Well, it will be if you have a 4K TV. I don’t but here’s hoping that someone out there benefits. You may remember a couple of months ago ago at the start of the lockdown period, I wrote this post for CyclingEurope.org about my local wanderings up and down the Scammonden Valley where I live here in West Yorkshire and how I had managed to discover some interesting nooks and crannies.
At the time I thought I must make a video. And last weekend, I did just that. Not, alas, on the bike (as there are technical issues on that score necessitating a trip back to CycleSense in Tadcaster in mid-June…) but on foot. Don’t let the first 30 seconds of this short film fool you; it’s not quite as peaceful as it first appears.
This year the Scammonden Valley celebrates not only the 50th anniversary of the opening of the M62 (and next year the official inauguration of Scammonden Water as a reservoir) but the 50th anniversary of the infamous Krumlin Festival. In my non-cycling life, together with a small group of local volunteers, I help make The Halifax Arts Podcast and for our latest ‘lockdown’ special (basically we can’t meet so everything is arranged and recorded remotely), I went to investigate the story of the Krumlin Festival. You can listen to the full podcast here but here is my report about the festival that could have been another Glastonbury but, alas, wasn’t…
Here is what I wrote about my lockdown wanderings back in April:
Great film. I was obsessed by the valve tower as a young child and insisted that my grandfather drove me there on a Sunday drive as it resembled part of a Saturn 5 rocket! And the stories that there were huge suction fans under the water that would drag you under if you swam there. Clearly there isnโt and it didnโt.
Yes, there was something terrifying about that black hole when I was a kid. Come to think of it, itโs still terrifying!
Beautiful filming Andrew . You bring it alive . It’s like being there in person .
Btw , I was cycling around Hebden Grassington at the W/e and was really angry & disturbed by the vast crowds of townies?….who raped the lovely countryside around Burnsall with damaging sheep gates, leaving bbqs , and piles of disgusting rubbish …Truly despicable behaviour . It’s no wonder the locals don’t want to welcome mucky, uncaring, irresponsible outsiders….
Thanks for the feedback Denis.
Yes, the people who abuse the countryside like that work on a completely different level from that of most of the population. I cycled to Oxenhope via Warley Moor last week and the amount of fly-tipped rubbish up there was astonishing. I cannot fathom their mentality. Stupid, stupid people…