Down in Nemphett Trubwell

 If you find life a race, you just can't stand the pace,
Come with me to the West Country - the perfect hiding place:
Pack your bags, and make your way to Somerset, and I will lay Ten to one you'll wanna stay down in Nempnett Thrubwell


Well with a name like that who can resist Nemphett Thrubwell? Especially with a barrow nearby called Fairy Toot! The name is evocative and it's said to be the haunt of fairies and goblins. Not that there were any in evidence today. If they had any sense they were all somewhere much warmer...

The Fairy Toot is extremely badly damaged and no virtually unfindable ( I'm reasonably confident but not 100%) that this is it. Originally it was a large chambered longbarrow but its just a low mound now with some ash trees on the top of it.


There were snow flurries beating down so we beat a hasty retreat and on to Felton Common. A quick dash across the top of the common down into Felton for some lunch and then a more leisurely re-ascent on to the common.

This is now a nature reserve but it's too early in the year for much to be seen.

There are large rocks scattered about, many buried in the undergrowth and an unusual pair of linked bowl barrows both surrounded by ditches.







Some of the locals were about  - including this rather cold looking buzzard who was kind enough to pose nicely for me








Back down now and headed for home via the famed Nempnett Thrubwell.  The village, such as it is, is just a collection of farms and houses spread over a maze of minor roads and an evocatively named "Awkward Lane"! 

 The church is above the rest of the village and I'm just glad we didn't meet any traffic coming the other way... Couldn't go in as the building was locked.

A bit of a let down really - no frogs as big  as dogs or pigs doing Irish jigs to be seen! Or at least not today!

Waterstone

No not the bookshop!


After the adventure of finding the Wimblestone last week it seemed a good idea to go in search of the Waterstone as  the Wimblestone is said to visit the Waterstone for a drink. As the Wimblestone itself  is close to a water course itself it does seem an awful long way to go for a drink so I guess we could conclude that it makes the journey for social purposes!

Anyway this is an ancient burial chamber right by Bristol airport and not given to wandering about so it should be easy to find.

The Waterstone is on the edge of Goblin Combe which is nicely sign posted from the A38. So far so good. The road though is in pretty poor condition and I winced more than once as we hit the car's undercarriage.

We were supposed to park here.

Yes I didn't think it a very good idea either. After some careful testing of the water depth we elected to go on and ended up parking right up by the end of the airport fence along with all the plane spotters.


 Still it made a reasonable walk out of what would have been only half a mile or so.

Walking back was all downhill and we spotted this magnificent stag in the tree.








After last week's fun and games, this stone was refreshingly easy to find ( apart from the odd barbed wire fence in the way). I guess the proxmity of the airport may have been part of the reason for the subatantial barrier. However where there's a will there's a way and a convenient track took us to the right field.

And here it is - the remains of a Portal Dolman. The mound is almost completely gone and the stones have moved.

Folklore has it that offerings of primroses were made here - too early in the year unfortunately for us to continue the tradition.

This is the capstone with the hollow for the water. It is said never to dry up. With all the rain though we've had recently it was inevitably full.

 A close up of the hollow.  The water may look  a little strange - that is due to the layer of ice over the top  Although too low for the snow last night it was bitingly gold.

Storm Dodging in Dorset

It's been a pretty grim summer here in the UK. Today was "good in parts" so a careful study of the weather map was made and the decision taken to head down to Dorset and Hambledon Hill.

Hambledon Hill - a very prosaic name for a quite amazing site. It was originally a Neolithic site but little of that remains and it is now a prime example of an Iron Age hill fort. There is dating evidence for 2850 BCE and the site looks to have been finally abandoned around 300 BCE.

Parking the car in the nearby and quaintly named village of Iwerne Courtney we could see our destination at the end of the chalk downs of Cranborne Chase.  A quintessential English summer sight - a local cricket match.

We just hoped it didn't rain on them!

