Huddersfield Town, from Castle Hill.

 

There’s some great views of Huddersfield Town from the heights of Castle Hill.

It was a great day to take the camera for a walk: it was pleasantly warm, and the air at the summit was surprisingly calm considering the hill reaches a thousand feet above sea level. Best of all though, the light was great; there was cloud cover – quite heavy at times – but it was really patchy and sailed quickly through the heavens, creating swathes of contrasting light which washed over the top of the hill and out over the vista which lay before my eager lens.

I’ve only driven through Huddersfield on a couple of occasions, and I’d never been through the district which led me to Castle Hill. The traffic was quite heavy and, as is the way of these old towns with a medieval heritage, the roads are all over the place. And being unfamiliar with the lay-out meant I missed a few of the turns my sat-nav was suggesting. I got there eventually though; climbing out of the traffic and up onto the brow of Castle Hill where I was surprised by just how rural Huddersfield looked from this vantage point – despite the choking traffic I had to navigate to get there.

Having parked the car, I walked up the final slope towards the Victoria Tower – an enormous edifice built on the crown of the hill to celebrate Queen Victoria’s jubilee year – and unpacked the camera.

As ever, I took a huge number of pictures, most of which will never see post-processing. I enjoyed the experience though, and I hope you like some of the results.

One point worth mentioning: one of the monochrome images I’ve posted here shows a tower in the background. This is the Emley Moor Transmitting Station, it stands 1,084 ft. tall and is, I was surprised to learn, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom; higher, by 20m, than London’s  famous ‘Shard’.