8 March 2022

Moorthorpe

With everything that has been going on, it would be easy to imagine that the COVID pandemic is over. But it's not over. Only this morning, my South Korean friend Clint informed me that he had tested positive. Consequently, he would be unable to transport me to the nether regions of South Yorkshire for a long walk in unfamiliar territory.
I took a local train instead. Beforehand I caught a public bus into the city centre but would you believe it! The electrical systems aboard the bus malfunctioned when we reached the bottom of a long shopping street called The Moor. I jumped off the bus and marched half a mile to the railway station, making my train with less that a minute to spare.
The train was heading for Leeds. It was a slow train that stopped at every station on route. We were in a landscape that once belonged to coal mining but of course now the collieries are all gone. Only the memories remain, becoming more diatant with each passing year.
I alighted form the train as planned at Moorthorpe, sandwiched between South Kirkby and South Elmsall. Then I set off north. In the wasteland north of South Kirkby I met a lone woman with a big brown dog. She was standing by the track drinking a can of strong lager. I conversed with her as the dog barked and sniffed. "He'll not hurt you," she assured me,
Typically my walking route was circular. I plodded through a large village called Hemsworth where I once played rugby as a schoolboy. After a long while, the circle brought me back to South Kirkby where I stopped to admire the statue of a coal miner. It was nice to make it back to the railway station in good time to make the 15.20 train back to Sheffield.
Top picture - A bamboo grove at Royd Moor Farm
Second picture - Fish and chip shop in South Kirkby
Third picture - Image on a concrete block by the railway at Mutton Flats
Fourth picture -  Terraced streets at Moorthorpe
Fifth picture - Two off licences at Moorthorpe (American - liquor stores)
Sixth picture - Statue of a coalminer at South Kirkby

37 comments:

  1. In the wasteland north of South Kirkby I met a lone woman with a big brown dog.
    She was standing by the track drinking a can of strong lager.
    I conversed with her as the dog barked and sniffed.
    *He'll not hurt you,* she assured me.

    That was beat perfect.

    People with attack dogs always tell you not to worry.
    *Conversed with* carries the right note of petrified caution.

    If they were alive today, Barbara Castle and Harold Wilson would see what a wasteland post-Brexit Britain has become.

    Call it Borisland, not so much a country as a warehouse run by spivs.
    With the dirty money in London, where the rich don't pay tax, and build bomb-proof shelters below their fortresses.

    I will not cease from Mental Fight,
    Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand:
    Till we have built Jerusalem,
    In England's green & pleasant land.

    Blake's Mental Fight died years ago; the young are desperate to conform; and the Fascists in publishing are cancelling their best writers.

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    Replies
    1. Where are the rebel young? Long time passing, long time ago. "Fight for the Right to Work!", "Thatcher! Thatcher! Milk Snatcher!", "We Shall Overcome!" and Che Guevara posters on their walls.

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  2. Well, buses breaking down just makes life a little more interesting. We need a little stress in our life.

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    1. I did not need a quick march with only seconds to spare Red!

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  3. Bottle shops in Australia 🍾🍺

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    1. Sounds like you know what you are talking about Cathy!

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  4. I'm glad you made the train in time to take this walkaround, I like all the photos. The coalminer statue looks huge.

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    1. I was the last passenger to jump aboard the 10.15 train and then it was away. Phew!

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  5. Good photos -- interesting angles on the bamboo and the statue of the miner, and good colors in all. I like the pig graffiti. What is a "church fishery," I wonder?

    You translate an off-licence as a liquor store, but don't they also have groceries like crisps and snacks? I think Americans might call them a convenience store, or (in the Midwest) a party store, if indeed they do also have basic food.

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    1. Definition of an off-licence: "An off-licence is a shop which sells beer, wine, and other alcoholic drinks." This remains true of many off-licences but as you say, some have now expanded to proffer more than alcoholic drinks. "Fishery" or "fisheries" is just another term for a fish and chip shop.

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  6. The bamboo stalks against the clear blue sky make for a great picture, as does the coalminer's statue.
    Sorry to hear Clint has caught the virus. Maybe he should not have gone so near the curvy beetle the other day.

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    1. Clint has always been partial to German girls.

      By the way, that bamboo was about eight feet tall. My picture doesn't really reveal that.

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  7. Not quite as scenic as your usual walks.
    I hope that Clint gets well soon.

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    1. I should have taken a picture of the woman with the can of strong lager. She reminded me of you.

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  8. I like the coal miner statue. It's good that people still remember the coal miners.

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    Replies
    1. The sculptor is quite well-known in Yorkshire - Graham Ibberson.

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  9. Like a lot of these ex-mining communities, they look very neglected, despite it being hard to find much trace of the activity. I would have returned from that walk feeling quite sad. Hemsworth school had some good sports teams and took take pride in beating all the other Yorkshire schools whenever they could.

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    1. South Kirkby and Hemsworth appeared less downbeat than I expected them to be. Hymers College, Hull annually played Hemsworth at rugby. We also went to schools like QEGS Wakefield, Pocklington School, Archbishop Holgates School in York, Scarborough College, Leeds Grammar, Bradford Grammar. The memories come flooding back... but the fine detail has been lost.

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  10. A bamboo grove? I guess I have one of those too.

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    1. This one was about half an acre.

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    2. Mine's not that big but if we turned our back on it for ten minutes in the spring it would be.

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  11. What a lovely blue sky you had for your long walk! Do you use a map to keep on track of where you are going or had you been there before? Sounds like you enjoyed yourself and covered quite a distance.

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    1. I always take a map Ellen and normally I have planned the walk before setting off. We have a brilliant map service in Britain called "The Ordnance Survey".

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  12. Lovely photos and I hope Clint is better soon

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    1. It is possible that he was just being lazy.

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  13. I admire you for not giving up on the walk despite losing your planned walking partner and transportation. I need a little more dedication when it comes to my walks.

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    1. It's not dedication you need Melinda, it's embrocation!

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  14. The top photo is my favorite. I've always been fascinated by storefronts shaped like the one in the second photo. Do they serve a purpose? As for the pig graffiti... is the artist offering a positive or negative message? I can see that meaning quite a variety of things!

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    1. Possibly connected with the police... or the Bullingdon Club at Oxford University.

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  15. I'm intrigued by the bamboo grove. Is there a story behind why a city farm in Yorkhire is growing bamboo? Were there giant pandas too?

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    1. I didn't see any giant pandas. Maybe they were hiding from me. In all my miles of walking in this region I have never before seen a sea of bamboo. I have no idea why the farmer is growing it.

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  16. Yet again, excellent photos and perfect weather for your walk, judging by the intense blue sky. I pondered over the bamboo against the blue sky - I tried to figure out what it was, before I read your text.
    Poor Clint, how on earth did he catch the virus - has he not been wearing his mask, or did you leave him in a multi-storey car park with no social distancing?

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    1. The virus may have been carried to him via exhaust fumes from an infected white van.

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  17. When I zoom in on Google, there are so many trails everywhere, it is hard to see you. I'm assuming since you did a large circle between Moorethorpe and Hemsworth, you did a circle around the industrial complex in the middle?

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    1. Yes I did. You are a bit like God looking down upon me Ed! Praise Ed! Praise him!

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  18. She protected you from her dog but she didn't offer to share her brew. Harrumph!

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    Replies
    1. Drinking cans of strong lager in the woods before midday is not my thing Catalyst.

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