Just in case you have never seen normal Pennine weather this is a fine day round here.
The M62 is the nearest Motorway to Royston Vasey, it runs from Hull to Liverpool, 107 miles. Parts of it round Manchester have a different number as it was hijacked by them to form a local ring road, as a result of which it is clogged by locals travelling a couple of miles to the local tripe stall. In Yorkshire they were much more sensible and bypassed Leeds and Bradford and let folk get on with the business of East / West travel. It is at it’s most interesting near to Royston Vasey as it crosses the Scammonden valley heading for the highest point of its route over the Pennines.
Here we see the embankment that carries the motorway and forms the dam wall for Scammonden Water. I’ve fond memories of this dam, having sailed on the wet side and watched racing cars hurtle up the service road on the dry side, even done both the same day, parking the boat and walking through the tunnel to see the hillclimb, you get some funny looks spectating in a wet suit. The bridge is known as The Brown Cow Bridge hereabouts, after the local pub. 
A view looking the other way taken from the Brown Cow Bridge looking East towards Huddersfield. Must have been taken earlier than the last as the grass has not yet grown on the bankings.
Now a little tale here, when they were digging out for the reservoir they had to demolish a farm belonging to Farmer Dyson. Farmer Dyson objected strongly and at one stage lay down in front of an advancing bulldozer driven by an equally determined driver and was only dragged clear at the last moment by the local MP. One of the buoys used by the sailing club is called `Dysons Buoy’ as a tribute. 
Now a bit further along the motorway going west was a farm owned by an equally determined farmer called Wilde who was not having a motorway through his kitchen. Now the Government and contractor say the motorway had to split there because of geological problems , how strange that Geological Problems should occur just where a bloody stubborn Yorkshireman stood in the way . Of course the Government WOULD NOT LIE, you would never get a prime minister stand up in Parliament and declare war on oil rich Iraq because Weapons Of Mass Destruction would be heading our way in 45 minutes if there were no Weapons Of Mass Destruction would you??. And big Business can be trusted can’t it, you’d never get say a bank going bust through deceit and incompetence , they are all as solid as a Northern Rock. I visited the workings when the motorway was being built and there were anti motorway signs all over that farm and martial music blasting out, Rule Britannia I remember. So here you are one of the most famous landmarks on the Motorway Network, a monument to Yorkshire Grit and determination.
