| Courtesy of Mark Anderson - Geograph - Milk Churn Joan stone |
It is almost impossible for me to walk on rough ground but we did make it part of the way, heather and fern and the twittering of birds, which I didn't see but heard flying overhead.
The journey started with taking a train to Mytholmroyd, a small town along the line, the town lies like so many towns in these narrow valleys along the line of the rivers. Steep sided hills covered in trees and then the moors at the top. I have been intrigued by the word Mytholmroyd, translated it roughly means the meeting of two rivers settlement with a dash of Norse. We were to meet Andrew with the rented car, more of that later. Karen and I walked down from the station, we had half an hour to kill, and stopped almost immediately by a little cafe on the bridge. My daughter can never go past a cafe with homemade cakes.
Duly refreshed and cakes packed neatly in boxes for afternoon tea, Andrew arrived in a swish BMW. Though in fact he had only asked for a basic automatic car. But they didn't have one, so we travelled in comfort.
Midgeley the village we were going to was but 5 minutes away, high up just under the moors. I kept seeing the 'Fairy' rose in the gardens we passed, tiny rosettes of a pale pink. The roads had become narrow as we climbed and we took a left instead of a right and Andrew had to turn the car around in a very tight space with a very long rocky drop on the left hand side. Modern superior cars;) can do this, little burpings tells you when you are too near a wall.
I was fascinated by the computer set-up in the car, for a start you just press a button to start the car, the co-pilot 'she' doesn't argue back either. The computer skills are very helpful in navigating but had certain problems finding Crow Hill, though I had bought an old fashioned map with me and we eventually went up the right farm track.
Andrew told a funny story about his mother. She had refused to let his father buy a car with a reversing gadget because she thought it would speak out like the vans - 'keep clear, keep clear'.
We had to be back in Tod to pick up Tom from the station by 12.45 and head on to the 'Staff of Life' for lunch. We had the nook in the restaurant and I had mushroom stroganoff, and picked out the tofu it had come with. Tofu is like bland blancmange, with almost the same texture and I have never liked it. But the mushrooms in a deep velvety sauce of red wine, chips and garlic bread dipped in was delicious.
So it was a good day out with plenty of adventures, I think I have managed to learn how to say Mytholmroyd. Which is a pretty little town, and obviously the place to go to start a walk up on the moors. But sadly not for me.
A nice day out by the sound of it. Ray used to turn the beeping alerts off in our car as they made him stressed. Some can't be turned off. I always have them on. I quite like tofu in very liquid dishes. As you say it is bland but it soaks up flavours well. I am not going to attempt to say the village name. I'm not even going to type it, although I just noticed almost part of your name is the village name.
ReplyDeleteYes my tip also is marinate the tofu in something like soya, dredge with seasoned flour and then fry Andrew. As far as cars are concerned I still like a basic geared car, I could never even work out the lights on my last car/
DeleteI wouldn't want a voice telling outsiders to keep clear either, but I love reversing sensors. They make life so much easier. My last three old cars were young enough to have them as standard and they make up for my own deterioration. Eaten by foxes? Hmm...
ReplyDeleteYes there is a lot to be said of things that help by reversing, wasn't there a car that could fit itself into a parking space as well. My imagination runs riot when I think of technology, and of course it is very expensive when the electronics go wrong.
DeleteI imagine that if someone died up on the moors then foxes would see the body as carrion much the same as a dead sheep. Cheerful thought. A friend of mine had an ancestor who is remembered by a stone way up in the hills of Northumberland. This lady, Nellie Heron, spent much of her life walking from one farm to another and apparently made a living as a midwife and pig slaughterer. I went to seek out her stone once, it wasn't easy to find. My brother is in the process of buying a new car at the moment and hardly a visit goes by without him telling me of some clever gadget the car has to help avoid accidents. Whether he'll remember how to operate these gizmos remains to be seen.
ReplyDeleteThat is the problems with the gizmos John. When Andrew went to lock up the car, it kept tooting because something wasn't right, it took him a couple of minutes to find out and turn it off. Yes I suppose hungry foxes could have finished poor Joan off.
ReplyDeleteNice to have a day out, Thelma, even if you didn't make it to the stone. I could use a newer car but I dread the thought of learning how to operate all of those new gadgets. I'm hoping my old car lasts as long as I do!?!
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of second hand cars still around with the old gadgets Ellen. But it is probably wise to stick with the car you have.
DeleteSounds like a nice outing anyway, and you travelled in style. Never tried tofu and not at all drawn to trying it either!
ReplyDeleteI think you only eat tofu for health sake Jennie and being a vegetarian., it definitely needs some more taste.
DeleteI sat next to someone from the North Yorkshire moors at a concert I went to on Saturday. We had such a lovely chat and I loved her soft Yorkshire accent. I really should have asked the name of her village but one does not want to be too nosy with a stranger! Love the name Mytholmroyd. Down south we call the meeting point of two rivers a confluence and we have one at Hardham where the rivers Arun and Rother meet and where there is the remains of a Roman garrison as it was such an important trading post in the past. We were in the Adur valley yesterday on a church crawl visiting St James church in Ashurst (Laurence Olivier’s parish) and the Saxon church of St George’s at West Grinstead. The backs of the Georgian pews were stencilled with the names of all the farms so everyone knew where to sit. We finished our day out with a visit to St Mary’s House at Bramber, which is the last remaining quadrant of a pilgrim inn built in the 1400s by William Waynflete the bishop of Winchester. It was saved from almost total dereliction in the 1980s by the two gentlemen who still live in the house. A very special house with a spine-tingling atmosphere. The power of the church coupled with water, wood and stone. Our hybrid manually geared Golf estate is nine years old now and has all the latest safety technology including automatic braking. When I drive the 14 year old polo I have to put a yellow duster on the dashboard to remind me to use the handbrake! Sarah in Sussex
ReplyDeleteI love the expression Sarah of "the power of the church coupled with water, wood and stone." Churches from early times have gathered so much of the history of the surrounding area, and of course, wisely, were situated on high ground but near a river. There are some churches that have clues to a prehistoric past. The church having built on pagan sites to get rid of the old gods.
ReplyDeleteI no longer have to worry about a car, my last one was snatched up by the garage at a good price, they reckoned I was a careful driver ;)