Yesterday, Clint kindly transported me along The Great Yorkshire Way east of Doncaster. We were heading to Old Cantley in the eastern suburbs of the town ready for another long walk. Well I would be doing the walking, Clint would be left snoozing on Main Street with some other motor vehicles - including a sexy black VW Beetle called Deidre.
As we were travelling along The Great Yorkshire Way, I spotted a new feature in the landscape. Situated near the entrance to a new "park and ride" facility, it was a stonking great letter "Y" in yellow. The "Y" stands for Yorkshire. I resolved to drop into the "park and ride" on my way home in order to take photographs of this magnificent yellow letter.
I have driven by the east side of Doncaster countless times. Even as a young boy in the late fifties and early sixties I remember seeing a huge white water tower on the horizon. Yesterday - somewhat by accident - I found myself walking close to that landmark for the very first time and in spite of tricky light conditions I snapped it and its smaller companion several times.
Near the village of Auckley I made a long detour along the banks of The River Torne - the same river that I walked beside last Friday near Tickhill. A bank of threatening charcoal grey cloud was forming to the north as a biting Arctic wind was stirred up. I thought I was going to get soaked but in the event there were just a few minutes of thin rain.
As is often the case, I walked further than I had intended to yesterday but I love that feeling of exhaustion at the end of a long walk when your legs have become leaden and your pace has turned into a trudge. Clint was sweet talking with Deidre when I made it back to Old Cantley. Lord knows what they had been up to in the four and a half hours I had been rambling. I didn't like to ask.
St Wilfrid's Church, Cantley - dating back to 1257
Giants were the offspring of Gaia (Earth) so the Yellow Y must belong in the Meccano Set of the boy-giant Gargantua. Your younger readers won't remember Meccano Sets and may never have been told stories about Gargantua in their childhood.
ReplyDeleteThe industrial history of the North of England seems as long gone as King Arthur's Round Table or the Book of Taliesin in Welsh legend.
The very idea of the eastern suburbs of Doncaster is deeply romantic in the way certain London suburbs were romantic to G.K. Chesterton. Read Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday.
As for Old Cantley, it seems like an enchanted place straight out of Tasker Dunham or Keith Waterhouse.
I can see a backstreet pub, The Railway Arms, which hasn't a single television screen or jukebox, just a quiet group of old men in cloth caps playing drafts.
There's a Snug with booths where elderly ladies can enjoy a bottle of milk stout.
Do you remember England?
Haggerty
Ah, yes - I remember England. The one that was here before the identical out-of-town industrial estates and the identical Lego housing estates and 24 hour TV and frozen pizzas and the gobbets of lies that pour forth from The English Trump. Yes. I remember England - before it was usurped.
DeleteWhen I leave this world let my spirit dwell forever in Caer Rhywg, identified in legend as the drowned land between Wales and Ireland.
Delete*The Book of Taliesin: Poems of Warfare and Praise In An Enchanted Britain* :
A Penguin Classic (2020) translated by Gwyneth Lewis and Rowan Williams.
Caer Rhywg appears in a footnote.
Haggerty
I thought the Y stood for Yorkshire Pudding, a tribute to you and your blog. You should get a picture of yourself standing within the Y, and use it for your header picture!
ReplyDeleteIf you find that you are suddenly overrun with Korean VW Beetles, you will know exactly what Clint and Deirdre were up to during your absence.
Clint forgot to take Deidre's contact details.
DeleteYou park and walk which is a good deal!
ReplyDeletePark and walk...better than park and ride. What about park and sleep?
DeleteThat is beautiful scenery, perfect for rambling. I'm not a fan of the huge "Y" though or really any gigantic colored letters.
ReplyDeleteI bet you would be happy with a giant "M" for Margaret!
DeleteThen you would be wrong. :)
DeleteDonnie, Mexborough and that whole area there is relatively familiar to me, although it‘s now been a long time since my last visit.
ReplyDeleteYour picture of the grassy path along the canal made me want to walk there right now. The sky in that picture is great.
So polite of you to allow Clint some privacy.
I wonder how it would feel if you and I walked by The River Torne together? It would be like walking with an old friend - even though we have never met in person.
DeleteI agree with Debby about a photo of you under the big Y. I keep telling you, trade Clint in for a much less troublesome girl car. Is that a canal in your second last photo. I am presently obsessed with English canals.
ReplyDeleteNo it is not a canal Andrew. The water flows. It is The River Torne.
DeleteImpressive water tower, but there are better ones in Yorkshire.
ReplyDeletePerhaps my picture does not do the Cantley Tower justice but I have never seen a bigger water tower in Yorkshire. Google suggests that that accolade should be given to the 1920's tower at Gawthorpe but having taken picturex of that too I suspect that the Cantley Tower is much bigger.
DeleteI think the "pepper pot" at Goole hold the most, but isn't quite the highest.
DeleteThat Y looks pretty monstrous.
ReplyDeleteA four and a half hour walk would certainly see me off these days. I am so unfit. I admire your stamina YP.
The sky in your last picture of the church is very soothing though.
Monstrous? It is the most beautiful man-made structure I have seen in ages. Yorkshire forever! I have that "Y" in miniature as a lapel badge. Thanks for calling by again JayCee.
DeleteThe huge Y needs a huge P to keep it company after the manner of Clint and Deidre. Plus if you had a huge P you could probably have walked another four and a half hours. In closing, may I just say that I find “Unknown” a very interesting fellow.
ReplyDeleteIt would be impolite to ask - ha ha. As for the sculpture - one might ask 'why'?
ReplyDeleteI agree with JayCee. That Y is ugly.
ReplyDeleteBut that's just my opinion.
Terrific scenery, as always -- even the big Y! You're reminding me I need to get out there and take another long walk.
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ReplyDeleteThat huge Y needs a huge P beside it so the world knows their magnificence was erected in tribute to you, O Glorious One. Plus with a huge P you could probably have walked another four and a half hours.
ReplyDeleteThat ancient church is Lilliput real England. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThat huge Y looks so out of place in such a rural setting. Is the Park and Ride just the beginning of yet another out of town Mall and Industrial Park?
ReplyDeleteDon't be too scathing about the identical Industrial estates providing work for the masses, or the Lego box houses YP - people have to live somewhere, and that's mostly what's on offer for the majority these days. Would you rather they had nowhere to live?
It's called progress these days.