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| In Hotham |
Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. Well that is what Noel Coward once sang and he was probably right.
On Saturday I was over in Beverley taking photos of my old friend Tony and Pauline - his girlfriend of five years - ahead of their winter wedding. Afterwards, I headed back over the Yorkshire Wolds and parked in the tiny village of South Cliffe ready to undertake a planned seven mile walk.
But I had not planned the 32 degree heat. It was the hottest day of the year so far in The People's Republic of Yorkshire. As I left Clint, he was grumbling. "I'm gonna fry bo! Fry I tell ya!"
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| The ruins of Duck Nest. Hotham Carrs |
Sensibly, I had applied suncream to my arms, head and legs before setting off. The walk was mostly through farmland on the edge of The Vale of York and then on to the village of Hotham and along a long farm track to remote Cliffe Dales Farm where a sunbathing mother and her teenage daughter came out to quieten their barking hound - whose name was Bob. I asked if this slavering creature was named after the famous Georgia blogger - Bob Brague but their reply was negative. Astonishingly, they had never even heard of Bob Brague!
When I got back to Clint I was like a French legionnaire who had just made it back to his fort after a week in the desert. I unlocked Clint's boot (American:trunk) and grabbed the water flask within. That cold water descended to my belly like oxygen filling a vacuum. Ahhhh! Lovely.
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| White horse at Cliffe Dales Farm |
And now you know what it's like to walk in Florida for about seven months of the year. Still, I'm betting that the humidity was not as bad as it is here.
ReplyDeleteI'm bitchy, aren't I?
Just telling the truth though.
There's a construction company in this area called "Mad Dog Construction." They've been around since hippie days because the original owners and employees were all hippies. I've always thought that a fine name. And appropriate.
"Mad Dogs" would also b a good name for a crazy hot dog eatery. There you would put honey or ice cream or fish paste on your hot dog. Yuk!
DeleteThe local hotdog place is called "Dog Et All". People would get confused if it suddenly changed to the name of the biggest construction company in the area. But that's a good name for a hot dog place.
DeleteIt sounds like it was a good walk even if it was a scorcher of a day. Those are the times i want to walk only in the very early morning.
ReplyDeleteI love the heat. It was significantly cooler then when I walked a similar distance on the island of Koh Lanta in Thailand.
DeleteGood on you to go out in the heat. I'm a wuss when it comes to being out in the heat.
ReplyDeleteI thought that all Canadians were rough, tough frontiersmen with not a single "wuss" amongst them. Are you sure you are not a French Canadian?
DeleteHey, French Canadians are my buds! I lived in Quebec for two years.
DeleteOo-la-la Monsieur Rouge!
DeleteNever heard of Bob? ! They must be living under a large rock!
ReplyDeleteAnd I have news for you : 32 degrees Celsius would only be a pleasantly warm day here. It was still that hot here at 9pm! Our highs have been in the 37-38 degree range, with high humidity to boot. I hide in the house when it's this hot.
I must say that I would not enjoy living in that summer heat. When I was a camp counselor in Ohio, the summer temperatures were very tolerable.
DeleteNever mind the mad dogs, more a case of mad pudding walking in that heat!
ReplyDeleteI might have to change the name of this blog..."Mad Pudding" sounds so cool!
DeleteMad Pudding! Brilliant!
DeleteHow about "Felled Tree Journal"!
DeleteTut tut....that water should have been with you..not in the car!! I agree you must be mad to walk in that heat. It was nearer 34c here in the Deep South ( Harpenden). Nice and fresh this morning so far.
ReplyDeleteHaRpenden in the Deep South...Have you got cotton plantations down there? And can you play the banjo?
DeleteIt was close to 38 here yesterday, and I am not ashamed to say that I did not leave the house once, not even to empty the dustbins. It was a most relaxing summer Sunday spent reading, snoozing, playing and writing. I was on my own as O.K. had to play with the band and was invited to a colleague's garden party for just the colleagues, no partners, so I didn't bother travelling there.
ReplyDeleteWhen you said you were "playing" on Sunday morning, I imagined you playing hopscotch on the pavement. And when you said you were writing, I imagined the creation of a poem... "Ode to Ludwigsburg" perhaps.
DeleteI can't believe you walked seven miles in that heat! Looks like a nice walk, though.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the moments when I was walking in the cool shade of overhanging trees. It is always stimulating to walk in unfamiliar territory.
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