Cricket is back!

Cricket is back, after a long period when we've had no sport because of the coronavirus lockdown. It has felt strange without it, especially in Roberts Park, where there is almost always a match going on at weekends.


It is part of the easing of restrictions that's been happening over the last few weeks - shops opening, then pubs and cafés, and now local sport.



Time will tell if this gradual return to normality will cause a dreaded 'second wave' of infection. I understand that the numbers of new cases of the virus have stopped dropping in the UK and even seem to be rising in some areas. The stats are complicated and I've effectively given up trying to understand. It has seemed for a while to be better to use my own common sense and naturally risk-averse personality as a guide rather than spend too much time trying to figure it all out. Avoid crowds, be careful indoors where there are other people, use a face mask in shops, wash hands often, generally look after myself in healthy ways seems the best strategy. Things do seem to be being ramped up again though. In fact, since Friday, they have imposed further restrictions in north-west England (including the Bradford district, though we don't like being lumped into 'the north-west! There are historic rivalries between us and Lancashire!) They mostly affect what people can do in their own homes, restricting families from different households and friends from meeting indoors and in gardens. All rather annoying and it seems quite illogical in many ways. But we're told it is necessary.

It's not only cricket that has started again but bowls too...
... and tennis. These young men were really smashing the ball about - very energetic and not a little dramatic when a shot didn't go right!

Howzat!

The cricket season would normally be in full swing by now, the sound of leather striking willow and the shouts of 'howzat' ringing out - but because of the lockdown the pitches are standing idle. Not quite 'abandoned' though... The grass remains mown, though the playing crease here appears to be artificial turf (or maybe that is a practice area?)  One day I walked past Saltaire Cricket Club in Roberts Park and the roller machine was outside. I was amused to see its various decorations - especially the arms with painted nails! I assume it has been decorated by the same hands that tend the flowerbed I showed a while ago (HERE). 

A bowls match

It was a Monday morning in the depths of winter but there was a bowls tournament underway at Salts Sports Club. With four teams playing on each of the two greens, it appeared to require a good deal of concentration so as not to get in the way of the others' trajectories. I've only once, years ago, tried playing, though there is a club (not Salts) linked, rather bizarrely, to my church. (I think the church owns the land they play on.) Many countries seem to have a variation on the game: think French boules, Italian bocce and Spanish pétanque. The game being played at Salts is crown green bowls, where the playing surface is slightly raised in the middle. The smaller yellow jack is rolled onto the green and the players then have two weighted balls (woods) to deliver as close as they can to the jack. See HERE for a full explanation. It seems a very sociable activity and I know some people play on into their eighties and nineties, so there's time for me yet!

Bradford City AFC

Even further down Manningham Lane towards Bradford city centre, I came to Valley Parade, the home ground of Bradford City football club. They are currently in League Two with a slim chance of 'going up' in the world again this season. I used to have a season ticket in the late 1990s, in the heady days when they were in the Premier League for two seasons. It was good fun but times change, the people I used to go with moved away and my interest eventually waned...

In 1985, the stadium was tragically the scene of one of the worst disasters in football history, when 56 people died and nearly 300 were badly injured in a fire that ravaged through the old wooden main stand in a little over nine minutes. The stadium has had many alterations since, and the current Kop end, main stand, hospitality suites and function rooms were extended and improved in the late 1990s/early 2000s. The ground's capacity is around 25,000, though the highest attendance this season has been about 14,000.

Summer Sunday stroll 1

(Continuing my series from last summer, whilst my eye settles down after the surgery)

Saltaire to Hirst Lock
It was such a lovely, late summer's morning that I decided to walk from Saltaire to Bingley's Five Rise Locks and back, a good six miles round trip. It's a very familiar walk and I've shown photos of the area before on this blog. I thought it'd be fun to string some together in order this time, to illustrate the whole route.

Once out of Saltaire, through the short stretch of shady trees (see yesterday) the view opens out across the area of playing fields that belongs to Salts Sports Club. Sunday morning meant football matches were underway, the juniors at one end and a senior game at the other.

There were fishermen on the canal bank, having a real Sunday morning treat - able to watch their rods, watch football and cook a fry-up of bacon and eggs on a camp stove, all at the same time. (Breakfast smelled delicious!)   
I did take a photo... but I don't think you'd want to see the bum-crack the cook was displaying as he leaned over - ha!

Perhaps it was because the season was drawing to a close, or perhaps just the weekend effect, but there seemed to be more boats on the canal than I've ever seen. Some were moored, like the narrowboats I passed, still having a lie-in, perhaps? The towpath passes the lock at Hirst Wood. Just beyond the lock there were two cabin cruisers, a type of boat we rarely see on this canal. (They made so much more noise than a narrowboat!)

Harriers v Cyclists

I was negotiating my way along the rather muddy and slippery moorland at the top of Shipley Glen, when I noticed a skein of brightly coloured vests ahead of me - runners and cyclists. I was just too late to see exactly what was going on but then later, as I turned round to return the way I'd come, they also returned and passed me. I realised it was the annual 'Harriers v Cyclists' race, organised by Bingley Harriers running club.

