Milepost

I think you might be over-analyzing it. You composed it well except the tombstone on the left (I think it's a tombstone) may be a little outta place in my opinion. I think it's a great shot either way with a lot of emotion caused by the grain and grittiness.

Graham, I feel that the road area in the foreground takes up too much space for something that has so little impact. I can see why you wanted to include the milepost, but if you crop just above the milepost, the picture gains IMO a lot more impact. You can test this by placing a black card over the image on the screen up to just above the milepost and see what you think.
I do as always offer this as just one person's opinion.

Cheers
Vincent

Not too dark or gritty for me. I think it looks really nice! I think the naturally darker tones of the road and clouds are balanced well by the tombstone, lines in the road, and break in the clouds. And there's a nice distinction to the line of the mountains in the background.

Very nice print. Good composition, nice grain, the high contrast suits it well.
- Thomas