Arches

Just a few miles from our holiday dwelling, here is another hilltop village called Bibbona. Enjoy the quite rustic streets here with me and don’t disturb the inhabitants with all that camera clicking. ‘The medieval hamlet of Bibbona sits in the Province of Livorno in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 80 kilometres southwest of Florence. The main village is located six kilometres inland from its sister popular resort of Marina di Bibbona with its sandy beaches. PiP's As usual, best viewed in full screen.

A view of the Digley Reservoir overflow. This reservoir is the bigger of two in a series near the Pennine village of Holmfirth. We visited this area last December, well before lock-down and have not had the chance to go back yet. A rather ornate fence and gate to this and guessing how deep that hole is, a good precaution. The gate, another HFF shot in PiP. HFF, enjoy the weekend.

Taken a few years back now, this splendid iron fence adorns the promenade of our Yorkshire coastal town of Filey. Over the years countless layers of white paint has been added onto this, to counter the constant salt spray, but as you can see the rust still prevails giving it an attractive look too. The top rail is in fact painted a very similar but darker rich ochre colour. In the distance one can see the headland of the famous Filey Brig. PiP shows Filey itself. HFF, enjoy the weekend.

Chatsworth House in Derbyshire is the setting for this view. The great house lies just right out of picture but these arches are easily as interesting. More info: www.chatsworth.org

As the C19 pandemic gains more repeated footholds around the world, here in my hometown of Oldham we have just been advised that as being in the top five worse places for new cases in the UK, we should take extra precautions again. This view encompasses one of our three ‘isolation walks’ along the old railway, now a linear park. The two Pips show, what I consider two more interesting views of the same bridge taken some time ago now, also here in Ipernity. Click on the pictures to be taken to the originals. Enjoy full screen

A scene from under one of the many bridges over the Rochdale canal near Walsden. The cottages may have once belonged to people who worked this canal which was built very much for the industry in these parts. The post on the left is a guideway for the 'Route 66' bicycle way that passes along here. - "The Rochdale Canal in Northern England runs for 33 miles, between Manchester and Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire, part of the connected system of the canals of Great Britain. In Sowerby Bridge it connects with the Calder and Hebble Navigation. In Manchester it connects with the Ashton and Bridgewater Canals. The canal was re-opened to navigation along its entire length in July 2002 and forms part of the South Pennine Ring. Its name refers to the town of Rochdale through which it passes. The Rochdale is a broad canal because its locks are wide enough to allow vessels of 14 feet width. A revised Rochdale Canal Bill was passed in 1794 and construction began. By 1799 the canal was open between Sowerby Bridge and Todmorden and from Manchester to Rochdale. A proposed 1.6 mile tunnel between Walsden and Sladen was replaced by more locks and a higher summit level at 600 feet. The resulting shorter summit level meant that many reservoirs were required to prevent the summit level drying up and to maintain an available supply of water for the 92 locks. The canal opened through to Manchester in 1804. This made it the first trans-Pennine canal route, as the Huddersfield, experiencing much difficulty in the Standedge Tunnel construction, did not open until 1811. The Leeds and Liverpool, with a much longer route, was not fully opened until 1816. The canal remained profitable for some time but by the twentieth century the tonnage being carried was in sharp decline. In 1937 the last boat made the through journey across the Pennines on the Rochdale Canal. In 1952, the canal was closed apart from the short section between Castlefield and the Ashton Canal junction at Piccadilly. The Ashton was abandoned in 1962 and by 1965 the nine locks on the Rochdale through Manchester city centre were almost unusable. Enthusiastic supporters re-opened the Ashton in 1974 and the Rochdale Canal in Manchester was made good. The Rochdale Canal Society was formed to promote the restoration of the canal and in the 1980s and 1990s small scale work began to re-open stretches of the canal between Todmorden and Sowerby Bridge. This involved restoring bridges and locks to navigable condition. In 1996 the canal was opened to navigation once again between Sowerby Bridge and the summit level. " Nice full screen.

An arched pier to the inspection point on Norman Hill Reservoir catches my eye with this wonderful light. This is near Piethorne reservoir above Newhey, Rochdale. See PiP HFF and have a great weekend.

As we walk on the edge of this lake, we go into some woodland, over the ancient packhorse bridge above the River Irt. I must admit that I was lucky again with the dappled light here and it was certainly a place to dwell gazing down into this river. See Pip for the top view. As usual best full screen.

A super rainbow here in Aberfoye, captured at this place after a sprint in the pouring rain. In fact this was here for some time and displayed a stunning double at times too. The big central tree provides a nice anchor in my opinion. As is often the case with such conditions, a blast of super sunlight provided the perfect foreground colours. Enjoy full screen.