ABOUT ME

I live in a camper van with a West Highland Terrier for company.
My passion is creating images but it is a work in progress.
I am always willing to share what knowledge I have and can be contacted through the comments on this post or e-mail ADRIAN
ALL IMAGES WILL ENLARGE WITH A LEFT CLICK

Tuesday 19 November 2013

WONDERFUL MORNING. (19/11/13)

I’m still sitting in Blackwell. It’s near my old home and I can understand what the people here are saying. There is a subtle difference between understanding words and knowing instinctively what people mean. The van is due for a service and test next Monday. It is a stressful time. I’ve ordered winter tyres for the front driving axle as I will be spending the winter in Scotland. I have a monster tow rope but it is a bit presumptive to get stuck and then beg a tow….Bloody sight cheaper than winter tyres, though I thought I ought to show willing.

I was in Scotland over the summer and all I saw were incomers like me driving crap Honda, BMW, Volvo, SUVs. They couldn’t rip the skin from a blancmange. The three hundred pounds for winter rubber was not a totally altruistic investment. 

I like being with folk I grew up with and like their issue. There is a world of difference in age but they understand me and I them. It seems daft but it is a fact.

I know Dithery, Thatcher, Moribund all take elocution lessons. I know they are all lying bastards. You’ll notice I left duplicitous Clegg out. On purpose. He is a real pain. He want’s tipping upside down in a barrel of shite. How could any true born Yorkshire-person vote for such a two twister, turncoat, smarmy twat? He must have got the immigrant vote….He got someone's….my wife voted for the lying little bleeder. I bet her mates did too. All thick as shit and posh trousers they are.

I was rudely woken by the dogs at just before three this morning. I cursed them but it made little difference. They were too excited, it was snowing. They love snow but don’t realise it takes time for to get to serious rolling, snuffling and ploughing through depth. It never did, it didn’t even cover the short grass. Half an hour before dawn I gave in and let them out for a look. No snow worth speaking of but they rushed from bit to bit and rolled and sniffed and snuffled. Come March they won’t bother with an excuse for a snow fall. The lazy devils won’t get up till daylight.

Back we came. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I packed the film camera loaded with Velvia reversal 100 ASA. I also packed the 5DII with a posh 24mm lens on it. I don’t have a camera bag but just a rucksack so I wrap the cameras in those camping towels that dry straight away but still leave ones skin feeling a bit claggy. I do have a little camera bag for filters and cable releases, spare batteries and Marlboro…… important things. It  fits….anywhere, anywhere it ends up. Off we toddled for the circuitous route to Millers Dale. The road is faster but it is twisty and has no pavement. It’s less stressful to take the old bridle way.

_MG_2335   I don’t know what this farm is called but thirty years ago we’d been climbing on Chee Tor and my friends collie had a stroke or seizure or something, bit my dog on it’s arse and ran off, awful it was, it just set off running all slanted up to one side and ended up at this farm. It wouldn’t let anyone near it and had bitten folk, geese and lord knows what else on it’s way. The farmer lent us a shotgun. We’d had a great day but it turned into one of the saddest. A beauty of a dog she was.

_MG_2344  We arrived at Millers Dale Station. The village has a dozen houses but this place used to really hum. It was the last station in England to have a post office. It had express trains from both Liverpool and Manchester into London St Pancreas and coped with a branch line to Buxton. It was a busy place; until 1968 it dealt with mineral traffic, animal cargo…sheep and cows for Hassop. Hassop is only a station it doesn’t have a hamlet even. It had pens for farmers animals.  Hence a wee market.  the line had people going to work. People visiting to look at the scenery, my brother going to school of course it should never have been shut. Then as now it’s the same old story. Plough our national wealth into London and the environs there of, then fail to develop the Cotswolds and Hampshire then come along with high speed rail to reconnect us. It’s a vanity project. They should be looking at a new Thames Barrier or moving north. Nasty self serving people are politicians._MG_2332   Off we wandered down a bit of old rail bed. Just a sprinkle of snow.

_MG_2330 An old water tank for topping up the Locomotives we are at about eight hundred feet here, the engines would lose a fair bit of water climbing up from Rowsley. The river Wye is about a hundred feet below this tank but if you walk the Wye and see a cast iron dome shaped thingy that is the pump that pushed water up here. It worked by taking a feed pipe from up river and then feeding that water onto a large diameter piston then that coupled to a small diameter one could push water up hill.  Steam engineers knew such stuff. The locomotives were fed oil on a similar but more refined system.

