Blakey's Thruscross Reservoir Video

book · Post by **book** » Wed 13 Jun, 2012 10:52 pm

It's a great bit of history. Well done Blakey. What intrigues me is how the idea of flooding the valley was met by people listening to the embryonic suggestion. Looking at expanse of the valley it must have been some imagination and vision for whoever it was that first thought about it

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Wed 13 Jun, 2012 11:50 pm

Si wrote: Thankyou Chrism and Blakey. Just a couple of months ago, I was standing on the bank of the reservoir looking at that same view, trying to imagine what was below the surface. Now I know! Nice work with the camera, Blakey, and a good, natural delivery. I enjoyed the video very much. Thank you Si and I'm glad that you liked it - as they say these days"At a cinema near you from next Monday."Trouble is, the Beech Hill, the Kirkgate, the Victoria Burley, Essoldo and Grove Ilkley, and Plaza Guiseley are all long gone - so I've missed the boat - again !!

LS1 · Post by **LS1** » Thu 14 Jun, 2012 9:08 am

Fantastic Blakey - it's pretty proffesional too, you've a steady camera hand!

Chrism · Post by **Chrism** » Thu 14 Jun, 2012 2:48 pm

Here's a pic of the bus Chris (Blakey) drove over the West End bridge as mentioned in the video.

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Thu 14 Jun, 2012 8:51 pm

Chrism wrote: Here's a pic of the bus Chris (Blakey) drove over the West End bridge as mentioned in the video. Again many thanks Chrism for your assistance - the size of the wonderful little Bedford OB is about as large as the old road and bridge would accommodate.

Caron · Post by **Caron** » Thu 14 Jun, 2012 10:00 pm

Thank you, Blakey, I really enjoyed the video and shall be showing it to my family

Jogon · Post by **Jogon** » Fri 15 Jun, 2012 7:14 pm

Fellow walkers up that way - espec if out aloneJust to mention that danger lurks at high tide, low tide and normal tide (when you'd least expect sudden hight tides!).Watch and learn (now I understand the 'levels may suddenly fluctuate' signs)The dam has periodic releases. This is one. Popular with kayakers, looks scary to me. http://youtu.be/5y6_RUZ_HnYclick to 4:21 if you're bored..

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Fri 15 Jun, 2012 7:23 pm

Several years back now when walking in the area nearish to the cricket ground I saw 2 very large dark coloured animals darting between rocks on the side of the river. I only got a very brief look and from what I found out later they may well have been mink, as they were much too large for weasels/stoats and were definitely not rabbits!

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Sat 16 Jun, 2012 12:45 am

Quite a remarkable sight. I was also a bit chuffed cos when I saw the date you filmed this I realised that it was filmed on my birthday - actually my 21st birthday! So when you were filming this I can remember exactly where I was - doing a pub crawl from Hyde Park into Leeds, from the Royal Park pub, The Feast and Firkin (now the Library), Packhorse and Fenton ending up in The Pig and Whistle (now gone as a pub). I remember it was the first (and last) time I ever drank Jack Daniels as I tried to drink it in one and immediately hurled all over the table... how revolting!Thruscross Reservoir is also the only place where I've ever got lost while out walking, it was in the spring of 2006 and I'd gone for a walk around this reservoir on a Saturday afternoon. I was walking my bearcoat sharpei dog who was called 'Brownbear' (he kind of looked like a bear / lion), kind of like the chow chow breed. Anyway I'd walked around the other reservoirs in the Washburn valley (Fewston / Swinsty / Lindley) and I thought for a change I'd venture up to Thruscross as it was the furthest away. You might be thinking how on earth could someone get lost walking around a reservoir?! Well quite easily it seemed, I'd totally underestimated how long it was going to take, plus the fact the path doesnt exactly follow the edge of the reservoir which is a pretty strange shape anyway. So I parked up my Vauxhall Cavalier in the car park and headed off over the dam - I was taking an anti-clockwise route, I'd not taken any map or compass as I didnt think it would be required. A third of the way around the water the sun was already going down fast. Anyway I managed to get as far as where the middle of the forked section of the top left hand side of the reservoir is, and it started raining and a thick mist descended. I saw absolutely no other walkers who I could ask for directions. The paths had left the side of the water and in the mist I couldnt see where the path was heading towards. I just kept heading in a general direction, but I was walking in the wrong direction. After a while walking over this moorland I thought I ought to have come back to where the path overlooked the reservoir, but I was in a different place. By now it was pretty frightening, I was having a nightmare that my car - as it was parked in the car park, was either going to get locked in the car park - or even towed away! Also as it got rapidly darker and darker I was getting paranoid that myself and my dog might get blasted at by some farmer thinking I was out poaching sheep or something... You get the idea? All these factors were adding up to a general feeling of TOTAL PANIC! Ha ha ha! Anyway at long last after having to walk blindly across fields negotiating flocks of cows and sheep ( I thought one of them was an angry bull!) I came across a road - thank god! However now a new nightmare presented itself, I had no clue where I was, there were no road signs, and I didnt have the faintest idea of which direction to head in... Worst case scenario was I could have walked for miles along this single track, unlit road, only to find I'd walked in the wrong direction and would have to walk miles back the way I'd come, or even that Brownbear and myself might be mown down by some crazed joyriders out playing 'ogs of the road in this 'real country dark'... So I decided to head to the left as it kind of felt right, and after a few miles we came across the West End Outdoor Centre, which if anyone knows it, is a pretty bizarre looking 1960s church - which was actually built to replace the old church which was submerged with the creation of the reservoir. Apparently the bodies buried at the West End church had to be exhumed and reburied here, and as if that wasnt bad enough at some point the new church was sold and the bodies were re-exhumed and reburied in some godforsaken location on the opposite side of the reservoir just up towards Greenhow Hill from the Stonehouse Inn crossroads.I was lucky that on this Saturday night the West End Outdoor Centre, which is kind of a hostel, was occupied and I banged on the door and explained what had happened to me. The occupants had a good chuckle and made me a cup of tea and gave Brownbear a scotch egg and a bowl of water! I had a look at the map and realised I wasnt far from the car park - about a ten minute walk, and when I got back to the car park the gates werent locked, but my car was the only car left in the car park. I've just had a look for a photo that I took on that day and here is one of Brownbear sniffing for other dogs wee! The photo was taken just above the dam right in the car park at the start of our walk, I forgot that photos store the time / date and I just realised that the photo was taken at 17:23 on the 22nd April 2006 - so in hindsight it was a pretty daft time to start a walk that ended up taking over 4 hours! I didnt get home until after 10pm and my girlfriend was about to call the mountain rescue as I'd only given her a vague comment about taking Brownbear for a walk in the Dales. So beware if you ever head up that way for a walk around the reservoir, it can get pretty scarey if you go unprepared, or your visit is ill-timed and the darkness and mist descends...

book · Post by **book** » Sat 16 Jun, 2012 10:33 am

I must have missed this one. I have walked round them all, I thought I had but not this one so I'll give it a go. My favourite wald for the views is Scar House