On the way to Wilsic near Braithwell
Good weather on March 1st meant a photo expedition for me. I was ticking off some Geograph squares to add to my tally of 16,200 separate squares so far. It meant driving Clint east of Sheffield to three locations - the hamlet of Wilsic, Bawtry Forest north east of Bawtry and the tiny village of Scaftworth - just over the border in Nottinghamshire.
Modern, economical housing at Harworth
One of the squares I needed to bag was deep inside Bawtry Forest. I knew there was a pond in there and I wanted to see it. I suspect it related to historical earthworks that were erected nearby long before anybody thought of making a pine plantation there.
Cottage at Martin Common
I could see the pond through the trees but then I heard the sudden bang of a shotgun. Someone was shooting wildfowl. It made sense to retreat. Lethal accidents with guns can easily happen in such circumstances and I didn't wish to be added to the numbers. I am sure it is a place that walkers very rarely visit.
I made it home unscathed and this evening felt well enough to visit the local pub to meet up with old chums and put the world to rights once again. Actually, we have three local pubs now! Two micropubs have just opened where once a bank and a green grocer's shop were located. They are called "The Dark Horse" and "The Itchy Pig". In cities, nothing stays the same.
Theaker Lane near Scaftworth
You will have to return to Bawtry Forrest with a bullet proof vest and helmet.
ReplyDeleteHopefully by then I will be able to go in with a secondhand Russian tank.
DeleteIt is always best to avoid random gunfire. And the pubs sound like safer places.
ReplyDeleteI am not a big fan of guns though I had a potato gun when I were a lad.
Deletethe shotgun blast really got your attention. It's quite a shock when you think no one else is in the area.
ReplyDeleteAnd that man, who I glimpsed briefly through the trees, would certainly have not been expecting anybody else to visit "his" pond.
DeleteOh, that last photo! I can see myself wandering down that road with my camera and a lunch bag.
ReplyDeleteI'd be backing away from any gunfire too!
I will join you on that walk River. I will bring a pork pie, pickled onions and a flask of coffee and you can sing "Waltzing Matilda" in slow time.
DeleteGorgeous blue skies! The 1st of March was clearly a good day for walking in your area. Retreating when you heard the shotgun was the sensible thing to do, even if it means you will have to go back another day to pocket that square.
ReplyDeleteLet me add to your last sentence, that things never stay the same in villages, either. In the six years I have been regularly spending my weekends at O.K.'s, I have seen quite a lot of change in the village, for instance a pharmacy turning into a bakery and a new school and many new houses being built.
I guess change was always the way - even way back in history.
DeleteGood to hear that you are recovered from the lurgy and that you escaped being shot as a plague carrier.
ReplyDeleteI was ringing my handbell just in case, chanting "Unclean! Unclean!".
DeleteDo micropubs have microwaves and microphones?
ReplyDeleteNo. But they have fellows who lean on the bar all night long yakking about polytunnels.
DeleteI'm so glad you got home safely.
ReplyDeleteThankfully, I did not encounter any Russian tanks.
DeleteIs it legal to shoot wildfowl in a public forest where other people might be around? And is this the right time of year?
ReplyDeleteIt's such a secret place and I believe the forest is private so rules can easily be ignored.
DeleteCrikey. Maybe Russian paratroopers have made it as far as Bawtry Forest.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Russian planners are like those kids in the Jay Leno video!
DeleteWe in the Republic of Letters are pleased to hear of your recovery from an unknown virus.
ReplyDeleteWe are concerned to learn that a shotgun was fired in Bawtry Forest.
Perhaps it was Prince Andrew letting off steam.
Andy could do with steady remunerative employment in Amazon or Costa Coffee.
Things never stay the same in villages, as Meike observed.
John Kay and Mervyn King wrote a book in 2020, *Radical Uncertainty*.
They were going to call it, *Through A Glass, Darkly*.
*To A Mouse* by Robert Burns: Scottish Poetry Library.
The ploughman poet holds a trembling field mouse in his hand and ponders its fate.
Still thou art blessed, compared wi' me !
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear !
And forward, tho' I cannot see,
I guess an' fear !
Andrew told Emily Maitliss that the Sandringham party to which Giselle Maxwell was invited was not a birthday party! Oh no! It was "just an ordinary shooting party"! What the! Talk about wee timorous beasties!
DeletePerhaps you ran into a modern version of Robin Hood and his merry men bagging some supper!
ReplyDeleteDo you tally your kilometers hiked in bagging all those squares?
No I don't but with each walk I do I know how many miles I have plodded. I don't think in kilometres.
DeleteTerrific blue skies! I had to read up on the Geograph project - what a great way to get people out and about.
ReplyDeleteI have been a member since 2009. I am glad you understand why this project still grabs me.
DeleteLovely photos in an otherwise bleak day.
ReplyDeleteI don't plan to spend all my time worrying about Ukraine.
DeleteExcellent photos as always YP. That was quite a hike considering you'd been feeling under the weather. In fact the weather looked perfect for such a jaunt.
ReplyDeleteGunfire! Has Britain turned into a mini America with shotguns everywhere? How long before everyone is sending personalised Christmas cards with all the family toting rifles, standing on a captured Russian tank?
Ha-ha! I have seen personalised American family Christmas cards like that. Pretty chilling.
DeleteGlad you're feeling better and could get out and about. I'm jealous of that blue sky!
ReplyDeleteThere won't be another day like that this week.
DeleteThe modern houses have already built in tarmacked front garden driveways, one for each working member of the household? Hopefully they have a little green space at the back for relaxing. Your dalliance around this part of England could it be made into a book with such good photos maybe?
ReplyDeleteI hate the appearance of those houses. So functional without beauty or style. "Little boxes, little boxes and they all look just the same..."
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