Plenty of snow on the hills here in the Dales this weekend and also some lovely light during the week. I was driving from Bedale through Wensleydale back to the office one afternoon and just had to stop to capture this almost Turner-esque picture, west of Wensley. It was very cold and the river Ure was heavy but the scene still managed to draw me out of the warm comfort of the Dalesman van!

I see that according to a recent poll the majority of Welsh people want their own parliament similar to that of the Scots. This is bound to lead to those White Rose die-hards amongst us to begin the call again for home rule for Yorkshire. And why not? Yorkshire has the same population as Scotland (around 5.2m), Wales has nobbut 3m, Northern Ireland 1.8m and Ireland just 4.5m. There’s only London with more residents (7.8m) and there they do what they want anyway. We already have our own flag and it certainly wouldn’t be difficult to find a group of mouthy and opinionated Yorkshire folk to fill a parliament. To save arguments between the main Yorkshire cities we should build the Yorkshire Houses of Parliament in Cleckheaton which is handy for the M62 and there are some good chippies in that area. Patrick Stewart will be Prime Minister (simply because he supports Huddersfield Town and thus knows how to deal with hardship), Brian Blessed speaker of the House and my mate’s dad in charge of foreign affairs as he has a lot of views about Lancastrians. Yes, I can see this being a success… any other ideas?

Picture shows the sky above Ribblesdale yesterday.

Look out for February’s Dalesman which is on sale this week – we’re giving away a free bird feeder and seeds to all readers (just pay p&p).

We have a new van which is being used by staff who go out and about around the county. It’s emblazoned with our logos and those of our sister magazines and is easily recognised. “I saw your van in Airton and then again in Malham,” a chap I know said at the weekend, following up with, “What were you up to then?” I thought to myself there’s going to be no secret parking up and admiring the views while I’m out in this van. Malham was quiet and peaceful with just a handful of walkers and locals going about their daily business – such a contrast to the weekends here. I stopped to take this classic Malham shot  – a pity the famous old shop with cottage by the bridge is in need of some tlc at the moment… it’s certainly seen better days. As the building is somewhere that’s always provided a lasting impression for visitors to the village perhaps the National Park could lend a hand with some renovation?

There’s been a fair bit of flooding in the western dales since Christmas. The flood plains of the Aire north of Keighley, and the Ribble north of Long Preston, have generally done their job and held back the water from populated areas further down the valley. When I see all this water lying around I always wonder why we don’t make better use of it, either through creating power or redistributing it to places where water is scarce. Those of us living in areas where there is excess water often don’t realise that in many parts of the country, especially in the south east, there are problems keeping up with demand, not just for residents but for livestock and crops. Surely the billions which look like being spent on the white elephant high speed railway from London to Birmingham, which might knock 25 minutes of somebody’s journey to the capital, would be better invested in a grid system to get water where it is needed? Photo shows a stretch of the Ribble near Settle in flood.

I was saddened to see the demise of what was once the ‘World’s largest Fish & Chip Shop’ – Harry Ramsden’s – at Guiseley. I remember making a long trip by bus as a youngster, joining an enormous queue and scoffing from a tray while sitting on an outside bench before making the twenty-mile journey home. I think it was the first time I’d had chips out of a tray… normally it was a 4d bag o’ chips ‘wibitson’ from a little wooden hut near home. Ramsden’s started in a shed eighty-three years ago and later Harry the entrepreneur added his ‘Palace’ to the side where people – who turned up in busloads – could sit and eat. It became so popular that Dalesman printed what must have been the first book about a chip shop. Eventually other branches opened and the name spread around the globe. Now a Yorkshire icon has had its chips – what are your memories of the old place?

Tired of all the grey in the western dales I wandered down to Stainforth Force with my camera. I managed to find a little bit of colour in the top shot thanks to the red leaves in the background. Non stop drizzle over the last week has really swollen the Ribble, resulting in a thunderous cascade down the falls. I then went all arty for the shot below… just before the camera battery ran out. When will I ever learn?

