The Pole Society is the delightful invention of a group of satirists who have taken to the internet to poke fun at Tripadvisor by championing the merits of a new tourist attraction in Gloucestershire’s Forest of Dean: the ‘Cinderford Rusty Pole’.
Standing alongside lush fields on Littledean Road, the pole has been praised for offering ‘a stark meditation on humankind’s impact on the natural world’. Giving it a five-star rating, one reviewer said: ‘As a highlight of my New Year, getting to touch the Cinderford Rusty Pole was an experience like no other. With beautiful scenic views, it was a spiritual moment for me; I felt connected to the Earth’. Other visitors commented on the significant solstice alignment with the distant Haresfield Beacon, imbued with the same mythic power as the Loch Ness monster, but easier to find.
Another review claims that it ‘ranks up among the Pyramids and the lost Incan city of Machu Picchu as one of the true wonders of the world’, but warned readers to ‘get there early to avoid the tour buses and pushy souvenir-sellers’.
Monumental voyages