The Cloud Factory

Large Scale Cloud Generation

People have often remarked about the clouds I seem to find here in Yorkshire. It is well known as God's Own County (and there can surely be no argument with that!), but all the heavenly rays and dramatic shafts of light I've blipped recently are not really evidence of some Divine favour that is bestowed upon me. Although it has felt a bit like that occasionally, here lies the true origin of the fantastic clouds we enjoy up here. This is Drax Cloud Factory, churning out the very finest cumulus to be found anywhere in Western Europe. As a by-product it also (according to Wikipedia) generates 7% of the UK's electricity. The staggering thing here is that this place is no less than 35 miles away from the point where the shot was taken on Ilkley Moor. That gives some idea of the scale of the cloud generation we are talking about here.

I have to dedicate this blip to the great Schuh. Without the influence of her amazing photographs it might never have occurred to me to have taken this shot. This it to make up for missing out on meeting up with you last weekend. I hope there will be another opportunity some time before too long.

My winter bike is with the local shop and I have my fingers crossed that Marek the Mechanic can make some engineering magic happen. The bit that's broken off is part of the frame and it looks like some holes are going to have to be drilled. I'm supposed to keep my fingers crossed! So it was a run on the moor and after a week of very flat white skies today was a day of the most dramatic cloudscapes. I was totally spoiled for choice as to what to blip, but in the end it had to be this one. The run did my head the world of good. It was mild enough to be able to stop and ponder awhile and listen to the call of the curlews up by the reservoirs high on the eastern side of the moor. It was breathtakingly beautiful up there today.

A final note. Just after leaving home, running up Cow Pasture Lane towards the moor, I do believe I had a brief encounter with Alice in Blipland. A young woman - a vision of youthful loveliness indeed - was walking down the hill towards town and gave me the most endearing of smiles as we passed. I thought that it had to be someone I know - although complete strangers have been known to smile at me like that before! Racking my brains to think who it could have been, the notion came to be that it just had to be Alice, who I know lives somewhere up that same road. I can't wait to find out if I'm right!