_MG_2324 My destination. This is a nineteenth century limekiln. It must have started falling down as early in the twentieth century they shored it up with concrete.

_MG_2327       They were not doing things by halves. Shored up it was. Eight Times Shored. I love and always have loved this concrete monstrosity. The railings are a new Elf and Safty nonsense. It’s a long way down. Don’t lean over too far would be more than a normal person should need. They worked this kiln on a twin tub system for over a hundred years. One man fell in. They got him out okay, he fell on top of the charge before it had started burning at full chat.

The dogs had a great three hour wander. Lots of other dogs to play with. Some owners had the foresight to bring a ball and throw it. I just wish our government in London had had the foresight to keep the line open. It survived a bit longer than most but I’m sure would pay again today.

The light was a challenge. I’ve duplicated some of these images on film. I dread to think what the Velvia will look like. I took incident readings. The Canon takes reflective. I dropped my readings for film half a stop.

When I get these back whatever the result, I’ll just take film out for a while. It does my head in trying to work both and look after the dogs.

These are obviously all digital and gently seen to. Damned harsh was the light today I cogged the the camera down two thirds of a stop.

It is a brilliant day today. Rain and cold rain tomorrow.

Have fun.

47 comments:

  1. I must remember not to visit here if I am in search of being cheered up! Really inspired by the lime kiln though - it looks splendid. It would be one of my favourite places to visit. We thought of moving to Buxton for a while - wonderful hills around, a train to Manchester and the Gilbert and Sullivan Festival. My geography isn't good. Does the closure of this station mean the Buxton/Manchester line is closed too. Gilbert and Sullivan have been evicted and moved to Harrogate. And it would be a wrench to leave the sea.

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    1. Esther, I'm sorry for depressing you. You picked a bad day.
      No Buxton-Manchester is still running. There is a bigger kiln half a mile away but the light was all wrong on it.

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  2. Adrian I'll try maybe you can now read you another beautiful series with a wonderful story of it.

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    1. Bas, I like a good rant every now and then.

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  3. Really enjoyed this post Adrian.
    Found myself nodding in agreement about these politicians. None of them are worth the dribble from a shaken willy.
    The limekiln looks an impressive structure. They certainly knew how to build years ago.
    Good luck at the van doctors.

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    1. Keith, it isn't clever to not vote but i can see me spoiling my paper. They are appalling.
      The van is in for a couple of days so it should be all singing and dancing next Wednesday,.

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  4. The pictures are mighty fine. The colors in them...oh, so good!

    The stories were great. It was sad about the dog. The guy must have really sank his teeth in - having a seizure I guess he would! The snow here is generally like what you describe there although we will occasionally get real snow several inches deep. Everyone is amazed!

    My cat woke me up this morning too...sometime in the wee hours. He wanted to go outside. He likes hunting at night. I went back to sleep.

    I don't know specifically but can relate generally to what you say about politicians.

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    1. David the light was brilliant but very harsh and casting terrible shadows.

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  5. A beauty of an old railway station. I do love a good railway themed post!

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    1. Mark, it is well worth a visit. The tunnels are all open again now.

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  6. Lighting contrast was very difficult today but great to have a blue sky and Sunshine, even with a bitterly cold breeze.

    It really doesn't do the blood pressure any good thinking about the pig troughing, self serving politicians we have these days.

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    1. John, the light really brought the colour out but it was difficult. I'll be interested to see how the Bronica coped.......Freezing it was.

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  7. Excellent post/rant Adrian, I really enjoyed the read. I hope you don't have to rely too heavily on those winter tyres when you get to Scotland. btw. I really like my Honda SUV!!!!

    The trouble with MP's is that when you get rid of one lot the ones that replace them always turn out to be just as bad, or even worse!

    That station building looks a bit out of place with no tracks, what's it used for now?

    Lovely colours in the sunshine today, it will be interesting to see how the results from the reversal film compare....[;o)

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    1. I like your Honda too.
      The station is a sort of rest room and office for the national Park rangers.
      I am not holding out high hopes for the velvia. It will be interesting though.

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  8. What a brilliant walk and tour of your home turf. So many memories. Enjoy the cold and snow ~ it is just awfully humid here at the moment made worse by no air conditioning at home.

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    1. Adrian, run a virus checker over your system ~ I just got a crap email from you to a whole pike of people in your address book about sone fat burning green coffee that changed your life. I SPAMMED it!

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    2. Hi Carol, It's down to Yahoo I'm afraid. I've reset all the passwords and the passport thingy. Waste of time the latter was.

