yen_powell Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 I had one of those moments where I suddenly stood up and decided to go for a walk, no thinking first. I decided to cut through the park behind my estate, cross the river and walk up to have a look at the convent. Another place I ride past a lot never stopped to look properly. The park was busy with people, large areas of grass under a few inches of water, frozen in places so people werre looking for stones or rocks to throw at it to make it shatter. Got to the bridge and could see the water was high but it looked like the deck was out of the water from a distance. I was wrong! Water came up to my ankles, left boot shipped a little water and the bottom of my jeans were a bit soggy. The couple walking towards me with their dog decided to turn round after seeing me cross the bridge. The other side of the bridge is a concrete track that becomes Convent Lane. I wandered down and took a look at the convent itself. never seen a nun so either they aren't any there, or they walk about in mufti so you can't spot them. They have one of those little doors with a grill to talk through. A few yards from the convent is the town bridge over the river. The water was very high compared to usual. In old photographs I've seen this was one of those bridges that had a raided wooden walkway at the sides for when the water was above the road level. Never noticed this mill was next to the bridge or this weird plastered house before. There's a name for it, a local tradition called pargetting, I even used to know a bloke who did it to his council house on a side wall, what he done was really good, if a little out of place https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pargeting I decided to walk back through town, my left foot was starting to dry so didn't want to go wading over the park bridge again. I went past the leany house, god that thing is pissed. Nice knockers though. Pics below 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yen_powell Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 On 10/01/2021 at 21:31, XTreme said: Yeh.....I remember that! Wasn't it when we had an offroad event in South Wales on DSUK/MB? That's right, I had to get my Mum and Dad to run around handing out tickets to the people who were going as I was locked into a secure ward with all the other strokers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 10 minutes ago, yen_powell said: I had one of those moments where I suddenly stood up and decided to go for a walk, no thinking first. That's pretty wild, there! All of that is exactly what I think England is like! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XTreme Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 20 minutes ago, yen_powell said: I had one of those moments where I suddenly stood up and decided to go for a walk No......never experienced that! I'm not temperamentally suited to walking! 21 minutes ago, yen_powell said: The couple walking towards me with their dog decided to turn round after seeing me cross the bridge. And uttering the words..... That white wooden house is weird Yen.....with the bit sticking out? Great shots though......but no graveyards? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yen_powell Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 6 minutes ago, XTreme said: No......never experienced that! I'm not temperamentally suited to walking! And uttering the words..... That white wooden house is weird Yen.....with the bit sticking out? Great shots though......but no graveyards? That is the end of the water mill. The bit sticking out was for loading or unloading the waggons with the grain/flour. Essex waggons have very big wheels to cope with the state of the awful unsurfaced roads caused by the infamous Essex clay (like the cart in the famous painting The Hay Wain). The local clay is excellent for making bricks, not so good to get through mid winter. There is a small victorian 'hand made brick' place in the country side round here. When the leisure lockdown eases I'll take my bike up there and get some pictures, it's next to a green lane, but I think it should be fine for my current bike if I'm careful. I am going to take a trip to the big graveyard on the edge of town. My ex used to be friends with the caretaker's wife who lived in the house there, but I've never been inside, so I must explore. That's got to be a weird place to live, especially at night. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 7 minutes ago, yen_powell said: Essex waggons have very big wheels to cope with the state of the awful unsurfaced roads caused by the infamous Essex clay Usually places with narrow paths have higher wagons because they need to place the wheels below the carriage instead of on the side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yen_powell Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 1 hour ago, Pedro said: That's pretty wild, there! All of that is exactly what I think England is like! I tried to keep the traditional dog poo out of the pictures. It's everywhere at the moment, people aren't picking up like they used to. And there are no stray dogs, all have a human walking with them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 2 minutes ago, yen_powell said: I tried to keep the traditional dog poo out of the pictures. It's everywhere at the moment, people aren't picking up like they used to. And there are no stray dogs, all have a human walking with them. WTF, is that because they only pick it up if they are embarrassed to be seen walking away by lots of people on the street? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yen_powell Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 44 minutes ago, Pedro said: Usually places with narrow paths have higher wagons because they need to place the wheels below the carriage instead of on the side. Here it's to keep the whole thing out of the clag and plop. I once went through some clay so thick that it formed a perfect 4 or 5 inch thick ring of mud to stick to my front wheel, the forks acting as a cutter to keep it the same width as my tyre. I thought when I left the soft ground and got onto tarmac it would fall off. No chance, I was riding along with my front end 5 inches higher than it should have been. Had to stop and use my hands to drag the stuff off in the end. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yen_powell Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 Just now, Pedro said: WTF, is that because they only pick it up if they are embarrassed to be seen walking away by lots of people on the street? I think you're right. If they think no one will notice they leave it. I understand, who wants to pick up a hot turd, pop it into a bag and carry it about, but that's the price of owning a dog these days. When I was a kid some scummy people used to chuck their dog out at the start of the day and call them in in the evening, like cats. I remember one called Champ when I was about 7 years old, a large German Shepherd, used to lay outside the flats where we lived. If you called him he would come for a walk with you. The git bit me on the shoulder once as I ran past like a looney and frightened him. We also had a German Shepherd called Sheba, it was one of my jobs to take her out a few times a day, I had to walk the opposite direction from Champ in case there was a fight or worse....puppies! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 2 minutes ago, yen_powell said: I think you're right. If they think no one will notice they leave it. I understand, who wants to pick up a hot turd, pop it into a bag and carry it about, You're not supposed to carry it about, throw it in a street bin. Also, what kind of people like to have their local sidewalks with yesterday's turds for them to step on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyrider Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 17 minutes ago, Pedro said: WTF, is that because they only pick it up if they are embarrassed to be seen walking away by lots of people on the street? better believe it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XTreme Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 2 hours ago, yen_powell said: I am going to take a trip to the big graveyard on the edge of town. That'll get us to the top of Google for sure! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Fallsalot Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 6 hours ago, Pedro said: You're not supposed to carry it about, throw it in a street bin. Also, what kind of people like to have their local sidewalks with yesterday's turds for them to step on? One of the things the dirty bastards were doing here was picking the shit up putting it in a bag and then hanging it on a tree branch or throwing it in the grit bins id rather it be left on the floor than that. There's someone in the day when i'm in work leaving their dog shit on the pavement outside my house. The fucker will be wearing it if i catch them unless their a big fucker 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boboneleg Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 That's a great report Ian. I think a lot of people get the wrong idea about Essex, they imagine it's all chavs living in their mock Tudor 1950's semi's but you've shown that there's some real history there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yen_powell Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 9 hours ago, boboneleg said: That's a great report Ian. I think a lot of people get the wrong idea about Essex, they imagine it's all chavs living in their mock Tudor 1950's semi's but you've shown that there's some real history there. That'll be south Essex, if you want a Tudor mansion in this bit and you have the cash there are plenty about. I reckon there are about 3 millionaires on every tiny country lane here judging by the houses you see as you ride around. And those are just the ones you can see, some have drives that put their front door half a mile from a public road. Wool trade wealth built most of them in the 1300 - 1600s I suspect, and the stock market and bank robbing pays for the upkeep now. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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