a narrow strip at great speed and with strong undercurrents. The rocks have underwater overhangs, dangerous outcrops and caves. Anything sucked in would easily get trapped. Taking photos there means staying well back from the edge! 

Once through the narrow bit, the river widens again. Here a trail of foam hints at the turmoil the water has just been though, enduring a churning as if in the drum of a great natural washing machine. 

Queen Bee

In Manchester, I found this rather wonderful portrait of Emmeline Pankhurst. Born in 1858 in Manchester to politically active parents, she organised the UK suffragette movement and helped women win the right to vote. Hers is quite a story. Politically and socially active and aware from a young age, she was eventually allowed to join the newly formed Independent Labour Party under Keir Hardie. In 1903, frustrated by the lack of progress in mainstream politics on women's rights, she founded the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) focused on direct action and protest. She and her daughters, along with other women involved in the movement, were often attacked and imprisoned. Thanks in large part to their efforts over many years, in 1918, women over 30 (with several restrictions) were granted the right to vote. The wall of the patriarchy was breached. 

As to the bees, the bee is the symbol of Manchester, adopted in 1842 to symbolise the way Manchester was born out of hard work and trade. (See HERE) They can be found on the city's coat of arms, on street lights, buildings and artworks all over the city. 

And Mancsy? An anonymous Manchester street artist who started to leave screen prints of his work, all with his trademark bee, around the city for people to find. (See HERE)

On a previous visit to Manchester, I photographed a bronze statue of Emmeline Pankhurst, shown proclaiming her views whilst standing on a chair. Sculpted by Hazel Reeves in 2018, it was the winner of a public vote to choose which woman should be immortalised and it was unveiled to mark the centenary of the first right to vote for (some) women. Apparently the only other statue of a woman, in Manchester, is of Queen Victoria. (Maybe that has changed now...) 

Salford Quays

Whilst in Manchester, we got the tram out to Salford Quays, which is an area of modern development started in the 1980s on the site of the old docks that served the Manchester Ship Canal in its heyday. Much of the brownfield site is now 'Media City UK', home to many media and creative organisations. The BBC moved much of its production from London around 2008 and since then ITV have also located some of its studios here. 

One of the landmark developments, The Lowry arts centre, (left of photo above, and below) opened in 2000 and has two theatres, studios, gallery space, cafés and restaurants. It's named, of course, after the Manchester artist L S Lowry and holds a collection of his work. A futuristic design of shiny metal cladding on the outside and purple and orange walls inside, it already seems a little dated and tired to me. 

On the opposite side of the dock is the Imperial War Museum North, another spectacular modern design opened in 2002. Built in an area that was heavily bombed during WWII, it is designed to be a metaphor for a world shattered by war, with its 'broken' structure. 

Elsewhere in the Quays there are large areas of both low-rise and high-rise housing, with more being built. It's convenient for anyone who works in Media City or the city of Manchester, but somehow a bit soul-less to me, with little trace of the old, apart from the docks themselves and the connecting bridges that have been left. 

Manchester morning

I don't think I've been to Manchester since before the Covid lockdown, so it was nice to revisit with a friend recently. Arriving at Manchester Victoria station, we wandered first into the area around the cathedral, known as the Medieval Quarter, and found this peaceful park with grass, trees, seating and a little rill of water running through. As in many of our cities, there's a lot of development and numerous high-rise buildings going up but this part of the city retains many of its older buildings. 

The cathedral, originally a parish church, is relatively modest in size. We did go inside but most of it was being used for conferences so the area we could see was very limited. 

Outside the cathedral is a recently constructed garden: 'The Glade of Light' memorial garden which honours the memory of the 22 people killed and those injured in the terrorist attack at Manchester Arena in 2017, after an Ariana Grande concert. Its peaceful setting is intended as a place for reflection and remembrance. A white marble halo, engraved with the names of those killed, encircles the planting. 

A swathe of the city centre beyond this was rebuilt after the devastation caused by the huge IRA bomb in 1996, which wiped out a third of the city centre's retail space and was the catalyst for a major redevelopment. Beyond this, older buildings are again preserved. The pink facade of this newly renovated space on St Ann's Square is eye-catching. The statue is of Richard Cobden (1804-1865) an MP, activist and pacifist, who championed free trade. 