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    3. Carol, it was AOL who had the problem. I've reset that password as well.
      I've done a full scan and nothing showed up. That's a first.

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  9. Our station is also abandoned ADRIAN. Today I took pictures again of an old crane that is there.
    Here, since the winter began, it snowed in the mountains.
    Have a good night.
    A hug.

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    1. Laura, it is a mystery that railways don't pay. I suspect if they returned to steam then more people would use them.

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  10. I'm noticing some really nice HDR effects on the first landscapes. They work very well.

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    1. Maria, they are just -2/3rds EV and the shadows pulled back with the adjustment brush. I did shoot them bracketed for HDR but preferred the single image version.

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  11. Hi Adrian... Well now that was and interesting , rant and ramble ...everything from soup to nuts in there!!
    Nice to read and see some of your earlier years happenings and info about with photos to show that of today!!

    Grace

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    1. Grace, I forget now which of the cretins wound me up.

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  12. All our branch lines have been abandoned. Only mainlines have been kept. Farmers now have a long haul to get heir grain to a terminal. Most farmers own semis or B trains.

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    1. Red, it seems to be the same the world over.

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  13. First class rant, Adrian. I can see why you thought the rail carts are a good use for an old railway line. Your railway station looks vastly different to any I've seen but is still instantly recognisable for what it is. I hope it still serves a purpose.

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    1. Pauline, It is an office for the Peak Park Ranger service now.

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  14. Instead of being all reserved and going around the houses, why can't you say what you really think of Nick Clegg? Say what you mean man!
    By the way, I have visited that same lime kiln. If it was still operational I'd happily shove Clegg down there and then seal it up forever.

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    1. YP, I have always been a fence sitter.
      He is a truly awful chap.

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  15. Wow Adrian..What a beautiful place...It's a really beautiful morning..

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  16. So, you don't like Nick Clegg then?!!

    Enjoyed the pictures and the rant. Made me laugh.

    To Scotland for the winter? Brrrrrrrave man. Enjoy.

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    1. Spesh, I don't know Nick Clegg but he will say anything he thinks are in his best interests.

      I just hope to see some crisp cold sunny days. The countryside is wonderful most towns leave much to be desired but one can't have everything.

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  17. I absolutely love that second shot. Beautiful.

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    1. Hilary, it was a good day.
      I'll have another look at your recent post today. It was very slow loading yesterday and I couldn't get it to accept comments before they timed out. I have very slow broadband here.

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  18. The Lime Kiln reminds me of something akin to a nuclear bunker.
    Shame you ain't got a tv plugged in the motorhome as you need to watch some dodgy/rubbish comedy called "the revolution will be televised" the one funny thing on it is when a politician does a speech and they switch the "honesty" subtitles on, it's amusing

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    1. Douglas it does look like something they built to last.
      I'll keep an eye out for "The revolution will be Televised".

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  19. Adrian, You have make beautiful photos!

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  20. Glorious images. Love that light. So glad to have stumbled upon your blog from Laura's blog. Following now. :)

    Mersad
    Mersad Donko Photography

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    1. It's good to see you here. I hope you enjoy a quick visit from time to time.

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  21. A rant, photos and just you being you. All par excellence. I sometimes wonder how you'd get on if you met Ditherey et al in real life.

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    1. Graham, I used to attend political meetings and loved them. Michael Foot was too intelligent for his own good, George Brown was just superb. The best free entertainment to be had as a twenty year old. I stopped going when Thatcher came to power. I did go to see the turncoat McLaughlin when he first was elected. Wanted to let him know that there was not a toad in hades chance of my voting for him. I did get a glass of warm white wine and a cube of sweaty cheese on a wee stick. He wouldn't take questions regarding his parentage or policies but did spit and dribble all over me and I kept my distance. He's an excellent spit sprayer. I wonder if he still is?. Face like a frog he has. Frogs are more intelligent. If you have ever held a conversation with a frog then you'll easily recognise him if your paths cross. I met Scargill once. It was after the miners strike. I felt he was an honest man but by then far to embittered to do the job.

      To answer your question if Dithery wants to pop round the camper I'd make him a cup of tea. If he came with his wife I'd buy a new kettle and but a bottle of posh wine in the fridge for her. Her dad has plenty of good land to park a camper on and she could drop by after seeing her pater.

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  22. Despite your great capture & the well preserved structure, it's always sad to see railway station buildings like this. Ah well … best be in a recycled use as opposed to dereliction, whether it's an information point on a cycle route or an … Indian restaurant !!

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  23. Jay, i vaguely remember it as a very busy station in the middle of nowhere.

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