Friday 28 January 2011

The Devils Arrows Bouroghbridge

Brenda doesn’t do “into the wilds” anymore but fancied a trip out with the weather forecast, fair (high pressure) consulting the, To Visit folder produced :- The Devils Arrows at Boroughbridge SE 39135 66416 packed some butties home made bread (Canadian whole-wheat flour with Linseeds, Poppy seeds and yellow Sultanas) and Blacksticks Blue cheese with watercress and onion. Set off via Skipton, Bolton Abbey, Blubberhouses,Ripon then down the B6265 (take note there’s no sails on the Windmill at Skelton). Found the Arrows more by luck than any signs (never saw any) nowhere to park ! Dumped the van to photograph No1
 with the A1M roaring 50 yards away
 Just taking this photo when a fancy motor pulls up “what are you Oik’s up to” Brenda puts on the cut glass county accent ( it’s OK her Yorkshire visa is up to date) to explain that we’d travelled from the other side of Skipton to photograph the stones and weren't they superb “they could smash the thing down for me, there in the way for the horse stable, but softening to Brendas accent, don’t forget to shut the gate when you leave”
I mentioned the larger Stone at Rudstone to get a Blank stare, it was almost as if she didn’t read the sign or care or realise there were two more in a line just over the road ???
 looking up at No1
 just over the road in the field another 2
 and again no footpath
 that's the A168 and the A1M just over the hedge
 passing No2 (will they knock it down when they build onto the housing estate ?)
 down to No3
 and looking back from No3 to No2 and No 1 over the road
 We were planning to have our picnic here but it seemed that unfriendly we decided to go to a Pyramid grave we knew at Sharrow just outside Ripon. As we drove back through Boroughbridge we passed a free car park and picnic area right by the river Ure complete with tables and benches, which seemed very friendly
 The wine was a Merlot from Chile, with x2 drip coffees and the butties, Brenda says "cheers" back along the B6265 to turn off for Copt Hewick then left to Sharrow. Parked at the church SE 32760 72166
 with Charles Piazzi Smyth’s pyramid gravestone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Piazzi_Smyth
 who knows who he was ?
 the plaque gives some clue
 but for me his claim for fame is instigating the 1 o’clock 25lbs cannon shot at Edinburgh castle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Castle#One_O.27Clock_Gun
 just thought I’d share cheers all Danny

Monday 24 January 2011

Water Sheddles Cross and Haworth Spa Wells

Woke up to a murky grey Monday but the Bears Fir cone and piece of seaweed said “go Southeast” consulting the To Visit folder brought up Water Sheddles Cross SD 971 383
This seven-foot tall monolith, up until the year 1618 it was known simply as just a ‘standing stone’, when it seems that the words “Hanging Stone or Water Sheddles Cross” were thereafter carved on its west-face
Looking over the stone to Watersheddles reservoir
just to the right in the above picture there's a spring in the rocks which may explain it's original siting ?
Back to the van and carried on passed Ponden reservoir through Stanbury and turned right onto the Oxenhope road to park at Grove hill dike car park on Penistone hill SE 018 361 Following the track by the wall rather the one onto the moor. Passing a weathering  into the landscape sign above Leeshaw reservoir
Looking forward
 and back to Leeshaw reservoir


 with a telephoto of the Valve tower looking like a fine garden Gazebo

 with Spa Hill Clough on the right
looking up Spa hill Clough
there's no one beating a path to the Spa nowerdays with a quote from the Keighley News of May 1867
 ‘A large assembly met on Spa Sunday on the moors about two miles from Haworth, and a party of musicians from Denholme performed sacred music’. from http://megalithix.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/haworth-moor-spas/ There's not much to see 144 years later
though there were some fossils about
and some frozen puddles still, which made some of the boggier ground easier to pass over, like the Siberian permafrost tundra, it only needed the odd woolly Mammoth sticking out ! but probably Bruno Super-Dawg has passed by ?
It was a keen wind and having passed a really sheltered zero wind spot on the way up I made my way back to it and soon had steam up for a coffee with a glass of Californian Petite Sirah for the Bear. Out of the wind and in sunshine I could almost have nodded off.
there were more fossils on the path on the way back I wonder how many have walked over and not noticed ?
Maybe I see them through collecting them in the past indeed allot of camping expeditions centred around boulder missions, some of my collection in the garden at home


 back to the walk made my way back to the van still in sunshine so the Fir cone was right ! passed this walled in on the way back
 just thought I'd share - cheers all Danny

just to add a post script for Justine who made a comment - here's a Big standing stone and a link
link :- http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk/englandrudstone.htm
cheers Danny