Also in St Ann's Square, the fountain is in the shape of a cotton bud, a reference to the cotton trade on which much of Manchester's fortune was built. The pigeons liked it! 

The yellow chair

There's a story here, isn't there? I spotted this trio of chairs in the Sunday School room of an old chapel and was immediately attracted to it. I guess the paint job is more recent than the sturdy chairs themselves. That acid yellow doesn't have a whiff of Victoriana about it and yet it still looks as if it's from a bygone era. What do you think? 1970s? 1980s?  

Just for a lark, I googled 'the yellow chair' and found an interesting article about Van Gogh's chair paintings. (HERE) For Van Gogh, empty chairs represented the person who would sit in them so, in a sense, they are portraits. 

Let your imagination run wild.... 

Making a Stand

'Making a Stand' is a new, temporary artwork that has been installed in Leeds City Square as part of the Leeds City of Culture Festival 2023. Designed by Michael Pinksy and Studio Bark, it is a 'forest' of 127 seven metre high timber fins. Inspired by the origins of Leeds as a wooded area called Leodis, it is also a comment on the construction industry's use of carbon-intensive materials like concrete and steel, which could be replaced by more sustainable alternatives including timber. Wood-frame buildings were common in the past and are now only really associated with a few high-end residential buildings. 

'Making a Stand serves as a reminder of the climate crisis and that we have been able to live symbiotically with nature for centuries – this city is even named after the ancient forest upon which it is built. We can do this again, as long as we channel our astonishing technical ingenuity towards an ecologically focused future.'

Whilst the artwork is impressive, I'd far rather have the usual open-space so that you can see the surrounding buildings, which are a mix of new (concrete, steel and glass) skyscrapers and renovated older buildings (some dramatically redesigned with modern additions like the building below that houses Channel 4 TV studios). I do take the point that we need to be thinking much more in terms of what is sustainable and environmentally friendly and making faster progress in that direction. Leeds currently is an absolute mass (mess?) of building work, huge cranes everywhere. I wonder whether the new builds will have the longevity of some of the Victorian buildings. 

A little ray of sunshine

I seem to have noticed a lot of sunflowers this year. My neighbour opposite has grown two huge ones in pots in her backyard. Ironically, I don't think she can even see them from her kitchen window but I can from mine and they are a very cheerful sight. I spotted these two in the 'Veg on the Edge' community garden in the corner of the car park in Saltaire. Different varieties have varying colourings and sizes but all of them provide a little burst of sunshine, quite welcome after the dull summer we've had. 

Caffeine

Generally speaking I'm a tea girl - Yorkshire Tea, of course. I usually have just one coffee a day, mid-morning. Some days I really need it before I feel properly awake and functioning. On one such morning, I was amused to find the barista wearing this T-shirt. Anyway, I got my 'fix'!

Back along the river

The return leg of my walk from Starbotton back to Kettlewell was a lot easier, strolling beside the River Wharfe as it meanders gently along the valley. It was a glorious day, though rather warm for walking. Never mind, a refreshing ice cream awaits in Kettlewell village so we can just enjoy the scenery. 

Altogether I did nearly 17000 steps according to my iPhone, so a little over 7 miles, I think. Incidentally, when I got home I noticed an odd rash on both my legs. It wasn't swollen, painful or itchy, just blotchy. After some research it turned out to be 'exercise-induced vasculitis' (also known as 'Disney rash' or golfer's rash as people get it walking long distances round Disneyland and golf courses!) It's not harmful and seems to be a collision of strenuous exercise, hot weather and age stressing your small blood vessels. It is fading now. Hopefully I won't get it again. 

Kettlewell to Starbotton

Top Mere Road, the track uphill from Kettlewell, was a steady climb. Looking back there were good views south along Upper Wharfedale, though it looks hazy as the sun was directly into my eyes and lens. My geography teacher would have been ecstatic over the clearly U-shaped valley, gouged out by glaciers.

I've marked the walk in red. Where the map says 'shake holes', that is a feature of limestone landscapes like this. Shake holes are depressions in the ground formed by water washing the surface clay into the fissures in the underlying limestone, so that the ground level sags. 

I didn't go right to the top of Top Mere, instead branching off on another path to skirt the hill and then drop down into Starbotton along Starbotton Cam Road, another ancient track. Views were glorious. It was a warm, sunny day with little wind, almost too warm for walking. 

