tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365582190126322848.post6664579811101103981..comments2024-03-28T13:06:29.793+00:00Comments on conradwalks: OS Grid 38 (northing) SD 305 380 to TA 269 379 - Day 7Sir Hughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908756392825206914noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365582190126322848.post-72264109697718002972019-03-03T09:06:11.278+00:002019-03-03T09:06:11.278+00:00RR - I too have some bitter memories of living in ...RR - I too have some bitter memories of living in the West Riding, but also better ones than yours. On this walk, and an earlier one when I passed through other familiar territory I found I was favourably re-appraisng the area in general for its abundance of attractive countryside and improved villages arising from the grime of the Industrial Revolution. I thought perhaps even you may have had a slight realisation from my photos that there is attraction here in the landscape at least.Sir Hughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17908756392825206914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365582190126322848.post-86248758346988002442019-03-02T09:04:44.519+00:002019-03-02T09:04:44.519+00:00You were to some extent returning home. It would b...You were to some extent returning home. It would be fair to put it that way given that you left remembrances of personal effort in that Cottingley house - the installation of central heating which ended comically when you stood back to wipe metaphorical sweat from your brow, leant on a key projecting from a mortice lock, and snapped it off.<br /><br />For me those final miles you describe were something other than home. An area I actively hated for its parochialism, isolation, and a sense of being bogged down in time. How awful to see the name Harden spelt out sixty years later, although by now I am able to see fictional potential in that name. Harden as in the hardening of arteries.<br /><br />But there's gratitude too. The bitterness I felt towards that string of names (Wilsden, Gilstead, Eldwick, Crossflatts, etc, etc) slowly converted itself into a powerful desire to move on - both geographically and intellectually. A distaste for the Harden Wesleyan Reform Church eventually led to a moment when a friend and I found ourselves being snowed on as we walked up the middle of New York's Avenue of the Americas (better known as Sixth Avenue) entirely devoid of traffic, later still emerging from Tokyo's Shinjuku underground station and trying to navigate myself back to my 40-storey hotel. Und so weiter.<br /><br />A formative experience (as was National Sevice) but those are ex post facto judgements. At the time all I was aware of was a desperate voice inside my noggin screaming "Let me out!"Roderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365582190126322848.post-39007374818183903732019-03-01T13:00:21.791+00:002019-03-01T13:00:21.791+00:00BC - Photo now added of Catstones. Not sure how th...BC - Photo now added of Catstones. Not sure how that was missed.Sir Hughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17908756392825206914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365582190126322848.post-6728275936934369522019-03-01T12:32:26.870+00:002019-03-01T12:32:26.870+00:00Fascinating how our accounts converge and then div...Fascinating how our accounts converge and then diverge in selective minutiae.<br />What happened to your zooms to Catstones, no information available.<br />I agree a superb day full of variety - hope that wasn't summer.bowlandclimberhttp://bowlandclimber.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365582190126322848.post-28127687403083233962019-03-01T09:20:46.968+00:002019-03-01T09:20:46.968+00:00was it thick fog ?was it thick fog ?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com