English weather? I love it. I love it's unpredictability. It seems like a metaphor for life itself. You never know what you are going to get.
On Sunday morning I woke to snow. It covered the garden and the blooming daffodils and the road and poor Clint - shivering in his special parking place. And then on Monday morning I woke to blue sky, bright sunshine and spring greenery. The contrast could hardly be more stark.
I drove up to the flatlands near the town of Goole - "England's premier inland port". I was there to walk and to take photographs in the beautiful light.
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| Goole - seen across a bend in The River Ouse |
I walked in four villages I had never visited before. They all sit close to The River Ouse, protected from flooding by earth embankments and flood walls and pumping stations. They were - Old Goole, Swinefleet, Reedness and Whitgift.
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| Old phone box in Reedness |
South of these villages there is a wide expanse of flat farming land dissected by long straight drains. There are occasional lonesome farms and you ponder a while to imagine how it must be to live in such places, without neighbours or communities.
Whitgift has a lovely old church made from limestone even though there are no stone quarries for many a mile. I imagine rafts and barges bringing the stone down Yorkshire's river system - probably from the ancient quarries nearTadcaster. The church was built in 1304 - replacing an earlier building. It seems almost incredible that our forebears would go to so much trouble transporting stone like that.
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| The Church of Mary Magdalene, Whitgift |
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| Whitgift Lighthouse by The Ouse |
The church is beautiful. Can visitors go inside? Our lovely weather arrived on Sunday and I spent all day outside working in the yard. I'm so glad it's spring!
ReplyDeleteThis church is locked. One would have to attend a Sunday service or contact the keyholder. Good that it didn't rain on you at the weekend!
DeleteJust north of the area where on the old one-inch scale maps, there used to be a grid square with absolutely nothing in it at all. As regards Whitgift Church, did you notice anything odd about the clock?
ReplyDeleteYes. Instead of XII for twelve, the clock has XIII instead! So in Whitgift it can be 13 o'clock. I know about that OS square. It's right next to the village of Ousefleet. I wish I had known about it before this little excursion. It is intersected by drainage channels.
DeleteHello. I hope you don't mind me commenting? I have only recently come across your blog and am enjoying your posts and photos. I too love the unpredictable weather here in our green and pleasant land. In the late 80s we lived briefly overseas where every day we woke up to blue sky and sunshine all year round. The seasons hardly changed and after a couple of years I longed for the misty, slightly smokey autumn air or the crisp, cold winter of home. Although a Londoner by birth, my father's family all hailed from Barnsley / Pontefract and my father in law was from Sheffield, so perhaps I can be forgiven for being a southerner?
ReplyDeleteFor a moment I thought you were a famous rapper! JayCee sounds like JayZee. Given your family links with Yorkshire you are very welcome to comment here. After all, through the centuries many northerners have had to seek their fortunes in England's soft underbelly. Thank you for understanding and supporting my view of English weather.
DeleteThis is a lovely post but I really think you need to not whip Clint's silver ass.
ReplyDeleteSometimes Clint can be so stubborn. I have tried stroking his bonnet (American:hood) and giving him nice lubricants but sometimes only the whip works.
DeleteI'm glad your snow didn't hang around! I wonder where the name "Whitgift" comes from? There's a shopping center in Croydon called the Whitgift Centre. Aren't you glad you know that now? LOL
ReplyDeleteYes I am delighted to know that Steve. There was an information board near the church in Whitgift. The name is thought to mean 'Hviti's or Hwita's gift'...Hwita being perhaps a Viking settler.
DeleteI am always impressed at the number of beautiful places available for you to visit on your walks.
ReplyDeleteIt surprises me too Allison.
DeleteI was just about to mention the Whitgift Centre (and school by the same name) in Croydon, but Steve got there first. Maybe something to do with a Whitsun gift?
ReplyDeleteAs I said to Steve - the name is thought to mean 'Hviti's or Hwita's gift'. How the name got to Croydon I have no idea.
DeleteThe sort of landscape I’m familiar with. I see that the Peak District has the top two of the most popular walks according to today’s BBC news website. I suspect they were nominated by serious walkers. I’d love to visit Kinder Scout, partly because I think the name is quite evocative. I guess you know it well.
ReplyDeleteI do know it well Philip. Most people just visit the edge of it. It is an edge that encircles what is mostly a massive, featureless peat bog and it can be quite dangerous to traverse it. The edge has some splendid outcrops. It is like another world up there - quite magical really.
DeleteOur weather is changeable too - I just left a comment on Steve Reed's blog to the effect that we never have to suffer one kind of weather too long as maritime weather is constantly changing.
ReplyDeleteI love the photo of Goole taken from across the river - those plants at water's edge just make that shot stand out for me. The rest are beautiful, too, but in a more traditional way.
I am glad you like that picture Jenny. I think you could also say that England's climate is "maritime" because our weather is - like yours - very much connected with The Atlantic Ocean.
DeleteGreat tour and history. We are the owners of vast territory and lonesome farms. It's not so bad now that there is better transportation.
ReplyDelete...and easier communication too.
DeleteWe're still experiencing quite warm weather here even though we have entered March...which is the start of our autumn. However, temperatures such as the ones we're experiencing are not unusual for March even though all the climate-changers are wringing their hands, jumping up and down as is their wont.
ReplyDeleteMy ex-husband and I married on 21st March, 1976...and it was a bloody hot day...with not a whisper was heard from anyone or any avenue about "global warming" or "climate change".
Lovely clear photos, Yorkie. :)
Thanks for calling by again Lee... March 21st 1976. That's 43 years ago. Does it seem like yesterday?
DeleteNo...it would have if today was Monday instead of Wednesday, though...because 21st March, 1976 was a Sunday! :)
DeleteSilly billy!
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