From the ribbons of water which trickle down the fellsides of the northwest to the great estuary of the Humber in the southeast, and from the wild and inhospitable moorlands of the high Pennines to the fertile farmlands of the Vale of York, this is a land of contrasts It is land that has housed a Roman and a Viking capital and the author, possibly England's greatest fast bowler, sets out to capture the essence of Yorkshire, its people, traditions, culture and sport