They start at the Fisherman Pub on the canal, following a course through the Milner Field estate, across Loadpit Beck by the mill pond, through Shipley Glen and up the steep bank to Glen Road (where I took these photos). Their route, a little over 5 miles (8 km) in total but with a steep 300m climb, then circles round Hope Hill on Baildon Moor and back along the same path into the valley. They compete for the Fisherman Trophy. The course record is around 34 minutes. This year, the fastest male runner (Nathan Edmondson) completed it in 36 min 01.7 sec and the fastest cyclist (David Mirfield) in 36 min 56.7 sec, so there is not much in it. The fastest women clocked 43:43 running and 58:25 cycling. Most of the cyclists I watched dismounted at the top of the steep bank where I photographed them, which I suppose slows them down a little. Getting filthy and bruised is one thing, but risking your neck is another, I guess.

I felt a little crazy to be out walking on such a gloomy and damp day, but there are many folk who think nothing of spending their weekends getting all muddy and wet in the name of sport!

The chap with the stick was a marshal showing the competitors where the route down the crag face started, as it is quite hard to see - not really a path, more of a scramble.

Busy doing my thing...

My thing, as everyone knows, is wandering around with a camera, snapping anything that takes my eye. Other people have different 'things'.

How about: paddle-boarding along the canal with the kid (and yes, he did have a lifejacket on, under his hoodie).

Or going over the white lines again before the weekend football starts. I wonder what his music of choice to accompany the activity is?  'A Whiter Shade of Pale', maybe?

For many people, it is messing about in a boat, in this case accompanied by a faithful pooch. Nice hat, mister.  (But you should open both lock gates, tch tch!)

So, what's your thing?

Papped!

Out for a walk recently, my route took me alongside the playing fields around a local public (ie: private!) school. Tucked away right round the back, on quite a secluded pitch, I noticed a football practice session underway - and then I realised it was our local league team, Bradford City, in action. I surreptitiously took a couple of photos, not wanting to get shouted at, though with hindsight I wish I'd been a little bolder and made more effort. They were a long way away so I would probably have been able to get a little closer. As it is, this was with my lens on its longest setting and the photo is heavily cropped so it's a bit fuzzy. I'll never make it as a paparazzo!

I don't think Bradford City will make it either this season. They've slid down to League Two and so far (as I write this) have won five out of eleven matches this season. So they look as though they need the practice, though it all looked a bit desultory.

Braving the Barghest

The Barghest is a mythical, monstrous, black dog who, legend says, lives in Trollers Gill, a narrow limestone valley up in the Yorkshire Dales near Appletreewick. He can turn you to stone with one look! Some say he was the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'Hound of the Baskervilles'. The valley is also reputed to be inhabited by trolls who will throw stones to try to stop you travelling through. The myths have been enough to put me off exploring in the past but I decided that was very silly and, being up in the area, I took a short walk to see what lies there (even though I was on my own!)

Skyreholme Beck runs through the valley on its way to swell the River Wharfe further down. The beck bubbles along through the lower part of the valley but higher up there is a steep and narrow gorge with a stream-bed that is dry for most of the year. The water flows underground and gushes out from the bedrock at two or three points lower down, which was rather fascinating to see.

I didn't see a dog or any trolls during my explorations, but there were a few rock climbers in the gorge. Thankfully, they were roped up, as the guy in red fell at one point and swung freely. That was scarier to witness than the Barghest! Anyway, I survived and got safely home. (I don't know whether he did!)

Beach bums

Wales: Although it was a bit chilly down at Poppit Sands, there were lots of people - adults and children - taking a lesson in surfing. Their boards made a colourful sight. I guess it's the equivalent of kids' football training on Sundays mornings back home. Here, the mums and dads have to freeze on the beach rather than on the touchline!

Sunday is apparently the day for the volunteer RNLI lifeboat crew to practise too. There are two craft kept in Poppit Sands lifeboat station, inflatables capable of manoeuvering in shallow water and close to shore. The D-class boat in my photo was apparently called out the day after we left Wales, to a fishing boat that lost its steering capacity perilously close to the rocks off Cardigan Island. Two fishermen were rescued. (See HERE)

The crew gave me a cheery smile as they sped back to base after their practice, though I couldn't run backwards fast enough to get the whole boat and Landrover in shot!

World Heritage Day 2019

World Heritage Day was celebrated in Saltaire (a World Heritage Site) this year with a Sundowner event in Roberts Park. It happened to be Easter Saturday and a wonderfully sunny, warm evening as well. The park would have been busy anyway but it was absolutely packed, as people enjoyed jazz in the bandstand, Shakespeare Comedy Mashes (whatever that means... people were performing but I couldn't hear it), the obligatory Easter Egg hunt and plenty of street food and other market stalls. There was a cricket match too. The park looked wonderful with all the trees in blossom, almost as though they'd dressed up for the occasion. 

