The Cycle 'Super' highway.

The Cycle Super highway has no immediate benefits whatsoever to the ordinary cycle commuter. All that the new lane has done is further aggravate the already 'cycle-negative' driving public with a year of traffic disruption and compromised roads. None of this of course is the fault of cyclists, motorists however, seem to think otherwise...

As a cyclist who can reach 20-25mph as an average speed, the ill thought out, tokenistic nature of the way the lane has been planned, installed and revised once the top down plan was seen as unworkable on the ground is in a word, dangerous. Junctions with intersecting roads appear as afterthoughts or orientated in a manner that the cyclist will always lose out.

Previously, the painted lane, although seen as more dangerous actually helped the cyclist and traffic flow in harmony by channelling their priorities in the same direction. The new cycle lane crosses side roads at the point where the car would usually pull up to if turning from that side road, putting the cyclist in danger at every junction.

This morning's close call, van let out & doesn't look. Struggled to stay on after evasive action #Leeds #cycling pic.twitter.com/rpPaKYlMrs

— Joe Stenson (@LeedsUrbex) March 7, 2016

This, coupled with drivers attitudes towards cyclists now being more hostile than ever before due to the ordinary cyclist being the point at which drivers can vent their anger for the problems they've encountered, time lost and the seemingly wasteful project that is the Cycle Superhighway.

I'm sure those who also cycle, and who have used the roads along this route to commute whilst the 'infrastructure' installation has been underway have endured a number of problems, however I am writing to highlight how what used to be an ordinary commute by bicycle has now turned into a daily fight.

The cycle superhighway has large blue signs plonked in and around it stating that it is opening in 'Spring 2016' However, to the casually observing motorist, the lane looks complete and when a cyclist doesn't use the lane to avoid roadworks, masses of tyre bursting gravel and other obstacles this seems to make them extremely angry. So much so that I encounter almost daily conflict and abuse, sometimes escalating to having to defend myself whilst riding due motorists attempting to bully me towards the lane with their vehicles.

The objective of the lane was to create a safe environment for cyclists, instead it has done the exact opposite. 

Follow @LeedsUrbex

Yorkshire Woollen Industry: A continuing study.

Over the past 5 years I have dedicated a lot of time to the research and investigation of the remnants of the once might Yorkshire Wool trade. Mainly concentrating on the remaining buildings associated with the industry: Mills. This post comprises a number of photographs taken in one of many mills visited. 

This mill’s primary use was for the knitting / weaving of fabric and cloth using circular knitting machines, of which there were many still left in situ. Many of the earlier machines were made by Mellor Bromley of Leicester, probably dating from the 1960’s with later models having the addition of ‘Wildt’ Some later 80’s and 90’s machines by Camber, also of Leicester were near the back of the knitting room. 

Threads of differing gauges were fed through the top of the machines through spools held on racks nearby, patterns are then dictated by metal pattern discs. These machines produce a ‘sock’ of cloth that are either plain or patterned and then rolled and packed.

We couldn’t put a definitive use on much of the cloth that remained as it just looked like generic material, a lot of which was half finished, with ‘socks’ still on the machines. 

The equipment was cleared very shortly after we went in by Leicester Machine Movers and conversion is about to start as of October 2015. 

You can’t get more Yorkshire than a boat that says ‘Eyup’ on the side.

Follow @LeedsUrbex

Italian Urbex Road Trip, June 2015.

Italia - June 2015.

This getaway was engineered around being our very good friend Cregg’s Euro Stag do, but instead of the Borat-esque green man thongs, gimp suits and gas masks (found usually on European explorations and UK stag do’s) we opted for a normal, pleasant, 2500km jaunt around the Italian countryside exploring many fantastic Industrial abandonments.

I’ve been adding bits and bobs to an Italian map for about 2 years in anticipation of a time when we’d be able get over and this June, we finally did.