Partway down the track the hamlet of Starbotton comes into view. It has about 60 houses; many of them are now holiday lets. It also has a small pub, the Fox and Hounds - and that was open. Hooray! So I was able to have a rest and a cool drink in the little beer garden before returning to Kettlewell. Some of the houses in Starbotton look very attractive. I wondered why the one in my photo below has an external stair. I think in times past many rural buildings had more than one use, with part being for accommodation and part for storage or animals. 

Outside the pub - rather unexpectedly - was a bright, colourful tableau of characters from the children's programme 'The Magic Roundabout'. It was probably linked to the scarecrow festival that Kettlewell has each year as a way of attracting visitors. That took place a couple of weeks ago. 

Kettlewell

The start point for my walk was Kettlewell, quite a big settlement compared to some of our Dales villages. It is a place that attracts tourists and walkers so there are holiday lets and guesthouses scattered around. I'm not sure if the building below was holiday accommodation but it was attractive. I also couldn't tell whether it was several cottages or one house. It had several doors, and two rather wonderfully pruned holly trees. 

There was a date stone of 1681 above one of the doors, but I suspect this had perhaps been added from an older building, as the next door along said 1835 or something similar. It seems that in 1686 the village was inundated by a flood, when heavy rain cascaded into the river from the hills around. Several houses were destroyed and the villagers had to flee for their lives. So it's possible that the 1681 datestone originated from a flood-damaged property. 

My walk took me from the car park by the bridge, through the village and then up a track known as Top Mere Road, an ancient green lane used to move sheep around the surrounding hills. Sheep farming is still a source of income, with several farms in the area. The views back down to Kettlewell as the track climbs are rather lovely. 

A favourite spot

On the way out for a walk in Upper Wharfedale, I stopped for coffee at what is perhaps one of my favourite spots in the whole world: the trout farm at Kilnsey, which has a fishing lake, a nature reserve and a very nice coffee shop. The site adjoins the hamlet of Kilnsey, with the magnificent Kilnsey Crag as its backdrop. It is delightful. 

That train again

I was meeting friends at Leeds rail station and the timing just happened to coincide with The Flying Scotsman locomotive coming through, hauling the Waverley Excursion from York to Carlisle and return. These heritage Railway Touring Company journeys are scheduled all over the UK, all hauled by steam - though not always this grand old loco. People pay hundreds of pounds for tickets (between £165 and £335 on this tour) and you can have breakfast and dinner on the train too, in rather lovely old dining carriages. 

It may be difficult for non-Brits to understand but it's hard to overstate the affection for this locomotive in our national psyche. Now owned by the National Railway Museum, it celebrates its centenary this year. Built in Doncaster and designed by Nigel Gresley, it was the first locomotive of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). It made regular runs between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh Waverley. Its chequered history can be read HERE. It became famous as the first train to reach 100 mph on 30 November 1934.

I've seen it several times, most notably photographing it when it came through Saltaire in 2021 (see HERE). It's a beautiful machine and great to see it close up and stationary for a few minutes as it picked up passengers in Leeds. Then, with a toot of the whistle and a huge burst of steam at the front, it was off again. Wow. 

Bradford City Hall #4

Just above the civic entrance to Bradford City Hall are the Lord Mayor's rooms. This suite serves as a working office space and is also where the Lord Mayor formally receives and welcomes visitors from all over the world, on behalf of the Bradford district. The rooms are beautifully panelled and carved with proverbs and mottos. It is both elegant and very cosy. 

The entrance hall has a beautiful chandelier that looked like Venetian glass to me. 

I was also interested to see this attractive long-case grandfather clock (below), made by John Barraclough of Haworth (though it may not be functioning as it was not showing the correct time). John Barraclough (1773-1835) was an important and well-known clock maker, living and working on Haworth Main Street at the time of the Brontës. His workshop is now The Hawthorn restaurant. There is a John Barraclough clock in the Parsonage, which was made for Patrick Brontë. Branwell Brontë may have been acquainted with Barraclough through the Haworth Masonic Lodge and is thought to have painted his portrait. Charlotte Brontë used the name Moses Barraclough in ‘Shirley’. John Barraclough died in 1835 and is buried in St Michael and All Angels churchyard in Haworth.