It is a pretty climb up from the village, especially at this time of the year.  The poppies are out and this barley field was almost ripe but still a little too green.



 
Everything seems to be late this year; nature hasn't appreciated the cold wet summer. Today though was quite warm. Provided that is that the sun was out. Which it wasn't all the time.

The fort itself is breathtaking. The sheer size is breathtaking in itself and the number of hours of labour it must have taken to construct the numerous banks and ditches made this no small undertaking.

 The site covers more than 1 sq  km with the long barrow on the top being approx 68 mt long. In all there is believed to have been 3 barrows here with one being buried under a later earthwork.

 From the top we could watch the storms passing by. Miraculously they all missed us - not sure how. Obviously our weather map reading was spot on.






All in all there are worse ways of spending a Sunday morning, sitting on a hill top and watching the ravens circling around. We weren't the only ones up there, it is popular with dog walkers and horse riders too but it wasn't too busy as you can see.

A trip into the Arctic

Leaving Unst it was time to head to Northmavine, our final couple of days in the Shetland Isles.

Northmavine is home to the highest point of Shetland so up we had to go - right to the top of Ronas Hill. The sign that greets you tells you all about it - how it is as high as the Arctic Tundra and home to many  rare species.

The sight that greets you is desolate indeed. Piles of fractured red granite lie all around and it is not hard to imagine oneself as a polar explorer.  The climb up isn't too bad

  An hour or two later I got my reward  - a very nice neolithic  burial chamber. Don't be fooled by the blue sky, it was cold, very cold, in fact so cold.....

.... that the inside of the chamber was filled with snow.










If you do climb Ronas Hill  make sure that you sign the guest book. It is not at the burial mound but at a modern feature not very far away - the OS trig point. I wonder how many make it to the top and don't find the book?
Coming down as usual took less time than going up so we had time to go for some lunch and then consider what to do afterwards.  A study of the map showed a fairly inaccessible neolithic axe factory and another burial site. It was rather a long way from anywhere but we had nothing better to do so we thought we'd attempt to find it. The map reference was not terribly clear and with no Internet signal to pick up  the coordinates needed to program the GPS, it was rather uncertain if we'd actually find it.

Finding it was a bit of a challenge.

 An axe factory really is just a pile of rocks. The only differentiating feature here was that the rock was different from the red granite so it was fairly clear where it was. However it was a long walk across the steep sides of a hill, again I wished I was one of the native Haggis with one leg shorter than the other!

Finding the axe factory was simple compared with finding the burial chamber. In the end we split up and combed the hill side. Even then we almost missed it!

It was now starting to rain - we'd been lucky up til then so it was the long trudge back to the car. At least all down hill.

Wanders in Wales - Even more dogs!

Last day and we are heading home - seemed a shame though not to take it gently and see what we could spot on the way. Approaching Barmouth  Cerrig Arthur appeared on the map. It looked reasonably close to the road and as all the walking gear was packed this was definitely a point in its favour. The road was narrow. Very narrow and very short of passing places. Mercifully we didn't meet anything as we wended our way up the mountain to the end of the line where there was plenty of room to park.

Hardly had we done so when a transit van appeared, followed quickly by another and a whole string of cars. Our remote deserted spot was suddenly busier than Piccadilly Circus. The mystery was soon revealed. The locals had arrived to exercise their dogs!

Very nice friendly people they guided us to our very destination and we spent some time chatting to them. Time very well spent as it happens as they mentioned a burial chamber nearby that we should visit... so we did. Back to the circle first though. Three conspicuous stones surrounded by others that may or may not be part of the circle.  In the background stands Cader Idris, claimed to be Arthur's seat.

Time to inch back down, again praying we didn't meet anything!  Lunch and then back to Dyffryn Ardudwy. This was another mind blowing location. Just off the busy main road it could have been in the middle of nowhere surrounded by mature oak trees and a thick carpet of acorns ( one or two of which just might have come home with me!)

