gazza77

Well I got my interesting journey home. Set off from work in what I can only describe as rain, but lumps of ice instead of drops, which meant the roads were pretty slippery. By the time I'd got round a few of the country roads and into Oakworth, it was raining heavily, but still at 0c, so ice became a problem in the heavy traffic. Made it through that, only to get stopped on the way out of Oxenhope by people coming the other way to advise me "some cars were stuck ahead". Decided to not worry too much about that (I was following a tractor if I'd got stuck anyway) so set off up the hill. At the top was a bit chaotic, as it was sort of single track through the snow, which was up to 3+ feet deep in places, but managed to wind my way through people trying to squeeze past each other and made it home without incident.

It's been snowing here since about 10am, yet there is none on the road or paths and only a dusting settled on the grass. I suspect it will be worse higher up though, hence the buses stopped between Oxenhope & Hebden Bridge.

Buses now suspended over that route. Means there must be a fair bit of snow on the road, as they normally run for longer than you'd imagine.

I had heard it's going to be renamed the Waggon & Beef.

I'll be heading over Cock Hill at about 4.30, so should be interesting. There's usually a que by the Waggon & Horses when it gets snowy. Will see what it's like before I decide whether to go through the centre of Keighley or round the back routes of Sutton & Goose Eye, Oakworth and Haworth.

As it is in the Aire Valley. Might make the journey between the two a bit more interesting this evening.

Flickr?

Got home this evening, to see that loads of icicles had formed on my rickety old garage. Not the greatest shot as it was getting pretty dark just before , so I had to grab my camera as quick as I could and shoot without setting up the tripod. Not the greatest photo, but as it stands, completely unedited, I quite like how the light is reflecting off the water droplets within each piece of ice. DSC_1981 by 77gazza, on Flickr

Got home just in time tonight to stick the camera on the tripod right outside the front door and catch quite a nice sunset. Also managed to catch the fingerprints I didn't realise were on my filter, but the less said about that the better. I do like where I live on evenings like this. CSC_1976 by 77gazza, on Flickr

Nice shots. And thanks for the inspiration, I'd not thought of heading there as somewhere to work on my landscapes, and it's not too far from here.

Another good un. Are we going to be getting your holiday snaps on a one per day basis for the next 6 months now?

Nice to see a bit of sun today, it's meant there has been some nice colours in the sky throughout the day. CSC_1919 by 77gazza, on Flickr CSC_1923 by 77gazza, on Flickr

Nice shot. Always helps make a good photo when you have a good vantage point. Wish I'd managed to get some better ones of Cape Town when I was at the top of Table Mountain a couple of years ago.

Not just me wondering then.

A couple of this morning's efforts. _CSC1700 by 77gazza, on Flickr _CSC1695 by 77gazza, on Flickr

And how many times will that have happened?

I dragged myself out of bed at 6am this morning (same time as in the week to be fair!) so that I could head down into town and get a few shots before it got light and too many people were about. There's a couple here, and about another 12 on flickr if anyone wants to browse through the rest and give a bit of feedback. _CSC1544 by 77gazza, on Flickr _CSC1553 by 77gazza, on Flickr

I've seen em stuck a few times round here, steep hills and narrow roads isn't really condusive to vehicles that size. Tractors are often used up on the hillside roads and tracks, but this wasn't that far out of the town centre. I'm sure he'd have got it shifted fairly quickly, but speaking to the driver, I don't think he was being helped by the fact he was loosing compression on the mechanism to operate the plough. It has melted fairly quickly today, but it's still well over a foot deep in places. I can foresee issues later on if it does get really wet and consequently melts quickly, as the ground has never dried out from the summer flooding, so it will all head down the valley pretty quickly.

I went down into Hebden Bridge early this morning to take some photos. We'd had about 4 inches up in the village, but it was fairly clear on the roads down in the valley bottom. The only thing that caused me any issues was having to find an alternate route home because a gritter was stuck halfway up the hill on a bit of road where you can't get past.

it was just starting as I set off home. Interestingly, as I headed over higher ground, the roads were in places covered with snow, even though it hadn't been snowing; it was simply from the wind blowing it from where it's been sat for days on the roadside.

Been looking through a few old ones today whilst doing a bit of electronic filing. This is one for the bikers out there, taken at the TT in 2005 as I watched from the end of Sulby straight. Richard Britten, sadly no longer with us. Richard Britten by 77gazza, on Flickr Hopefully I'll one day be back, with better technique and obviously better equipment than I had back in the day.

Interesting commute for me this morning. My first "will I or won't I" moment was to get off our lane, where there was a drift that was probably a good couple of feet deep. Managed to get through that without any problem. Next was the approx 1 in 5 hill I had to climb to get into the village, which had a covering of about 3 inches or so. Once clear of that, over Cock Hill between Peckett Well & Oxenhope, which was particularly slippery in place, with a decent covering of snow and dense fog not helping. Oxenhope to Steeton was pretty clear. I have to admit, the standard of driving in general didn't seem to bad today. I wasn't tailgated down any snow covered hills, I didn't see any cars that were still covered in snow beyong a pinhole for the driver to peer through and only one car I passed hadn't cleared their headlights of snow, given it was still dark.

Seeing that everything has been white and grey all weekend, I thought I'd try experimenting with B&W. Thoughts? Hebden Water by 77gazza, on Flickr Aire & Calder Navigation Canal by 77gazza, on Flickr River Calder by 77gazza, on Flickr

I've been quite happy with my 2nd car, (Nissan X-Trail with winter tyres on) for the last couple of winters. You just need to remember that gravity has a bigger effect on a heavier car when going downhill, especially in slippery conditions.

That's not a bad idea. Or alternatively, the monthly winners of the photo comp?