Did Robin Hood exist? Perhaps he was just imagined or desired - the stuff of legends. A green man of the greenwood who behaved righteously, a true man of the people and of their hearts. If he did exist back in the mists of time, he would surely have begun his life in the area I walked in yesterday for he was Robin of Loxley or Locksley and I was in the Loxley Valley just west of Sheffield. Some say that he was born in 1160 in Little Haggas Croft at the top of Rodney Hill. Later it became the site of Normandale House.
Though the afternoon was dry, the vibrant blue of the morning sky had been replaced with washed out greys rolling together in a heavenly eiderdown. I walked up the valleyside through what remains of Loxley Chase up to Hillsborough Golf Club's grounds. Then across Long Lane and through the woods up to Low Ash Farm.
Close by, I met a most pleasant elderly woman who was out walking her sweet-smelling Scottish deerhound. She told me that he was a rescue dog and that when she and her husband had adopted him the signs of neglect were still very visible. We chatted for ten minutes or so about this and that. Turns out she has never been on a computer, does not have an e-mail address or a mobile phone. We laughed about that. I could have chatted with that woman for hours but I needed to move on.
Garland Farm with heather burning on the distant moorland
The top picture in this blogpost is of Haighenfield Farm. From there I walked to the hamlet of Holdworth scattered on the hillside and then down West Lane to Stacey Bank where I took the picture of the old red phone box. These much loved features of twentieth century Britain are gradually disappearing into memory and history. Before very long they will all be gone - resigned to museums or quirky restaurants.
Just after I took that picture, a couple walking by asked me if I was an engineer. They had noticed my camera and my bright orange coat. I told them I was in fact a burglar casing out the houses down there. This joke bombed like a lead balloon. Ah well - you can't win them all.
Clint was still dozing by Loxley Green as I made my way along the valley bottom. It is not the easiest of paths as it does not stick to the riverside and there are the derelict ruins of a couple of industrial sites - including an old brickworks. Even so, I was soon back at my trusty Korean vehicle who was singing to himself as I strode up from behind:-
Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen
Robin Hood, Robin Hood, with his band of men
Feared by the bad, loved by the good
Robin Hood, Robin Hood, Robin Hood
Walkers on Low Ash Common
from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/3l2AU2E
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