Arriving in Pisa we picked up a disappointingly poor Opel Mokka and commenced its thrashing with a blast southwards along the western Industrial coast towards Rome. The Italians have some pretty good Autostradas, that cost an arm and a leg to drive down, however, their ‘free’ motorways are pitted and potholed to buggery.

A few kilometres later, we rolled up to this massive ex-sugar refinery. Slap bang in the middle of a little coastal town, it wasn’t bad and hosted the first of many turbine halls that we visited on this trip. A pretty fine way to start off the weekend and also the first encounter with the incredibly savage undergrowth, brambles and general spiky plants that Italy seems to cultivate, very well.

Carrying on further down the coast, we swiftly checked out an enormous ex-chemical plant that had a few details, a train and some brilliant timber structures holding up the large factory floors.

Heading yet further South I’d been given a lead to follow and with a tiny snippet of information we arrived at what looked like a 50 foot high patch of bamboo, brambles with ‘trunks’, nettles, giant hogweed and all manner of spiky fuckers with a small 100 year old hydro electric power plant sticking out of the top. Also loads of cats.

After an hour of hacking and being thoroughly lacerated we were inside this tiny building, and what an absolute stunner.

Towards sundown our journey took us inland where as usual we shunned the ‘pro-hobo’ bollocks and opted for a hostel who provided us with a chilled bottle of red wine and pasta.

Next day was another hydroelectric power plant, this time providing a little more juice than the last and a turbine that looked like a snail - bonus.

Followed by another power plant turbine hall furnished with turbines manufactured by the Italian wing of Brown Boveri, named ‘Tecnomasio Italiano Brown Boveri’

The sign says ‘No Smoking’ funnily enough.

Onwards into Umbria and another power station, this one adjoining a still functioning gas plant, unfortunately the Siemens turbine sets had been removed, their hall, cooling tower, extract fans and controls remained as did the 1957 brass makers plates I found in a drawer.

Terry clothing manufacturers, pretty much slap bang in the middle of nowhere. It had a supermarket where we purchased our daily ham and cheese to shove into some bread.

The end of the day saw us heading up past Florence and Genoa towards the Dolomites and a fucking incredible electric storm which stopped us in our tracks a couple of times due to visibility and almost merging into a lorry - nice. A night at the oddly named Wolf Village and onwards through one of those crisp mornings where it’s sunny after a long night of rain.

The next morning we headed to a former Ecclesiastical college in the Dolomitian foothills and had a good poke around.

Carrying on the institutional theme of the day, next en route was Manicomo di R, a stalwart of the Italian exploration scene and somewhere I’d wanted to see for a long long time. It took us a good while to get inside here due to lots of people being around. We waited for them to piss off and have their siesta or whatever they call in Italy and set about exploring. Some of the main ‘relics’ or those things you see photographed time and time again had disappeared, which was great as we found things I’d never seen before.

Next stop was Manicomo di Vercelli, which turned out to be a calculated massacre by about 1 billion mosquitos. Popped our heads into a few buildings, decided it was a shit derp and bailed running back to the car to escape the bitey bastards (no photos from here)

Next morning we headed towards yet another popular Italian spot, known as Il Scuneo, another hydroelectric plant that powered a huge cotton mill. Three black Tecnomasio Italiano Brown Boveri vertical hydro turbines from the 1920’s sit in this very grand hall. Tales of alarms and security and all sorts were unfounded and we were swiftly inside and dismayed to find one of the turbines in bits due to refurbishment perhaps? Looks like they’re doing something here to preserve things and presumably the turbine will be put back together.

Last and least, Compound GIC, another sugar refinery on the outskirts of a smelly town in the Southern Veneto, this was a bit of a waste of time. It also has a thing which in urban land is called the ‘Occulus Tower’ fuck knows what it did but it is big, circular and derp.

So that was it, we headed back to Lucca to stay over before our flight back from Pisa and mix with brits in panama hats, eat pizza and drink more moustache Italian lager.

Always ROCKET UR LENZES M9

Follow @LeedsUrbex