Was it one path or a series of paths joined together? These path pictures are from the long walk I undertook yesterday after parking Clint in the village of South Hiendley which is just inside West Yorkshire - in the administrative district of Wakefield. The area was once blighted by coal though conversely the hum of that mucky industry put money in people's pockets and pride in their hearts. It's all gone now. Even modern archaeologists might have trouble making sense of the vague and disconnected evidence left behind.
I could have shared other pictures of the scenes I observed along my route but in this blogpost I wanted to photo-illustrate the path itself. Until yesterday, our merry month of May here in Yorkshireland had been a big disappointment compared say with last May which was warm, dry and sunny as I recall. Yesterday the sun was out, peeping coyly from the gaps between drifting cumulus clouds, promising a much better spell of weather in the week ahead.
As you can see, the path took me through fields of rapeseed and wheat. I walked by the disused Barnsley Canal and along old railway track beds connected with coal. Though not illustrated here, I walked by three reservoirs and through the tiny village of Wintersett where a gang of young men were making a long wooden fence at the side of the path. Mischievously, I asked them if they were "doing community service". It was a question that caused an outburst of mirth because that is a punishment frequently given to lawbreakers.
As I walked this nine mile circle, following my chosen path, my mind drifted like the cumulus clouds above. Fragments of memory appeared and then faded back. I thought through a couple of matters that have recently caused me concern though not in the logical manner of an Albert Einstein or a Stephen Hawking - more in the manner of a bumble bee flitting here and there, never settling for long.
Above, American blog visitors may be interested to see a street of terraced homes once provided by the coal industry as cheap rental accommodation for mining families. This is in Havercroft. The English don't all live in Downton Abbeys or Buckingham Palaces you know.
I love the snowy whiteness of hawthorn blossom and the fresh new greenness of the grass and foliage when the land is bathed in sunlight in late May. The path drew me onward, until the circle was once again complete.
I was back on Chestnut Drive in South Hiendley where I asked Clint if he was ready for the long drive home.
"I suppose so," he muttered in his typically disgruntled tone.
The terraced row in Havercroft looks like a decent street, gardens well kept.
ReplyDeleteYour last photos look like heaven, hawthorn blossom in glory.
Is the metal bridge above Barnsley Canal properly maintained?
Here in Glasgow our Victorian bridges, over the river Kelvin, are left to rust.
They are then replaced with bridges made of some composite material.
If you strike these new bridges with a coin, there is no chinking sound.
A pity that our Victorian metalwork is not painted against rust.
These new bridges will never rust, I suspect.
Haggerty
That particular bridge is maintained as it carries a minor road. I love your suggestion that the test for a bridge worth noting is when it makes a chinking sound.
DeleteA pal told me that the new bridges (painted green like the old bridges) are not metal at all. He is a welder and metal worker, a white van man.
ReplyDeleteMy father would have been interested in this new bridge material. He was skilled in metal as well as woodwork, but he would have supported progress.
A bridge that never rusts would have fascinated my father.
Haggerty
Like a love that never dies.
DeleteYears ago Terence Stamp parked his car outside the home of Jean Shrimpton.
DeleteShe was the big love of his life. He hoped to catch a last glimpse of her.
Haggerty
Sometimes I am so overcome with jealousy by the pathways you walk on that I can barely stand it. And no bugs! And the heat not as bad as here.
ReplyDeleteYou are lucky to live where you do, Mr. P. It is, without a doubt, incredibly beautiful.
And in turn I envy your many days of shorts and T-shirts. We have far less of them here.
DeleteIn my travels in England, I have always been impressed with the trails everywhere and through private property. That sort of thing doesn't happen here.
ReplyDeleteI am also shocked by the prices one has to pay for a humble dwelling such as the one shown.
Of course prices vary around the country. Our humble semi-detached house in the suburbs of Sheffield is worth $550,000 US dollars but you could buy a house like the ones shown for around $125,000.
DeleteBeautiful landscape. Love all the cow parsley and rapeseed. Why is Clint always so grumpy?
ReplyDeleteI think Clint is grumpy because he would like to be a human and not a car. Reminds me of that story about an ugly duckling.
DeleteVery much my kind of walk - thank you for sharing the pictures! They are all beautiful, but the last two hold the most appeal for me, maybe the next-to-last as my favourite.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I find much of what a walk does for me is not merely physical but also helps me mentally. My mind can drift at will, with no particular direction, while my feet move me forward. Things that I spot during my walk or a scent I become aware of may trigger a particular memory which leads to other thoughts, and so on. But this works best when walking alone, which I did earlier this week and enjoyed it a lot.
I agree that walking alone provides better self-therapy.
DeleteWhat a beautiful day you have given me. As the eyes worsen, I really have trouble walking in places like that where the sun intermixes with shadow over the path, so I really enjoy that picture. I hope your nagging worries see resolution soon. May you have many more happy spring days like this one. Give Clint a treat and maybe he will cease being so grumpy.
ReplyDeleteHow do you give a Hyundai a treat? Perhaps I could wax his bodywork but he might become overexcited!
DeleteWhat a lovely walk! I enjoy the green and the flowers when I walk too and my mind is also like a bumblebee flittering.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could fly like a bumblebee.
DeleteAs always excellent photos YP, and I particularly like the one looking through the trees beside the disused canal. The last two show the countryside at it's best - as though time has stood still, a scene unchanged except by the seasons.
ReplyDeleteThose houses would have been quite spacious compared to many of the cramped dwellings provided for workers in the past.
Thanks for calling by and showing interest once again CG.
DeleteWould that be the Hull to Barnsley railway? Where there's muck there's brass. Take me back to the Black Hills, the Black Hills of South Yorkshire.
ReplyDeleteI may be wrong but I do not think that that was the Hull to Barnsley line Tasker.
DeleteI really enjoy taking these walks with you. Such beautiful scenery! Always interesting to see the similarities and differences from my own walks.
ReplyDeleteHappy to take you there Kelly. Could you please pack up a picnic basket next time?
DeleteMy favorite photo is the the wheat field with a the tree at the end of the path.
ReplyDeleteThe terrace house reminds me of my cousin's home, or old home, as she lives in Florida now.
Yes. That was my favourite picture too - the wheatfield and the tree.
DeleteNine miles is a good walk. So if you think about and watch you can observe a lot of local history. Great photos of this walk.
ReplyDeleteEvery new walk is like a story unfolding.
DeleteWhat????!!! You don"t all live in mansions? Next thing you will tell me you men all have morning coats.
ReplyDeleteI hope I have not shocked you too much Debby!
DeleteI like walking for the chance it gives me to let my thoughts run free. At home there is always something to do, but being outside and putting one foot in front of the other makes it easy to forget all that and let the thoughts flow. I hope your concerns are behind you by now, or soon will be.
ReplyDeleteI guess this simple act of putting one foot in front of another and thinking about things has always been part of what it is to be human.
Delete