Favourite Place

How Stean Gorge in Nidderdale. We used to camp just below here at Studfold Farm when we were kids back in the 1970's. Back then you got a field, a water tap and a long walk down to the static caravan park to use the toilet or have a shower. I remember the water in the sinks being brown and not suitable to drink! My sister and I would spend hours down in the beck playing in the water and sneaking into the gorge proper to explore the caves. Back then it was more or less an honesty box for admission and nobody checked a couple of kids running around.

I returned to camp here again in 1999 with my wife, her cousin and offspring and my parents and nephew. Nothing much had changed except the gorge experience was more commercial with a cafe, hard hats and torches.

We came back last year. Well, my sister and I came back last year dragging her husband and my girlfriend with us. I got eaten by midges but we had the first proper test of our 21 year old camper van and loved it. Despite the midges Chris and I had a weekend away at the end of June and I got eaten alive again! We didn't bother with the gorge as it now costs a packet for admission and didn't think the poor old dog could cope with the caves and ledges!

Iron Maiden

I went to see Iron Maiden play at Twickenham over the weekend. Not the best show I've seen them do (that would be a toss up between St Georges Hall in Bradford way back in 1986 or the headline show at the Monster's of Rock at Castle Donnington in 1992) but still brilliant. Lots of songs I've not heard them play live before and a great stage set. Shame Twickenham is the windiest place in the world and the locals make them finish by 10:30pm! The sound sucked at times too although I think some of that was the delays on the speaker stacks around the stadium. The audience were a mix of people my age and yoofs who were not born when most of the material they played came out. Mind you, Bruce did make the mistake of saying 'most of you were nott born when we started this band.' He was born all right but he didn't start as vocalist for the band. :-)

Rugby League

I went to my third Rugby Match on Sunday at Headingly in Leeds to watch a cup match. It was a lovely day, the atmosphere was good and friendly but I was in a dilemma. Can I put aside 40 years of prejudice against Leeds and support them against the team I appear to be supporting by proxy?

It's like this. My girlfriend, Christine, and most of her family are huge rugby fans and season ticket holders. Unfortunately they all suffer from the same birth defect, they were born in Wigan in Greater Manchestershire (Or Lancashire depending on which side of Christine's village you're on). Now as you're aware if you're from The Gods Own County, Lancashire and Manchestershire are on the wrong side of the Pennines. Still, when it comes to a Bradfordian supporting a Leeds team the wrong side of the Pennines looks more tempting. I decided to take the easy route as I was stood in the Wigan Warriors end and cheer Wigan on. This meant they lost as The Gods were punishing them for my betrayal of Their County. Sorry about that Wigan.

So that's three games attended by me. Two defeats for Wigan and one win when the Wakefield side drowned in the monsoon like conditions. I just hope nobody notices the Yorkshireman amongst them and hangs a ring of sprout pies around my neck as punishment. :-)

On Ilkley Moor Baht 'at

Went for a wandering drive today and ended up at the Cow and Calf rocks above Ilkley right on the edge of the famous moors. I'd been driving around looking for something to take photographs of after two days of bright sunshine when I was stuck inside waiting for a delivery. Unfortunately today isn't as bright, it's hazy and the sky can best be described as 'white'. Not so good for taking pictures of dramatic landscapes but what the hell.

The Cow and Calf rocks are a prominent outcrop of rocks. The Cow is the larger cliff and the Calf is a massive boulder below the sheer cliff face of the Calf. Victorian visitors carved their names in the soft millstone grit rocks deeply enough that you can still see them today. This is one place that hasn't changed much since my childhood. The rocks are still more or less the same shape, the only changes to the car park, the paths which have been paved to stop erosion and the Cow and Calf Inn doesn't have a 'No Bikers' sign in the car park any more. Driving down the steep hill into Ilkley I was glad I own a car. I remember almost dying of dehydration walking up from the train station with my mates way back in 1985! :-)

While I was baht'at I wasn't courting Mary Jane and I don't expect t'catch me death o'cold.

Dying to get in there?

I went for a walk around Undercliffe Cemetery (http://tinyurl.com/25n4sp) yesterday afternoon while the sun was shining. I spent about 45 minutes happily wandering amongst the Victorian monuments to death with my camera enjoying the fresh air and views over Bradford. I'm glad the place still exists even though my memories of it are mostly of dodging glue sniffers and other substance abusers while wandering around the area looking for girls as a teenager. Oh and I did a project on it at school which I've almost total forgotten!

I'm glad it's being tidied up and the vandals moved. There's not many places in the country that you can see extravagant monuments like the ones in the oldest part of the cemetery. What did surprise me if the amount of newer graves. I was under the impression that all the plots were filled for some reason.

This is looking down the promenade to the Smith memorial. From there you get a fantastic view across Manningham and down to the City Centre. Bradford City's football ground (Valley Parade, I refuse to call it the sponsor's name) and Lister Mills are visible. I'm still getting off on the views you get driving around Bradford after living in a flat area for so long (Slough is more or less a flood plain).

For more pictures you can go here

Andy

Misplaced Yorkshireman

Why the title? I used Misplaced Yorkshireman as a web 'handle' when I first got an email account in 1993 because I was a Yorkshireman living in the South. I dropped it as I got older but resurrected it for this blog as I feel misplaced despite living in Yorkshire and in my home town! It still feels weird hearing my own accent and I sometimes wonder if people will stop and point me out as an imposter if I open my mouth in town. Even though my southern friends say my accent is stronger than ever.

Andy

Snow!

OK, I saw snow in Birmingham (we got snowed in once) but I've rarely seen it in the south over the last 10 years or so. I got a child like excitement when I looked out of my window and saw this:

It's not settling because the strong wind keeps blowing the clouds away. It darkens down, drops a load of snow then clears up again. :-)

Andy

The View From The Hill

This is the view from my mezzanine bedroom. It's what you might call a typical Bradford scene with the terraced houses running down the hill with a back alley for access and green hills in the distance (Clayton Heights, about 4.5 miles away as the crow flies). There's a Mosque opposite which I guess is also a feature of modern Bradford.

If you look carefully at the second picture you can spot various Bradford landmarks like the Town Hall, the ice skating sign on the horrible 1960's prefab building, one of the domes on the derelict Odeon cinema and little Germany just in front of the town hall. Luckily for me they've demolished all the 60's buildings around Foster Square because they would have got in the way of my view of the centre!