The exciting question of, "where does that go?" or "what lies beyond?" really brings out the childlike sense of adventure on a Ramble. It truly is a beautiful thing when you can recapture that feeling of youth when becoming a true antiquarian!
I couldn't agree more and on a recent Ramble to Settle in North Yorkshire I found myself thinking the very same thing. Nestled beneath the dramatic North Yorkshire hills, Settle is a maze of steeply rising roads, tracks and stone steps like the ones I fell upon late one evening and posted below. And I found myself wondering where do these steps go? Hewn from ancient stone they seemed to me to have been grown rather than built, which only served to make them all the more magical and add to the sense of childlike adventure so ably captured by Thadeus. I could of course have climbed them, but preferred instead to let the question hang in the air, so that all of you could enjoy that sense of wonder for yourselves!
Stone stairs to who knows where...
+Many Coats+
16 steps of stone.
ReplyDeleteHow many feet have trudged up them with heavy bags of shopping?
How many have trudged down them slowly in an attempt to put off the waiting schoolroom or work?
How many have leapt up them, missing out two or even three in one bound?
How many have hopped from step to step much to the annoyance of a waiting parent, desperate to get home before the threatened rain begins to fall?
How many have tripped upon one of those 16 steps and then looked about them in the hope that no one else saw?
Lots of feet I think, too many to count and each times by 16 stone steps, which is a lot of feet indeed!