28 November 2017

Walking

Regular visitors to this humble Yorkshire blog have had to tolerate numerous illustrated posts connected with my various rambles. Once again, your correspondent begs for his readership's kind forbearance  as he reports on his two most recent country walks.

Here in the heart of the island of Britain, we have had some gorgeous days recently - illuminated by sharp, wintry sunshine. On such days it seems so wrong to remain indoors doing indoor things like clipping one's  toenails or baking brownies or slouching in front of the television. It's good to get out. Apart from anything else a vigorous walk in the countryside has a very pleasant effect upon one's psychology - staving off any symptoms of the winter blues.

Last Thursday I headed out of the city in a north easterly direction. passing The Doncaster-Sheffield Airport - also known as Robin Hood Airport. I arrived in a village I had never visited before. It sits in a very flat peatland area that is ingeniously dissected by a network of field drains. The village is called Wroot and it is the westernmost settlement in Lincolnshire.
The River Torne near Wroot
Main Street, Wroot
It is a watery area and in very wet weather I am sure that the drains are filled to overflowing as the surrounding fields begin to flood. I walked over The River Torne - not on its surface as some of you might have imagined - but via a bridge. Then out through fields and birch woods to Hatfield Moor - part of the Humber-Peatlands Nature Reserve. A five mile circle brought me back to Wroot which is a linear village built on a slight ridge - I guess just high enough to be above any flood waters.
After Wroot, I tootled homewards via the village of Finningley and our local airport that in fact occupies the site of what once was R.A.F. Finningley.

Today, not wishing to drive far, I headed south to the Derbyshire hamlet of Cowley and completed a delightful five mile walk through woods and fields, along Barlow Brook, passing fishing ponds. I disturbed two grey herons. They seem very skittish birds whch at the first sight of a human being will invariably flap away. I suppose they are good judges of potential danger given our past record!
Near Barlow Lees
Mission Chapel in Cowley
Up the slope through yet another stone stile and along to Barlow Lees before squelching across waterlogged sheep pastures back to Cowley. Two hours of splendorous walking and it was not yet one o' clock in the afternoon. I felt invigorated and also happy that I had not asked too much of my right knee. 

Finally - I think that medical doctors should prescribe country walks for several common ailments instead of dishing out tablets all the time. Country walks remind us that we are alive and they get oxygenated blood pumping through our blood vessels. 
Moorwood Farm
Hippymobile near Furnace Farm

35 comments:

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    1. It reminds me of one or two country churches I saw in New Zealand.

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    2. Just popped in to have a look around your lovely blog. Yes...when I saw the photo of the church, I thought it looked like NZ country churches too....although would have been built of wood.

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  2. You're right, a nice walk or cycle ride in the country can keep those winter blues away. Beautiful photos.

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    1. We can spend too much time thinking instead of seeing the world around us.

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  3. I walk everyday and I enjoy peeking over your shoulder on your walks.

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    1. You are very welcome to peep over my shoulder Jane but please don't bite me!

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  4. Looking forward to walking in the beautiful English countrydide when we stay in Grassington next year.......though we / I am not planning anything strenuous like 5 miles. I like to stroll rather than the brisk English way and there will be very many stops for photos and just plain soaking it all up.

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    1. Grassington will be an excellent base for exploring the lower Yorkshire Dales. I hope you also get to visit Fountains Abbey near Ripon. If you don't like walking big distances then Tony can provide piggyback rides.

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    2. He's a big strong fellow YP but not THAT big and strong !!

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  5. Oh, good. I see my old automobile made it to Furnace Farm in time for Christmas. Brother, I find it hard to believe that, as many jaunts as we travel together, you have never been to the village of Wroot!

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    1. Vicariously, I took you to Wroot and we enjoyed drinks together in "The Cross Keys". You had cider from Somerset while I drank a foaming pint of best bitter. You were very giggly.

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  6. Agreed that people should be out walking for at least 2 hours or five miles. You've just made me feel guilty and persuaded me to walk with a friend tomorrow morning at 9.

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    1. Tell your friend to bring her bullwhip... or is it a male friend?

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    2. Male friend and we're both northerners so we become lost in chat. But Bob walks many miles a day.

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  7. All those "Barlow" places made me smile!

    I never get tired of your walking posts. The photos are always nice!

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    1. I was very close to the village of Barlow that I have told you about before.
      Go here:-
      http://www.barlowvillage.co.uk/

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  8. How does one pronounce "Wroot"? (is the w silent?)

    What beautiful places you see, and through you, we do also. I am especially drawn to the moss-covered stone walls. So beautiful.

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    1. You are right Jenny - silent "w". The name "Wroot" comes from an Old English word - "wrout" - meaning a spur of land.

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  9. Flat land, winter light and lowering skies.

    Alphie

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    1. Your comment sounds like the first line of a poem Alphie:-
      Flat land, winter light and lowering skies
      I beheld old Wroot with my own eyes
      The River Torne slid by like a snake
      As wild ducks bickered in a nearby lake

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  10. Another of your splendid country rambles, illustrated with excellent photos again and a reminder that there is more to life than our squabbles over Brexit, a sentiment expressed simply, by the slogan on the old car.

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    1. I am glad you spotted that slogan Derek. In the sixties it seemed like a silly hippy saying but there is a lot of wisdom in it. "Make Love Not War".

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    2. Yes, it's been an excuse I've given to an ex-wife after being caught elsewhere once or twice.

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    3. I doubt that the slogan included any reference to sheep.

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  11. I am full of envy here! (No, I'm not. We have beautiful countryside for walks here, too, but I do so love the stone walls and fields and so on.) I guess you can guess which one is my favourite picture of this lot, although two of them are hard competitors.
    Walking is so good for one's physical and psychological health! The toe nail clipping, brownie baking and TV slouching can still be done when it's dark or too wet.

    I still have not started on the book about walking which I bought in the summer in Ripon, recommended by you, but it sits there on my shelf, just waiting for me to pick it up - soon.

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    1. You have to be in the mood to immerse yourself in "The Old Ways". It is a more challenging read. I hope it pleases you one day.

      P.S. I suspect you liked the tumbledown wall best of all.

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  12. No walks for us yet today. It's cold, miserable and pelting down with rain of the monsoon variety, which makes your tour around Wroot even more enjoyable. I can feel the fresh air doing me good !

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    1. I infused this post with fresh country air so I am glad that some of it leaked out from your computer CG.

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  13. I'm going to have to charge up my camera and take some photos of me walking...to the mailbox...across to my lemon tree...through the supermarket aisles...

    Nope....I'll leave all the walking up to you, Yorkie...and the picture-taking. My prowess with a camera is no where near as good as yours. :)

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    1. It would be nice to see some pictures of your environment Lee. Your palatial designer mansion, the cul-de-sac, the shopping centre and of course The Tamborine Mountain Distillery.

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    2. My "palatial designer mansion" is actually a garage that has been converted into a somewhat livable dwelling, Yorkie. It is by no means a mansion, not in any form...not even close!

      When I go out, my desire to get to wherever it is I'm headed, and then back home again with as few stops along the way as possible. I'm not one for browsing and pausing - maybe I should change my ways, my habits...but I won't. :)

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  14. That car is the BEST! I would definitely have photographed that! (And you did, so I guess I don't have to!) I feel the same way about walking -- it's definitely the best medicine for many ills.

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    1. If you wish, I will go back to that farm and make an offer on the car that the owner will not be able to refuse. You and Dave will look so cool cruising down Finchley Road in your own Love Bug.

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