It was a lovely afternoon. I had a planned walk to undertake while at the same time bagging four more 1km map squares for The Geograph Project - adding to the 18,602 images I had already submitted. To tell you the truth, I was feeling a little unwell so I had deliberately plotted a sensible distance of around 3.5 miles before returning to Bolton-upon-Dearne's railway station in time for the 16.32 train home.
I met a man with a bulldog. It had a head as big as a large cauliflower. It was his daughter's dog. It tried to hump my leg which I found most disagreeable. The man had been a coalminer in the area right up to 1986 and had fond memories of the camaraderie, still bitter about what Margaret Thatcher did to them. In nearby Goldthorpe, on the night that Thatcher died in 2013, the people made an effigy of her and placed it on a bonfire before partying till midnight. The British establishment were appalled.
Then along Lowfield Road and back to the station with forty five minutes to spare. I sat in the sunshine, reading the first chapter of "Entangled Lives" by Merlin Sheldrake - you may remember that I found this book hidden in a wall two weeks ago. It concerns an area of knowledge that is very important but still very much incomplete - fungi. Their underground relationships with tree roots and other plants are quite mind-boggling.
A bedroom window on Lowfield Road
Did you feel better after your walk or worse? I hope, better.
ReplyDeleteStill a little queasy and dizzy at the end - just not myself.
DeleteI hope the walk in fresh air and sunshine did you good, Neil.
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking us along. You know I have a special fondness for the Dearne valley, since that is where Steve was from. He was born in No. 83 Quarry Hill Road in Wath-upon-Dearne.
I just went to look at his house courtesy of Google. Interestingly, there's a street nearby in Wath called Riley Road!
DeleteI didn‘t know that!
DeleteIn my area, abandoned rail lines have been turned into bike and walking trails.
ReplyDeleteThat's a long walk if you weren't feeling well, Neil. Hope you feel better.
Many of our abandoned railway lines have also been turned into leisure tracks. Still not 100% Ellen but I will battle on.
DeleteGood walk. I recently read a book on the same topic. The relationship of trees and fungus is amazing This book dealt with tree planting and species of trees and fungus that do well together.
ReplyDeleteThere remains so much that we don't know about fungi. I am no scientist but I am finding this stuff fascinating.
DeleteHope the walk made you better rather than worse.
ReplyDeleteIt was just good to be out in the sunshine - plodding along, adding yet more miles to my mileometer. I still didn't feel quite like myself at the end.
DeleteThe book is about fungi? Not for me then. The walk sound a good one apart from the humping dog.
ReplyDeleteSaying no to fungi is like saying no to astronomy.
DeleteA walk made a little more interesting by a dog humping your leg, and a bitter old man. Justifiably.
ReplyDeleteSurely that wasn't the only effigy of Thatcher that was burnt. I remember the chants of, Ding dong.....
Should Beeching be thanked for the opportunity to create rail trails?
The closure of that particular track was not down to Beeching. It was never a passenger track - just coal.
DeleteIt’s always good to hear of another RSPB reserve. Nature does seem to be rebounding in England.
ReplyDeleteI was impressed by the number of wild birds that were sitting or feeding in the grassland that runs gently down to one of the new lakes.
DeleteA nice walk in the country.
ReplyDeleteA nice walk--I like that last photo--save the dog humping.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got out and about and I hope you're feeling better today.
ReplyDeleteUn-neutered male dogs can be obnoxious.
One of my great-grandma's was born at Bolton upon Dearne, on the canal barge where they lived.
ReplyDeleteWilson closed more coal mines than Thatcher...
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good walk, especially if you weren't feeling top-notch. Good for you for getting out at all!
ReplyDelete