Kilnsey Crag Race 2018

I went to Kilnsey Show again this year. It's on such an attractive site, against the backdrop of Kilnsey Crag and surrounded by the beauty and space of Upper Wharfedale. The weather was good and the show full of interest. Its highlight is the Crag Races in the late afternoon. This year I stood at the bottom of the course, watching the runners leap through the stream and then race up the first steep slope. Look back at my pictures from last year (see HERE) to get an idea of the challenge of this course, one of the hardest fell races that there is, being short (just over 1 mile) and steep (400' almost vertically up and down). These are the senior runners - and this is the easy bit! 

This is the winner hurtling back down the home straight. It was won this year for the second year in a row by Nick Swinburn from Northumberland, in a time of 8 minutes. Last year he ran it in 8 minutes and 3 seconds. The course record is 7:35, dating back to 1982.

Here are some of the other runners. At least they stayed upright; there were quite a few who took a tumble on this steep and slippery grassed slope. For more idea of the fun (!) watch this video of the notorious 'chimney' on the downward run (HERE).

Patrick Wardle, Jim Roberts and Derek Motley (above).

Lucy Needham, Kirstin Bailey, Richard Briscoe, Brett Muir and Michael McLoughlin (below).

Gatka

Gatka is a martial art associated with Sikhs from the Punjab region of Indian. It involves a style of fighting with sticks, simulating swords. There was a group demonstrating the art in Roberts Park, at the Dragon Boat Festival. I was cross with myself for happening upon it right at the end of the demonstration, too late to take photos. I did, however, get a photo of one of the teachers with a young trainee, as they explained a little about the costumes they are wearing, and I watched as some of the students were tutored. Just 1% of Bradford's population is Sikh.

Cricket season

The cricket season has started, even if the warm weather is intermittent! Saltaire Cricket Cub has a very picturesque ground, in Roberts Park, against the backdrop of the mill. They say it is the only cricket ground within a World Heritage Site. They were playing as I strolled through the park on the way back from a walk, though I don't think it was a competition match and there were few spectators.

Climbing Kilnsey Crag

The showground is right underneath the famous Kilnsey Crag, which is a magnet for climbers. It was rather fun watching them, as well as enjoying all that the Kilnsey Show itself had to offer. According to a climbing article (here) the Crag 'offers some of the best sport climbing to be found anywhere in Britain', with around 120 different routes. (Ignore the three power lines in the photo above, they were between me and the Crag and look enormous through the telephoto lens!)

Senior Crag Race

Kilnsey Show 2017

The highlight of the annual Kilnsey Show is the Crag Race. Fell races (where people run up and down hills - for fun) are not uncommon hereabouts but the Kilnsey race is arguably the hardest of all. The 2 km course starts in the valley bottom and heads directly up the fell side to the top of Kilnsey Crag and then (literally) straight back down, skidding down the scree slopes. The record was set in 1982 at 07:35 minutes, by local runner Mick Hawkins and has not yet been broken. 

This year, the Senior Men's race was won by Nick Swinburn from Northumberland Fell Runners club, in 08.03 minutes. He is the guy (120) in the photo above. At that point, just after starting the race, he was in second place.  A former competitor, Roger Ingham, said of it: 'The Crag Race is explosive - you need to be in pole position half way up because it's hard to pass on the scree - and it's fearsome coming down.' Nick seems to have taken that to heart and appeared to be in a good position from an early stage. 

In the photo below the runners are streaming across the lower slopes. Their destination is the red flag, among the people at the top right!

By the time they crested the ridge (below), Nick was leading and continued at the front until he ran home in first place.
Incidentally, some of the guys from my camera club were up there taking photos. You can perhaps see one of them in dark clothing on the left of the runners, with a light-coloured dog (below). They got some incredible pictures... but you wouldn't ever find me up there! There was someone taking video with a drone too.

The descent from the top flag is precipitous!

A round of applause for a worthy winner!

Dragon Boat Festival 2017

As the summer gets underway, there is no shortage of amusement in Saltaire. Last weekend we had the Tour de Yorkshire coming through the village and this weekend it was the turn of the dragon-boat racers. It is the third year that this festival has been held in Roberts Park. This year it was bigger and better: three days of racing including a Youth Championship for schools, a Charity Championship and a Corporate Championship, with teams drawn from across the North of England. It all aims to raise thousands of pounds for various charities, including the Lord Mayor's nominated charity for 2017, Young Minds. Saturday's racing saw over 40 teams battling it out.  It all seemed more lavishly organised than previous years, with a pontoon across the river that made getting in and out of the boats much speedier and easier. 

Despite a chilly day on Saturday, the park was crowded with people picnicking and enjoying the sideshows. There was live music (another addition this year); a fun fair; displays by the army, police and fire service; market stalls and loads of food and drink, all reminiscent of the second weekend of the Saltaire Festival. Many of the visitors didn't really seem to be taking much interest in the actual racing, although you could watch it on a giant screen as well as some limited viewing alongside the river. All in a good cause, although some of Saltaire's residents might heave a collective sigh of relief when it's all over and the village goes quiet again...