Thursday 8 July 2010

Y is for Yorkshire

Yorkshire is the largest county in England. Prior to the 1974 county boundary changes, it was divided into three regions; the East Riding, West Riding and North Riding. Now, Yorkshire is divided into four componants, rather more boringly named South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, East Yorkshire and North Yorkshire, the latter being by far the biggest area of land, though not the most heavily populated.

Yorkshire contains two national parks; the Dales and the Moors. Both are beautiful in their different ways. It also has a coast line. Further south, there is more industry, both current and historic.

I'm going to spend a few blog-days in Yorkshire, sharing some of my photos and thoughts about a rather special county, beginning here...



When I was in junior school, we used to do projects of our own choosing. Of course I did one on canals and I found a picture of the Bingley five rise locks. Ever since that day, I have had a background yen to visit them in person and, with a little help from a friend, on Saturday, I did just that.

The five rise is a staircase of five locks, with the bottom gate of one lock forming the top gate of the next. Because it is quite complicated to operate, there is a British Waterways employee on hand during the day. At night, the locks are locked :)

The photo above is taken from the top of the top lock, looking back towards the market town of Bingley.

And this is the view from the top lock looking the other way.



For the more classic view from the bottom and also a little more about the history of this lock on the Leeds Liverpool Canal, follow this link to JennyFreckles' blog, Saltaire Daily Photo.

To see more Y posts on Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday, follow this link.

19 comments:

  1. I am stopping by from Alphabe-Thursday. Thanks for sharing info and photos on Yorkshire. Wish I could visit someday.

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  2. I would love to visit Yorkshire. It looks like such a wonderful place to see.

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  3. I see a lovely green barge in the second photo - another one of my want-to-dos is a barge holiday on one of the canal systems in the UK....and The Great Dane would be happy to visit all the Viking sites in Yorkshire.

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  4. Another super ‘Yorkshire’ post – so interesting & informative!Love Yorkshire tea & puddings!

    Happy Alphabe-Thursday,

    LOLA:)

    PS Mine this time is HERE. Hope you can join me!

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  5. Locks are such an interesting invention for getting boats up and down river. :-) I do love those little houseboats and would love to vacation in one someday. I really enjoy your posts that allow me to peek into life across the pond! :-)

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  6. Great Y post, imagine us both choosing Yorkshire!
    Maggie

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  7. I love Yorkshire. Puddings, Terriers, Wendslydale Cheese, my piano teacher - everything good comes from there. ;)

    Love the pics.

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  8. What a beautiful Y post. Yorkshire is beautiful.

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  9. Lovely Pictures - never been to England so they are a nice treat...bkm

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  10. Yorkshire sounds beautiful and I never knew it had a canal with locks. England is on my travel list. Thank you for visiting me today for the letter "Y"!

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  11. I'm reading a Robert Barnard mystery that is set in Yorkshire. . .good to see what I am reading about. I am pretty sure I read a Ngaio Marsh mystery about similar locks. . .love your posts.

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  12. I love the view from the top and thanks for the link to view from the bottom.

    Re: time of day of the cloud shot. You nailed it. The sun was just very low on the horizon and the light was reflecting just right to give the clouds that yellow glow. Some days, there are reddish lights on the trees and I just know I'm not adept enough to capture those moments.

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  13. I would love to visit there, thanks for the tour :-)

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  14. How locks work has always been a mystery to me. I love your photos!

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  15. Wow, it looks beautiful there. Amazing pictures.
    Great Y post.

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  16. What a fascinating stop on our little journey through Alphabe-Thursday's letter "Y"!

    I have always been intriqued by locks. I used to drive my children to the Ohio river to watch them run the coal barges through the locks...yours looks much more romantic.

    I'm so glad you joined this meme.

    It is so much fun to visit you each week!

    Yippee!

    A+

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  17. Ditto all the delightful comments above!

    You are really rocking out this Alpha Meme with some great photographs! :)
    Love your picturesque posts Ms Helen :)

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