THERE’S
ANOTHER WORLD beyond the end of our lane. Our local camping store, GOoutdoors (formerly
Mitchell's) has a suitably
rural setting with lanes and hedges that remind me of walks I've
done
in the
Yorkshire Dales. Smithy Brook is brim full this afternoon but it's showing
no signs of flowing in the back door of the camping store and out the front,
as it did last June.
The drystone wall supporting the banking alongside New Road,
which, despite the name, dates from 1841, has a mossy patina which reminds
me of the Pennine dales.
Even
negotiating the pavement becomes a bit of an adventure when we cross New Road,
which is the main Wakefield to Huddersfield road, and walk along Hostingley
Lane on a narrow strip of tarmac with traffic on one
side and a chasm on the other. There were some emergency repairs following
the floods six months ago this week but they still haven't got back to finish
the job and the
safety
fence is now lying in
the hole.
An alluvial fan of debris in the adjacent field at the foot
of the bank is a reminder that the swollen brook flowed across the road as
if it was a dam wall or weir.