Saturday 22 January 2011

Stoves-R-Us (2)

A couple of years ago I was the only one to bid on a cast iron waffle iron from an E-bay seller, in London, and so won it for the opening bid of 1p. I e-mailed them and offered £5 as it was obviously worth more than 1p. but they replied that to keep to the spirit of auctions they only wanted the 1p. but thanks for the offer. It arrived and I cut an old steamer pan to fit a Go-gas stove.
Iron heating up before batter pour.
After a couple of minutes cooking flip to cook the other side. This is the reason for the tall pot support , waffle iron rotates and stove is easy in - out.
Checking if it's cooked.

It's Maple syrup time   Breakfast of champions (thanks MartinK9)  - Waffles and Stella
 Well there is a stove in it, but I wonder if it should be titled Waffles-R-Us ?
I've a No.8 cast iron as well, this time E-bay USA, it was £6 but about £25 post ! Ouch !
cheers all Danny

Thursday 20 January 2011

Teddy Tour Teas Farleton Fell

Consulted Teddy's Fir cone and piece of Seaweed this morning, and packed the haversack, had to drop Brenda off at the hairdressers at 10:30 for a Blue rinse OoUups! I mean a wash and trim, when I start looking for a comb I go and have a No.2. I’ve passed the Limestone bit that juts up between the M6 and the A65 countless times, but I’m either going or coming back from somewhere, today was the day, and it should have been sooner ! Turned left just after the bridge at Kirby Lonsdale with the sign pointing to Hutton Roof I’m glad I never met a Joshkin pulling a muck spreader as there was over 3 miles of road with higher hedges than its width and with a strip of grass down the middle
I went through Hutton Roof turned left then left again up a steep hill and parked by the side of the road between the 182 and 192 http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm?lat=54.21006564527063&lon=-2.699909673444598&gz=14&oz=7&gt=1  
and set off over Newbiggin Crags heading for Farleton Fell with for a change Inglebourgh behind me
and the Howgill Fells to the right
it was a steady climb in-between plateaus but then Disaster Struck !
                                           A Great White Shark attacked Teddy
                                        It was touch and go
I carried on and up with the Lake district coming into view and the cairn on Farleton Fell coming into view
When I got to the cairn Teddy was already there !
                          with a pile of Sharkskin wallets
                              Looking at the Lake district from the cairn
                                       and over Arnside Knott to Grange over Sands
                                   Grange over Sands
Coffee drip brewing, steak on, homemade bread with bed of water cress waiting, red pepper chopped,and a glass of 2007 Campo Viejo Rioja
So I’m there in the sun having my dinner and ( I’m a bit deaf at the best of times, I put it down to all the Hawkwind concerts in the 70 and 80’s) there’s an annoying rumbling drone in the background then I find it
It’s the M6 heading to Lancaster in all the murk and fog !I pack up the camp, and as usual leave a pile of crumbs and scraps as an offering, looking back at the first rise they’re being eaten
I wandered back in the general direction of the van just learning a new landscape. Lots of erratic's about
                                   and trees
                                         and more erratic’s
                                         and trees
 

It was back to the van and rather than the narrow roads I headed for Burton in Lonsdale before turning off for Kirby Lonsdale stopping to photograph the sunset against a Lebanon Cedar ?
Well I’ve never been here before and there’s lots to explore I never went over the road from where I parked onto Hutton Roof Crags ! Watch this space I’ll be back.
just thought I’d share cheers all Danny