The arrival of the Olympic torch in Skipton has led to the temporary cancellation of the popular Broughton Game Show – the year’s major fundraising event for two of the region’s vital rescue teams. Volunteer groups Upper Wharfedale Fell Association (UWFRA) and Cave Rescue Organisation (CRO) will miss out on more than £20,000 because the torch ceremony is being held on June 24 – the traditional date for the show held at Broughton Hall for the last 32 years. The show committee felt that with lots of family events being planned for the town centre it could have a massive affect on show attendance. There would also be problems with policing and the fact that caterers and attractions such as the bands who normally attend the show will instead be taking part in the torch ceremony – not just in Skipton but in surrounding areas through which the torch passes.
A change of date was considered but after a number of main attractions reported they were already booked up for the alternative weekends it was decided that putting on a sub-standard show could be disappointing for visitors and detrimental for following years. The volunteers are the big losers unfortunately, so I hope that people who would normally attend the show will go out of their way during the next twelve months to support the teams’ other fundraising events. Since 1979 the show has raised around £300,000 for the two groups. It has been cancelled only twice in the past – in 2001 because of Foot & Mouth and in 2009 after flash flooding.

Why do the Bronte worshippers take that more-often-than-not-soggy trail up to Top Withens? It’s a question I’ve often asked myself as the place has no proven link with the family. Okay, maybe it was the inspiration behind Emily’s Wuthering Heights – we’ll never know for sure – but the old farmhouse, derelict since the 1930s, continues to attract thousands of visitors every year. A while back I overtook two inadequately dressed Japanese visitors as I walked over the moor. They asked me ‘How faah Top Rivvens?’. They were relieved and excited as I pointed to the blackened ruin on the hillside and I wondered how deflated they might be when they eventually got there. The tourism bodies are certainly never going to play down its importance and I see this week that Yorkshire Water, who own the land and property, have been repointing and blocking off more dangerous areas. The place can be atmospheric and the views are tremendous. You can feel the building bracing itself against the elements but most of all you can let your imagination run riot.

I was chatting to a potholer from Bristol during the week who mentioned he was on his way to the Dales this weekend for some sport. I told him not to bother as most places would be waterlogged… I hope he took my warning seriously as the water was gushing out of the saturated hillsides on Saturday and Sunday.
The previous weekend the Cave Rescue Organisation (CRO) received multiple calls for overdue cavers due to flooding in a number of caves in the area. According to the CRO website, investigations quickly established that there were potentially six separate incidents. Fortunately five of these parties were reported as safe, having been delayed by high water. However, one party was confirmed as still being overdue: three cavers on a trip down to Duke Street II via Skylight Passage on Ireby Fell. As further information was being gathered at the road head, lights were seen on the moor. The cavers had been trapped by flooding, and the CRO transported them off the hill. I’m just putting the finishing touches to January’s Dalesman when we’ll be looking in depth (pardon the pun) at the remarkable work of the cavers who have just completed the Three Counties system on the Yorks/Cumbria/Lancs border… it’s a compelling tale, don’t miss it.
The CRO volunteers do a marvelous job… why not help raise funds for them and get rid of your used ink cartridges by going to http://cro.ink2cash.co.uk/
From this site you can print a freepost label and use any envelope to send off your cartridges. The CRO can make up to £2 per cartridge recycled.

Photo: one year ago to the day… compare the recent wet, grey weather with the scene that greeted me at Penyghent on Dec 5, 2010.

Those who spend their lives in the Dales will tell you all sorts of tales about the vagaries of the weather in the region. It really can change from dale to dale. I drove up through Wharfedale the other day, branching off over into Bishopdale. Conditions were dismal and the constant rain had brought out a rash of waterfalls around Cray. Some days you can venture up here and hardly see a trickle, while on other days, like this one, it looks like a great dam wall has sprung dozens of serious leaks. The rain subsided as I headed down the pastural delights of Bishopdale and when I hit Wensleydale patches of blue sky appeared. I just had to stop off at Aysgarth to see the swollen Ure charging down the falls. It’s difficult to say which section I favoured… the top falls were glorious and wide; middle thunderous; bottom frighteningly fast. After an appointment in Hawes I headed back via Ribblesdale where the weather was different again; very grey with low cloud obscuring Whernside and Ingleborough.