7 October 2014

Excursion

Beverley Beck and the twin towers of Beverley Minster
At the weekend, I drove over to Hull to see my beloved Tigers beat Crystal Palace 2-0. I stayed with my old mate Tony in Beverley - sleeping on his living room floor on an airbed. We had been out to the best pub in the world - "The White Horse" on Hengate - better known as Nelly's before enjoying a nice curry meal in "Dine Bangla" at Wednesday Market.

On Sunday morning, we went for a walk along Beverley Beck to the point where it meets The River Hull. This beck was important with regard to Beverley's development during the middle ages when the town became one of the most prosperous in England with a population to match. It attracted Flemish traders and wool merchants and saw the construction of one of England's finest churches - the truly awesome Beverley Minster which still towers above the rooftops.

Then it was on to my birthplace - Leven in the very heart of East Yorkshire. I was there to see my younger brother Simon who still lives in my mother's old house. We chatted for a while before I set off homewards - deliberately taking an unusual route after Beverley. 
Anti-fracking protest camp at Crawberry Hill
Along Walkington Heads where there's an anti-fracking protest encampment, then down the chalk  wolds to charming North Newbald and Hotham. Onwards to the hamlets of North and South Cliffe then over farmland to Holme upon Spalding Moor. From this large and sprawling village I turned into a country lane that takes you, after a couple of miles, to a small settlement called Land of Nod.

There's not much to see in Land of Nod - just a couple of farms that seem to have re-invented themselves as producers of high quality turf. In The Bible, The Land of Nod was where Cain was exiled after murdering his brother Abel. It lay east of Eden. As I drove away, now heading back to Sheffield via Howden and the M62, three young pheasants sprinted ahead of me - as daft as brushes:- 
Leaving Land of Nod
St Oswald's. Parish church in Hotham
Village hall and church in North Cliffe
Church Hill in Holme on Spalding Moor

13 comments:

  1. You were so close YP!! North Cliffe is just a hop, skip and a jump from us. You should have called in for a cup of tea. Did you see Daniel Craig in Nelly's?

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    1. Yes. I did see Daniel Craig! He was with an escort girl called Kylie - from Woodmansey and he's developed a paunch. I told him that James Bond films are hogwash. He had awfully bad breath.

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  2. Another good look round.
    I wonder why they didn't finish St. Oswald's?

    Those anti-frackers could do with a few strokes of the birch.
    What on earth do they think my beloved Formula 1 cars are going to run on not to mention footballer's Ferraris?

    They have no thought for anyone but themselves.

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    1. You sound (and look) like the devil's advocate Adrian!
      As for St Oswald's, the tower is authentically Norman, the rest of the church - to the right - was a later replacement mostly in two stages - start of the nineteenth and start of the twentieth centuries.

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    2. Thanks, I thought it looked a bit odd.

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  3. I love every photograph in this post but the anti-fracking encampment.

    Saying "the twin towers" makes Americans clench their teeth.

    Since Eden and Nod were probably in Mesopotamia, I wonder if Cain's descendants wound up in ISIS/ISIL?

    The photo of the pheasants provided great phun!

    Is the clock on St. Oswald's tower also authentically Norman? (I think not.)

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    1. a) Beverley Minster's twin towers were erected over 500 years before the World Trade Centre.
      b) Where is ISIS/ISIL? I thought that was the name of an American rapper!
      c) They'd be better phlucked and roasted on a phire.
      d) No that is a Rolex clock. The church is sponsored by Rolex. Previously there was sundial sponsored by Lord Hotham.

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    2. Bob, twin towers and teeth grinding. It is not the image I have of your nations reaction. It seemed at the time to be more an unsuccessful exercise in collective buttock clenching.
      Isils are all codependents of Cain, Cain lives in Saudi Arabia.
      Today they are the anti-Christ. Tomorrow they will be our friends. Most seem to enjoy a day at the races with our head of state.The bad ones are just folk who feel they have no future. Our PM Dithery is now committed to all out war on them, whoever the thems are; that is Conservative Party policy just before an election. He has committed six jets and one has a water canon. He is reacting like them he is a man with no future.

      Sorry for my ramblings YP. I didn't mean to play with my devils whotsit. Advocate, I thought that Advocate was a liqueur that footballers wives tipped coke and vodka into. My Gran used to have one or two at Christmas.
      "Just a small one dear and it's nice with a drop of sherry in."
      Five of those and we could get on with the meal to the accompaniment of rythmatic snoring.

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  4. "Daft as a brush" - it's been a while since I've last heard this expression! (And then it was not referring to me.)
    The picture with the village hall and church could be straight from a picture book.

    Do you go back to your mother's old house and to see your brother often? I may be mistaken but I have the impression that this is the first time I find it mentioned here on your blog.

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    1. You have hit upon something in your last paragraph Meike but it's not a subject I would wish to elaborate upon in these comments.

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  5. Surely this is a site well worth seeing.

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    1. Hello Jerry. Thanks for dropping by. You are a man of discerning good taste!

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  6. I was going to ask about St Oswald's because the tower (minus clock!) does look Norman but I couldn't reconcile the remainder.. It's a very 'purposeful' looking church. After your last post I was trying to think when I was last in Beverley. One of the problems of Blogland is that there are so many photos of and references to places I've been but just can't recall now. Oh dear: too many decades.

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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