Originally a stone covered mound  it now survives as two well preserved dolmens, one of which has some strange carved lines on one of the uprights.

Wanders in Wales - In the footsteps of the Druids

Day two and the sun is out - well at the moment!

A heated debate follows on where to go -  Penmaenmawr won. A wealth of circles, stones and other features beckoned but at the cost of a long steep climb. I am definitely fitter than I was but I don't think I will ever enjoy climbing long steep hills.

 Anyway I was not disappointed. The climb was indeed long and steep in places. Where it wasn't steep it was wet and boggy- not a good time to find that the waterproof boots are less than waterproof and that wet socks give me blisters.

This is the view into the valley from the car park- quite magnificent.










I was feeling pretty miserable when we reached the first circle- Red Farm Circle. all that effort for a fairly poorly preserved  "circle" of a few low stones. This is about the best picture I could get- you may need to look carefully!

Nearby was  Maen Crwn a magnificent standing stone overlooking the site (why do people feel they have to carve their names on things?).

By now I'm feeling somewhat underwhelmed but nothing daunted we push on - yes more "up" and find the a tiny but much better preserved circle with the picturesque title of Stone circle 275. A pretty little circle of just 5 stones which deserves a better name,




However a quick glance up and silhouetted against the sky are some magnificent stones. The Druids Circle beckons.

I'm not feeling quite so tired now and the next hill is quickly climbed.

The pictures here don't come close to capturing it. Like Brodgar this fair crackles with  energy. There are several legends attached to the circle. The deity stone carries the legend that anyone who swears by it will be struck dead- I didn't try it and the sacrifice stone is said to have held the bodies of sacrificed infants - maybe as some child cremations were found here.

After spending nowhere long enough at he Druids circle time was getting on and we still had two more circles to find.

I am reasonably sure that this is circle 278 - but not 100%. The whole area is covered with the remains of circles, cairns and burial mounds as well as a neolithic axe factory so it can sometimes be difficult to pick out the features on the ground.

One more circle to go - that of   Cors y Carneddau. This did involve some head scratching, intensive map reading and GPS. It now appears mostly as a jumble of stones but I'm confident we found it. Doesn't look much in the picture but you can't fault the location.

Starting to get cold now so time to head down in search of dry footwear. I'd forgotten about my wet feet and blisters whilst in the circles but the trip down wasn't pleasant.

You'd think that would be enough for one day? Nope. One more to visit. The circle at  Cerrig Pryfaid. This is right on the road so no more walking required..... however high stone walls and a single track lane mean it isn't actually visible so it was a case of park where possible and walk back.  Scaling the 6ft stone wall surrounding it was relatively easy and the circle of small stones dwarfed by huge electricity pylons was revealed. Not the best picture I'm afraid. I was tired by now!

All in all a very successful day - and one more to go.

Wanders in Wales - Mysterious dogs

Just got back from a fabulous weekend in North Wales- one of my favourite parts of the country but unfortunately just that little bit too far away for a regular visit.

This visit had a theme - as many stone circles and tombs as possible in 2 days of hill walking.

First morning dawned grey and misty. It was very late when we drove up the night before after a full day at work so it was a chance to see where we were and to decide what we wanted to go.  The weather although good for Wales,  wasn't good enough to go high. I don't enjoy having rain flung in my face or winds trying to dislodge me especially if the view is obscured by cloud so it was a lower level walk today.

Capel Gamon is a small village just above Betws y Coed.  The pub is sadly closed and up for sale but plenty of parking nearby.

First stop on the planned 12 mile walk was the neolithic tomb just outside the village. This is easy to find and helpfully sign posted from the road - well you could call it a road.....





The tomb is a chambered cairn dating originally from neolithic times but with the finding of some beaker pottery it could have been in use until the early bronze age.

The layout is similar to that of Belas Knapp in the Cotswolds  and has stunning views- they certainly knew how to site a tomb. You can just about see the circle of rocks marking the perimeter of the mound.





