Just on the way back from a long weekend in Yorkshire. It is bright and sunny as we approach Birmingham and not like the winter wonderland we left behind in Harrogate. However, the weather we fine yesterday when we went over to Saltaire and the the Five Rise locks at Bingley.
Why anyone thought that it was a great idea to run a canal through there beats me, it is one helleva drop and some kind of engineering feat to complete no doubt. All for what must have been a short-lived venture to get goods out to the waiting ships in Liverpool. It wasn’t long before the railways made the canals redundant.
Its a short (c. three and a half miles) walk from there to Saltaire, the model village founded by Titus Salt who had a very progressive view on how to treat his employees building housing and facilities for them not found elsewhere at the time. The village is now a world heritage site and well preserved, although I wouldn’t want to be living there with all the tourists gawping thorough my kitchen window!