The site was "guarded" by a very friendly farm dog who insisted on a nice game of sticks before deciding he was going to escort us along our way. If in doubt we followed the dog who led us on to a neighbouring farm before taking himself back home.

At this point things started to get rather surreal. We hadn't gone more than a mile or so when we were joined by another dog. I have no idea where he came from and he started off in the direction we were headed. As it happened we'd made a mistake so we back tracked a few hundred yards and took a second path. Within half a mile the dog had rejoined us - taking the lead and looking back to make sure we were still following.

At this point the old tales of the Cŵn Annwn started to flit uncomfortably across my mind. Not much we could do about it so it was again a case of follow the dog! We dawdled a bit as I was collecting lichen for dyeing and the dog started barking to hurry us up. Eventually we got to the bottom of the hillside on the main road above Fairy Glen and the dog vanished as suddenly as he had appeared.

There are lots of tales of strange happenings in the woods above Betws and it seems I now have my own tale to tell.  The rest of the walk was uneventful if rather wet and boggy in places and despite  ( because of?)  the mysterious dog we returned safely to our guest house for a well earned cup of tea

From Avebury to Devizes

For a change  a "straight line" walk rather than a circular trek.Thank you to Nigel Vile and the Bath Chronicle for suggesting this one.

It meant getting up horribly early for a Sunday and driving to Devizes to leave the car tucked away in a safe corner of a long stay car park and taking the "trans-Wiltshire express" ( better known as the number 49 bus !) to Avebury with the intention of walking the 9 miles back.

Avebury was safely gained and rapidly left with barely a glance at the circles ( I know I know but I've been there many times). I couldn't resist just one shot though as we walked down towards the church and out into the countryside.

I was rewarded though by the sight of the  two Long Stones at Avebury Trusloe. The landowner very kindly allows access to the stones  across his field so we were able to go in amongst them.   These are truly massive stones, originally there would have been more but they have been removed.

Nice vistas of Silbury Hill

Eventually we reached the highlight and main objective of our walk  - Wansdyke ( Woden's Dyke). This is a Saxon linear defensive earthwork consisting of a long ditch and bank and now dated to around 500CE. The path runs along the top of the bank giving views across the downland and provides a wildlife corridor between the intensively farmed field on either side. A major highlight for me was seeing a hare up close which is very rare now. The hare once it spotted us "hared" off into a cornfield and for several hundred yards we could see his ears popping up above the ripe corn as he bounded away.

Time for lunch and time to leave the Wansdyke path for the village of Bishop's Cannings and lunch in the garden at the Crown.


 Getting close to Devizes now and the last 2 miles were along the Kennet and Avon canal which was busy with narrow boats. The white horse by the way is fairly new - a millennium project!

One fort is never enough.

Not exactly raining today but looking as if it might do so. Nothing daunted, pack the waterproofs and venture into Dorset and to Hod Hill near Blandford Forum.

Make no mistake this is a STEEP climb up and I'm gasping long before we reach the top - also keeping a wary eye on the young bullocks in the field - they have some fearsome looking horns but mercifully take no interest at all in me.

This is a large fort - Roman at one end and Iron Age at the other. The Roman's captured the fort from the local tribe and unusually reused it themselves. Seeing the extent of the fortifications who can blame them. The amount of labour that must have gone into digging the ditches is incredible ( the cows to the left give a degree of scale)

This is the Iron Age end  - there are the remains of over 2500 round houses so it would have been a sizeable settlement for the Durotriges. The site dates from around 500BCE before it was taken by the Romans in 44CE.


Getting close to lunch time now so a trip to nearby   Child Okeford and the Bakers Arms for a snack lunch in the pub garden. I'm told the beer was excellent but unfortunately we were driving....

So close so it seemed a shame not to visit Hambledon Hill fort which is very close by.

Another steep climb up and more young bullocks - these were older and had even more fearsome looking horns!


The fort comes into view long before you get there so it does provide some incentive for the climb. 

This fort is originally neolithic - radiocarbon dating places it at around 2850BCE in places although it must have been added too over the centuries. There are a couple of long barrows on the top.

Neither site has been ploughed or farmed in the interim and both are covered with an array of chalk lovng plants. As SSRIs they are protected and maintained by light grazing  - plenty of evidence that cows graze there!

Where Eagles dare or die?

Still  with Orkney ( only a couple more blogs on the subject and normality will resume. If anything is normal of course)


South of the mainland on South Ronaldsay, over a couple of  WWII causeways is the Tomb of the Eagles ( Isbister Chambered Cairn) . Unlike the other tombs  we visited this one is privately owned and there is an admission charge.

On the plus side you do get a "guided tour" which is actually a very nice lady in the main building/museum who tells you all about the site and how it was discovered and excavated. Even better you are encouraged to pick up and handle some of the tools and beads that were discovered. It was a humbling experience to hold tools that were used 5000 years ago. We also learned how to bore a hole through rock with the technology then available. I'm tempted to have a go myself at a later date. Modern  reconstructions have shown it takes abut 6 hours or so.

It is  estimated to have been built around 3000 BCE, and used  over a period of some 800 years. It is about 3.5 metres high and consists of a rectangular main chamber, divided into stalls and side cells. It has been  reconstructed  in parts and re-roofed.

Over 300 sets of human remains were found here. A couple of the skulls are in the site museum and the guide explains the gene linked deformity suffered by some of the tribe members where the bones of the skull fused too soon.

As the bones were all mixed up and the skulls found separately from the rest of the bodies, the theory goes that the bodies were left in the open to be picked clean of flesh by the eagles and the excarnated bones then interred.

Talons of the white-tailed sea eagle s were found inside the tomb which gives rise to the modern  common name.  It has been mooted that the birds were the emblem of the tribe.

 It is a reasonable ( unescorted) walk from the visitor centre to the site itself which is right on the cliff top. Some of the bones were painted with ochre which was abundent locally and there is still plenty to be seen. The entrance as can be seen from the first picture is extremely low.

Previous sites we visited had low entrances but this was the lowest yet.

Bending double is not enough- You can just see the wheeled board by which you pull yourself through by a usefully placed rope or as the guide said  "a granny's skateboard"!

Common things these Barrows

Bit grey and overcast today and didn't want to go to far - plenty of sites of interest near Stroud so why not Selsley Common.
"If up on this hill for pleasure you ride
The prospect is pleasant on every side
And if you do walk, the pleasures are still
To be seen from each corner of Selsley Hill".
Anon   1841

Very true on a nice day but not today,  strong winds and intermittent rain made us glad to adjourn to a pub for lunch. The TootsLong Barrow though was easy to find and the subsequent wander through Penn Woods very pleasant. It was at least out of the wind. Spectacular views though from the top almost made it worthwhile braving the gale.

Nice lunch though in the pub in the village. It was still raining when we emerged and   a car trip seemed preferable to walking. Nymphsfield Barrow is just down the road so it got a fleeting visit.

Not much of this left now. Much of the stone has been plundered and the mound has all but disappeared despite it being avoided in the Middle Ages for being a suspected leper hhous You can still see the layout of the chambers and the remains of 17 individuals have been excavated.

This is a popular picnic spot and there were several hardy souls doing exactly that nearby - under the protection of a portable awning. Not much neolithic ambience to be found here anymore.

Last stop was at Uley Barrow, again just down the road. This is better known as Hetty Peglar's Tump.  Bit of a sad sight isn't it? It's been closed by English Heritage  since 2008 for "structural repairs"

Even the construction company's surrounding fences have been vandalised and and the carefully conserved turf from the top of the mound was brown and curling on the plywood where it had been placed.